 “god” is twins that represent balance between opposing forces

 Trickster god

 War god

 Rain goddess

 Sun god

 Moon god

 God of storms

Anansi, the spider\

Spirits. African mythology is filled with spirits, invisible beings with powers for good or evil. Spirits are
less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and
emotions. Many spirits are associated with physical features such as mountains, rivers, wells, trees,
and springs. Nations, peoples, and even small communities may honor local spirits unknown outside
their borders.

Ancestors. Many Africans believe that human spirits exist after death. According to some groups,
these spirits dwell underground in a world much like that of the living—but upside down. The spirits
sleep during the day and come out at night. Other groups place the realm of the dead in the sky. The
Bushmen of southern Africa say that the dead become stars.

Many African groups believe that the spirits of dead ancestors remain near their living descendants to
help and protect them—as long as these relatives perform certain ceremonies and pay them due
respect. Believing that the spirits of chieftains and other important characters offer strong protection,
the Zulu hold special ceremonies to bring them into the community. In some cultures, it is said that
the soul of a dead grandfather, father, or uncle can be reborn in a new baby boy. Another common
belief is that dead souls, particularly those of old men, may return as snakes, which many Africans
regard with respect.

Ancestor cults play a leading role in the mythologies of some peoples, especially in East and South
Africa. The honored dead—whether of the immediate family, the larger clan or kinship group, the
community, or the entire culture—become objects of worship and subjects of tales and legends. An
example occurs among the Songhai, who live along the Niger River. They honor Zoa, a wise and
protective ancestor who long ago made his son chieftain.

The ancestors are neither Deity nor divinities; they are however, the dead members of the
community—known as “the livingdead”— and are believed to exist in communion with their living
loved ones. The ancestors are regarded as heads of their respective families or communities, with
death as just a continuation of ancestors and their services, but now in the afterlife. Those qualifi ed
to become ancestors must have lived to ripe old ages, lived godly lives, and must have had children.
Indeed, where the ancestors live permanently is the “paradise” or “heaven,” which the average
African longs for when he or she dies.
Magic and medicine could either be used in their destructive or protective forms. Protective forms are
used to avert illness or calamities for the individual or communities; destructive forms are used to
cause individual misfortune or communal calamities. The medicine man (pure herbalist) in Africa uses
herbs, roots, rhizomes, and other natural materials that can be beneficial. On the other hand, the
native doctor works with herbs combined with mystic powers, oracular consultations, sacrifices, and
incantations. This is the most dreaded form of magic because of its secrecy shroud.

Many groups trace their origins, or the origins of all humans, to first ancestors. The Buganda say that
the first ancestor was Kintu, who came from the land of the gods and married Nambe, daughter of
the king of heaven. The Dinkas of the Sudan speak of Garang and Abuk, the first man and woman,
whom God created as tiny clay figures in a pot.

How Things Came To Be. Many myths explain how the world came into existence. The Dogon say that
twin pairs of creator spirits or gods called Nummo hatched from a cosmic egg. Other groups also
speak of the universe beginning with an egg. People in both southern and northern Africa believe that
the world was formed from the body of an enormous snake, sometimes said to span the sky as a
rainbow.

The Fon people of Benin tell of Gu, the oldest son of the creator twins Mawu (moon) and Lisa (sun).
Gu came to earth in the form of an iron sword and then became a blacksmith. His task was to prepare
the world for people. He taught humans how to make tools, which in turn enabled them to grow food
and build shelters. The San people (Bushmen) of the south say that creation was the work of a spirit
named Dxui, who was alternately a man and many other things, such as a flower, a bird, or a lizard.

Myths from across Africa tell how death came into the world. The supreme god meant for humans to
be immortal, but through an unlucky mistake, they received death instead of eternal life. Some stories
relate that the god told a cautious chameleon to carry the news of eternal life to earth, but a faster
lizard with news of death arrived first. The Mende people of Sierra Leone say that a toad with the
message "Death has come" overtakes a dog with the message "Life has come" because the dog stops
to eat along the way.

Other myths explain that death came into the world because people or animals angered the gods. The
Nuer people of the Sudan blame death on a hyena who cut the rope that connected heaven and earth.
Their neighbors the Dinkas say that a greedy woman, not satisfied with the grain the high god gave
her, planted more grain. She hit the god in the eye with her hoe, and he cut the connecting rope. A
tale told by the Luyia people relates that a chameleon cursed people with death because a man broke
the laws of hospitality by refusing to share his food with the chameleon.

