The video explores the complex and rich history of African religions, highlighting their role in shaping various communities and historical events. It discusses the Haitian Revolution, a significant event triggered in part by a religious ceremony that blended spirituality and political action, revealing the interconnectedness of religion and politics throughout history. The vastness of Africa and its diverse languages and religious practices set the stage for a discussion on African indigenous religions and their diasporic spread due to the transatlantic slave trade, resulting in today’s diverse global practices like Vodou and Santeria.

The video delves into the specific example of Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, where Yoruba traditions were reintroduced and adapted in the United States, showcasing the blend of African roots with new cultural scenes. It highlights the adaptability of religions as they travel and morph, looking at traditions that bridge the spiritual and the everyday life, such as the Yoruba practices and the cosmological framework shared across many indigenous African religions, which emphasize interconnectedness among spiritual entities, humans, and ancestors.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. diaspora [daɪˈæspərə] - (n.) - The dispersion of any people from their original homeland. - Synonyms: (displacement, exodus, scattering)

This type of global scattering of populations is known as a diaspora.

2. indigenous [ɪnˈdɪdʒənəs] - (adj.) - Originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native. - Synonyms: (native, aboriginal, local)

And many of these people took their religions with them, which spread a variety of indigenous African traditions to North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

3. pantheon [ˈpænθiːˌɑːn] - (n.) - All the gods of a people or religion collectively. - Synonyms: (deities, divinities, gods)

All of this makes up a pantheon of deities with complicated connections and family ties.

4. reciprocal [rɪˈsɪprəkəl] - (adj.) - Concerning or intentional mutual action or relationship. - Synonyms: (mutual, bilateral, interactive)

It's considered a reciprocal relationship. Offer good things, get good things in return.

5. cosmology [kɒzˈmɒləʤi] - (n.) - The science of the origin and development of the universe. - Synonyms: (astrophysics, astronomy, metaphysics)

But across a number of them, you'll find overlap in their cosmology or beliefs about the creation and structure of the universe.

6. interwoven [ˌɪntəˈwoʊvən] - (adj.) - Intertwined or closely connected. - Synonyms: (intertwined, interconnected, linked)

The lines are blurry between the worlds, and there's a lot of influence up and down and all around.

7. ceremonies [ˈsɛrəˌmoniz] - (n.) - A formal religious or public occasion, typically one celebrating a particular event or anniversary. - Synonyms: (rituals, rites, observances)

There are also a number of coming of age ceremonies among African indigenous traditions which mark the transition from childhood to adulthood

8. ephemeral [ɪˈfɛmərəl] - (adj.) - Lasting for a very short time. - Synonyms: (temporary, fleeting, transitory)

Even longer than some indigenous religions.

9. elaborate [ɪˈlæbəˌreɪt] - (adj.) - Involving many carefully arranged parts or details. - Synonyms: (intricate, detailed, complex)

Pleasing the ancestors sometimes includes designing incredibly elaborate coffins for the recently deceased.

10. metaphysical [ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪkəl] - (adj.) - Transcending physical matter or the laws of nature. - Synonyms: (abstract, philosophical, transcendental)

It's more of a metaphysical pizza place.

Religions of the African Diaspora - Crash Course Religions #11

Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to Crash Course religion. So in 1791, the enslaved people of Haiti started a revolution. And when it culminated in 1804, Haiti became an independent state, the first and only black republic born from a successful revolt of enslaved people. One of the events cited as sparking this revolution was a religious ceremony in the woods. 200 Haitians gathered and called upon Loire, which are like spirits or deities in the Vodou tradition, to guard over them as they armed themselves against the French. So just as much as this gathering was religious, it was also political as the group organized and prepared to fight for their freedom. And this is just one snapshot of a particular religious ceremony in a particular country of the African diaspora.

So what are African religions? Well, there's way, way, way more than one answer to. So now might be a good time for a couple reflections. First off, religion and politics have always been intersecting. Secondly, let's take a moment to reflect on just how big Africa is. I mean, look at this. Or this. Or this. Just kidding. That last one was a meme. Seriously, though, when we talk about Africa's size, which is 20% of Earth's landmass and 18% of its population, it really sets the stage for the diversity and complexity of its religions. This is a continent contains over 2000 living languages and a hugely diverse set of religious beliefs and practices and political and economic systems. And today, we're also talking about religions of the African diaspora.

See, during the time of the transatlantic slave trade that began in the 1500s, largely European colonizers removed millions of African people from their homelands. This type of global scattering of populations is known as a diaspora. And many of these people took their religions with them, which spread a variety of indigenous African traditions to North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where they evolved and blended with other cultural traditions. Many of these are still practiced, such as Santeria in Cuba, Condomble in Brazil, Vodou in Haiti, and Orisha Vodouin in South Carolina.

Let's go to the thought bubble. As a 15 year old growing up in Detroit during the 1930s, Walter King asked his mom, who. Who is the African God? And she wasn't sure how to answer. So King set out on what would become a lifelong mission to bring African religion to African Americans. He read everything he could about African traditions and eventually changed his name to Ofuntula Osejan Adelabu Adefumi I. And it was actually from a National Geographic magazine that he finally learned about the religion of one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, the Yoruba. People. Because of the diaspora, this religion now goes by a variety of different names, including Arisha Vodun, the branch that Adefumi created that's unique to a small traditional African community in South Carolina. At its peak in the 1980s, a few hundred people lived and practiced Yoruba traditions in Oyotunji African village.

Today, the site continues to produce educational programs, host festivals, and offer spiritual services. Practitioners worship the Orisha, spiritual entities that can be thought of as deities, energy fields, or features of the natural world like rivers and thunder. They also honor their ancestors through agungun festivals, where people don vibrant masks and clothing, drum, dance, and sing to welcome them as visit the human world. Thanks. Thought bubble. So scholars estimate that thousands of people around the world have become Yoruba leaders through their connections to Oyotunji, which literally means Oyo. A Yoruba empire rises again. And this is just one example of how seemingly disparate parts of the world come together through the religions of the African diaspora.

Now, in Africa today, it's true that most people practice either Islam or Christianity, but. But many also practice an indigenous religion. And while Islam and Christianity aren't like indigenous in the sense that they originated on the African continent, their history in Africa is a little more complicated than just because colonialism, like plenty of Islam and Christianity's influence in Africa, does come down to that, but not all of it. For example, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was founded as early as the three hundreds after an Ethiopian bishop was baptized by the biblical apostle Philip. And some West African communities converted to Islam as early as the 7 hundreds when they encountered Arab speaking Muslims through trade.

So Islam and Christianity have been around for a long time in parts of the continent, even longer than some indigenous religions. So back in episode seven, we explored a bunch of indigenous religions, and we learned that it's really tricky to generalize about them because they're from all over the world and made up of all different kinds of people. It'd be like saying that pizza made in Italy is the same as pizza made in New York or Chicago or Turkey or Japan. Similar elements, different dishes. Personally, I'm a Pizza John's kind of guy. It's more of a metaphysical pizza place. You can't actually eat at Pizza John's, but there is still some kind of sustenance on offer. Wait a second. Is Pizza John a religion? No, it's not a religion.

You can sell T shirts with your mustachioed face on them, and that's not. That's not a religion. Okay, back to African indigenous religions. There's so much variety, but across a number of them, you'll find overlap in their cosmology or beliefs about the creation and structure of the universe. Many African indigenous religions see creation as existing in three tiers, or levels. At the top, there's the spirit realm, where the gods and goddesses are. Those often include a supreme deity or creator God in addition to minor gods, goddesses, and powerful ancestors. All of this makes up a pantheon of deities with complicated connections and family ties. And then in the middle, there's our human world, which also has lots of complicated connections and family ties.