Twins. Many African peoples regard twins as special, almost sacred, beings. Twins represent the
duality—the tension or balance between paired or opposing forces—that is basic to life. Some groups,
such as the non-Bantu peoples of the Niger and Congo regions, believe that twins of opposite sexes
are symbols of this duality.
Twins appear in many African myths and legends. In some stories, they are brother and sister who
unite in marriage; in others, they seem to be two sides of a single being. The supreme god of the Fon
people of West Africa is Mawu-Lisa, usually described as brother and sister twins who became the
parents of all the other gods, also born as twins.

Tricksters and Animal Fables. Many African myths feature a trickster. The trickster may be a god, an
animal, or a human being. His pranks and mischief cause trouble among gods, among humans, or
between gods and humans.

This concept is anthropomorphically conceived, since the spirits are both immaterial and incorporeal
beings. These spirits live in rocks, mountains, rivers, trees, bushes, waterways, among other places.
Another important dimension associated with this belief is the “born-to-die” idea, which is closely
connected with reincarnation. This aspect of the belief claims wandering spirits specialize in finding
their way into the wombs of pregnant women in order to be born and later to die. In a similar manner,
it is believed in many parts of Africa that the activities of witches, who operate as mystic living
creatures such as birds, bats, rats, and other living things, should not be ignored. The objectives of the
witches are to inflict harm: insanity, disease, miscarriages, deformities, or any other unexplainable
problem.

West Africans tell many tales of a wandering trickster spirit known as Eshu among the Yoruba and as
Legba among the Fon. This trickster is associated with change and with quarrels; in some accounts, he
is the messenger between the world and the supreme god.

Animal tricksters are often small, helpless creatures who manage to outwit bigger and fiercer animals.
Anansi, the spider trickster of the Ashanti people, is known throughout West and Central Africa.
Tortoises and hares also appear as tricksters. In one such tale, the hare tricks a hippopotamus and an
elephant into clearing a field for him.

Other stories about animals show them helping humans. The San Bushmen say that a sacred praying
mantis gave them words and fire, and the Bambara people of Mali say that an antelope taught them
agriculture. A popular form of entertainment is the animal fable, a story about talking animals with
human characteristics. Many fables offer imaginative explanations of features of the natural world,
such as why bats hang with their heads downward or why leopards have spots.

Another important aspect of African traditional religion is the presence of spirits. In the African world,
spirits are everywhere--in persons, trees, rivers, animals, rocks, mountains, and even in automobiles
and other personal effects. The presence of these spirits in the African society offers a serious
challenge to the behavior patterns of the people on the continent and elsewhere because traditional
religious practices permeate every aspect of life on the continent. These spirits in many ways act as
moral entrepreneurs of the African society. They abhor crimes like adultery, stealing, cheating, and
suicide. These spirits communicate their wishes, demands and prescriptions to the larger society
through the traditional priests. These traditional priests are able to satisfy their clients through the
performance of rituals. On the African continent, every major event has its own ritual, a ritual that
may never be overlooked for any reason. The rituals are often performed through a dance, music,
libation or art. In the presence of other religious practices on the continent, these rituals have
survived in one form or another.

The practice of medicine and magic is also important in most African societies. They engage in
fetishism, in which they believe that certain objects, mostly man-made, have supernatural powers in
them. Magic or sorcery refers to the influencing of events and physical phenomena by supernatural,
mystical, or paranormal means. They are complexes of beliefs and practices that believers can resort
to in order to wield this supernatural influence, and are similar to cultural complexes that seek to
explain various events and phenomena by supernatural means. The roles of certain religious
functionaries is also important. They have native doctors/physicians, diviners, witch doctors, and
traditional birth attendants. All these people have important roles to play in the traditional African
society.

The beliefs and practices of African traditional religion and society are based upon the faith of the
ancient indigenous people who are referred to as ancestors. This is why it is qualified as traditional,
traditional comes from the Latin verb "tradere" which means to hand down doctrines, customs etc.,
from generation to generation. The belief in ancestors is an important element of African traditional
religions. The belief occupies an important place in the understanding of the role of the traditional
religion in inculcating the ideals of culture and religion among African peoples. The ancestors are
believed to be disembodied spirits of people who lived upright lives here on earth, died 'good' and
natural deaths, that is at a ripe old age, and received the acknowledged funerary rites. They could be
men or women. This means that not all who die become ancestors, but there are conditions which
must be fulfilled while the person is alive.