You and I live here. Also puppies. And then there's the underworld, which is where most of the ancestors are. Now, it might be easy to imagine these tiers as three separate islands, hard to traverse unless you've got some sort of rainbow bridge. But it'd be more accurate to picture them as one town with three groups of people in it. A really busy town where gods and goddesses, humans and ancestors, are constantly bumping into each other and getting into each other's business. The lines are blurry between the worlds, and there's a lot of influence up and down and all around. Like, one might participate in specific rituals or offerings to interact with these gods and goddesses and ancestors. And if they're pleased, those gods and goddesses and ancestors might help you with anything from tough life decisions to making the rainfall.

It's considered a reciprocal relationship. Offer good things, get good things in return. For the GH people of Ghana, for instance, pleasing the ancestors sometimes includes designing incredibly elaborate coffins for the recently deceased. These can be extre specific. They're customized to honor the deceased's career and interests. Like, think coffins in the shape of sneakers or animals or cell phones. It's one way the living can ensure their relationship with the new ancestor is off to a good start. I would make a joke about what kind of coffin I want to be buried in, but then I worry that it would contradict my will and make for a bunch of problems. So back to camera one we go.

There are also a number of coming of age ceremonies among African indigenous traditions which mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. These often have religious significance, but they teach young people about what it means to be an adult in the community. For example, the boys of the Nandi community in Kenya go through a grueling coming of age ceremony. At one stage, they have to stare without flinching at a masked figure shaking a spear at them, while the other initiates try to distract them by overcoming this challenge, the boys can prove their bravery and concentration, earning their place in the community.

The performance of sacrifices is also a common element in many African indigenous rituals. Take the Oromo people of Ethiopia, who use a ritual called buna kala, literally coffee slaughtering, to honor the supreme God Waka, from whose tears they believe the coffee tree first sprung. Coffee is a sacred substance to the Oromo, used as medicine as well as consumed as a food or drink. And it's carefully prepared by women in the community. Not only does this sacrifice bring blessings and prosperity from Waka, but during the ceremony, elders pass on stories and instructions to younger people to instill their beliefs and cultural heritage.

Oromo people as far as the US And Norway partake in this practice to maintain their connection to their God and their community. Now, if you want to know how this three tiered universe got to be, well, it depends on who you ask. Like ask the Bambara people in Mali and they'll tell you that in the beginning, there was just one yo, and from that sound, all living things and forms of matter emerged. Other creation stories explain something important about the way the human world works. Like to the Vasari people in Togo and Ghana, the creator first made a human a snake and an antelope.

When the snake convinced the human and antelope to eat some off limits fruit, the creator simply made new food for them. Antelopes got grass and humans got yam, sorghum and millet. Meanwhile, the snake got venom, which they applied to further terrorize humans and animals. God. Cross culturally, we really blame a lot on snakes, don't we? Why not spiders? I dislike spiders so much more than snakes, but spiders, they get a pass. I mean, you read Charlotte's Web, you'd think that spiders are downright lovely. You hang out with a brown recluse.

Anyway, the story goes on to explain that humans started eating all this new food in small groups around separate bowls. And that separation was the start of different languages. And similar to how those new languages formed through both connection and difference, African diasporic religions continued to diversify and find new communities. In this way, the deep roots of African indigenous traditions spread around the world, overlapping and blending with other traditions and cultures. Which is kind of an epic origin story on its own.

Africa is made up of over 50 countries, hundreds of ethnic groups, and more than a thousand languages. And so when we talk about African religions, we mean the beliefs that are central to all of that, plus their influence on the rest of the world. And I'd argue we need to consider the beliefs and practices of Islam, Christianity, and African indigenous traditions as not mutually exclusive, but often overlapping. Only then can we begin to glimpse the unique flexibility and dazzling intricacy of African religions. In our next episode, we're jumping over to another famously huge and complicated China. I'll see you then.

RELIGION, AFRICAN DIASPORA, CULTURAL HERITAGE, EDUCATION, GLOBAL, SCIENCE, CRASHCOURSE