Traditional Africans hold the ancestors as the closest link between the physical and spirit worlds. "The
living-dead are bilingual; they speak the language of men, with whom they lived until 'recently', and
they speak the language of the spirits and of God .They are the spirits with which African peoples are
most concerned: it is through the living-dead that the spirit world becomes personal to men. They are
still part of their human families, and people have personal memories of them". Africans believe that
the ancestors are essentially benevolent spirits. They return to their human families from time to time
and share meals with them, however, symbolically. They know and have interest in what is going on
in their families. These ancestors are seen as guardians to the family often reincarnating through new
born babies. So it is suffice to say that for the most part, African traditional religion depends very
much on the spirit world.

The people of Africa also possess important sacred institutions with significant religious dimensions.
They include sacred kingship institution, public shrines and sacred groves, divination and
masquerades. Each one of them generally implies important religious beliefs, supernatural powers
and authority, and serves as a vital channel for inculcating and promoting the ideal of harmonious
living in society by the people. For traditional groups that have sacred kings, such kings are not simply
political heads; they are more importantly sacred personages. They possess spiritual and mystical
powers which enable them to confer benefits on their people. In most cases, they are regarded as
descendants or incarnations of divine beings, a mythical ancestor, or divinity. Such is the OOni of Ife
among the Yoruba, the Asantehene of the Ashanti kingdom and the Queen of the Lovedu in South
Africa. The society is usually organized around the system of chieftaincy, with the King occupying the
central position.

Masquerades are another highly symbolic public institution and performance among traditional
African groups that play a major role in the religious beliefs of African societies. African masquerades
are generally public performance troupes that evoke a wide variety of significant ideas and values
concerning the social, occupational, political and religious aspects of life of traditional peoples. It is
believed that these masquerades are spirits who are messengers of the gods appearing in physical
form. They are seen as sacred symbols with a rich religious significance and they also serve to
reinforce the spiritual authority that eradicates social evils.

Using the Akan people as an example, they believe that the universe was created by a Supreme Being.
Akan religious thought is essentially theocentric and theistic, with the Supreme Being, God at the
center of it all. From this perspective, the Akan use their cultural symbols to portray their beliefs
about God, their attitudes towards God and His creation, and the Akan relation to God and His
creation. It is also the belief of the Akan that the ancestors bring peace and harmony to the society
though their monarch's upright and spiritual rule. They believe that the success and fertility of the
people and their land and animals is influenced by the fertility and good tidings of the king. In their
own opinion the land on which they live is owned by their ancestors. The Akan believe that the power
of the ancestors are derived from God and also that since the ancestors have power and authority
their requests and injunctions must not be refused or disobeyed.

The administration of their community centers on the chiefs and their elders. The Akan believe that
the chief is the custodian of the land as empowered by the ancestors, and so he is responsible for the
fair distribution, proper utilization and care of the land. In the religion of the people of Akan, evil
powers are also believed to be in existence aside the ancestors who do well. They are beings who are
inimical to human beings; they frighten people, cause disasters, afflictions, and deaths. They also have
the ability to influence people to do evil. In view of this, Africans do not see events happening without
some involvements of the spirits. The Akan believe that there is no mere natural explanation for any
occurrence; all mishaps are to be investigated to find out how and why they occur.

In the Akan situation, there are some functionaries who serve as traditional healers. The herbalist or
physician is the person who uses traditional herbal remedies to help people. They are usually
knowledgeable about the medicinal properties of various plant parts, birds and animals. Their job also
has a religious significance because they share a belief the spiritual universe and they know that all
issues have spiritual dimensions. The diviners are the ones that diagnose by helping to consult the
gods, so that mysteries will be unveiled. They convey the message of the gods to the people, and also
serve as counselors and mediators in disputes. The witch doctors are believed to be able to give
charms and amulets that will protect people from witches. The Akan believe that these exorcists have
the power to catch witches.

Denigration of Africans and their religious traditions was a common feature of colonialism. The
Europeans felt that the people of African were “primitive" and "backward”. They brought Christianity
and commercialization. The Europeans destroyed the much revered African chieftaincy system
through a ruse. They were able to forcibly manipulate the chiefs, thereby weakening their authority.
They therefore became aliens to the people they were meant to rule. A good example of the
predicament of the African traditional society and religion after the coming of the Europeans can be
seen in the experience of the Akan. The attitude of the people to ancestors and their other beliefs
were referred to as idolatry, fetish and superstitious. They claimed that the Akan were evil. They
believed that the people who believed and benefited from these religious practices were heathen and
they were considered lost and eternally doomed.