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Orisha
Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The preferred spelling varies depending on the language in question: òrìṣà is the spelling in the Yoruba language, orixá in Portuguese, and orisha, oricha, orichá or orixá in Spanish-speaking countries. In the Lucumí tradition, which evolved in Cuba, the orishas are synchronized with Catholic saints, forming a syncretic system of worship where African deities are hidden behind Christian iconography. This allowed enslaved Africans to preserve their traditions under colonial religious persecution. According to the teachings of these religions, the orishas are spirits sent by the supreme creator, Olodumare, to assist humanity and to teach them to be successful on ''Ayé'' (Earth). Rooted in the native religion of the Yoruba people, mos ...
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Yoruba Religion
The Yorùbá religion (Yoruba language, Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria and Southern Benin, which comprises the majority of the States of Nigeria, states of; Oyo State, Oyo, Ogun State, Ogun, Osun State, Osun, Ondo State, Ondo, Ekiti State, Ekiti, Kwara State, Kwara, Lagos State, Lagos and parts of Kogi State, Kogi in Nigeria, the Departments of Benin, Departments of; Collines Department, Collines, Ouémé Department, Oueme, Plateau Department, Plateau in Benin, and the adjoining parts of central Togo, commonly known as Yorubaland (). It has become the largest indigenous African tradition / belief system in the world with several million adherents worldwide. It shares some parallels with the Vodun practised by the neighbouring Fon people, Fon and Ewe people, Ewe peoples to its west ...
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Trinidad Orisha
Trinidad Orisha, also known as Orisha religion and Shango, is a syncretic religion in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean, originally from West Africa (Yoruba religion). Trinidad Orisha incorporates elements of Spiritual Baptism, and the closeness between Orisha and Spiritual Baptism has led to use of the term "Shango Baptist" to refer to members of either or both religions. Anthropologist James Houk described Trinidad Orisha as an " Afro-American religious complex", incorporating elements mainly from traditional African religion and Yoruba and including some elements from Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Hinduism, Islam (especially Sufism), Buddhism, Judaism (especially Kabbalah), Baháʼí, and Amerindian mythologies. "The religious practice involves a music-centered worship service, in which collective singing and drumming accompany spirit possession and animal sacrifice (typically goats, sheep, and fowl)." History Trinidad Orisha's beginnings and develop ...
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Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa, Catholicism, and Kardecist spiritism, Spiritism. There is no central authority in control of Santería and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as ''creyentes'' ("believers"). Santería teaches the existence of a transcendent creator divinity, Olodumare, under whom are spirits known as ''Orisha, oricha''. Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional Yoruba deities, these ''oricha'' are equated with Roman Catholic saints and associated with various myths. Each human is deemed to have a personal link to a particular ''oricha'' who influences their personality. Olodumare is believed to be the ultimate source of ''Aṣẹ, aché'', a supernatural force permeating the univers ...
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African Diaspora Religions
African diaspora religions, also described as Afro-American religions, are a number of related beliefs that developed in the Americas in various areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Southern United States. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam.Fulop, Timothy Earl; Albert J. Raboteau, Raboteau, Albert J., eds. (1997). African American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture'. London; New York: Routledge. . Characteristics Afro-American religions involve ancestor veneration and include a creator deity along with a pantheon (religion), pantheon of divine spirits such as the Orisha, Loa, Vodun, Nkisi, and Alusi, among others. In addition to the religious syncretism of these various African traditions, many also incorporate elements of folk Catholicism including folk saints and other forms of folk religion, Native American religion, Kardecist spiritism, Spiritism, Spirit ...
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Candomblé
Candomblé () is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, especially those of Yoruba religion, the Yoruba, Bantu mythology, Bantu, and Gbe languages, Gbe, coupled with influences from Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of Candomblé, which is organized around autonomous ''terreiros'' (houses). Candomblé venerates spirits, known varyingly as ''Orisha, orixás'', ''inkice'', or ''vodun'', which are deemed subservient to a transcendent creator god, Olorun, Oludumaré. Deriving their names and attributes from traditional West African deities, the ''orixás'' are linked with Roman Catholic saints. Each individual is believed to have a tutelary ''orixá'' who has been connected to them since before birth and who informs their personality. An initiatory tradition, Candomblé's member ...
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Benin
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its population lives on the southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Porto-Novo, and the seat of government is in Cotonou, the most populous city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of , and its population in was estimated to be approximately million. It is a tropical country with an economy heavily dependent on agriculture and is an exporter of palm oil and cotton. From the 17th to the 19th century, political entities in the area included the Kingdom of Dahomey, the city-state of Porto-Novo#History, Porto Novo, and other states to the north. This region was referred to as the Slave Coast of West Africa from the early 17th century due ...
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Umbanda
Umbanda () is a religion that emerged in Brazil during the 1920s. Deriving largely from Kardecist spiritism, Spiritism, it also combines elements from African diasporic religions, Afro-Brazilian traditions like Candomblé as well as Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of Umbanda, which is organized around autonomous places of worship termed ''centros'' or ''terreiros'', the followers of which are called ''Umbandistas''. Adherents of this monotheism, monotheistic religion believe in a single God who is distant from humanity. Beneath this entity are powerful non-human spirits called ''Orisha, orixás''. In the more Spiritist-oriented wing of the religion, White Umbanda, these are viewed as divine energies or forces of nature; in more Africanised forms they are seen as West African deities and are offered animal sacrifices. The emissaries of the ''orixás'' are the ''pretos velhos'' and ''caboclos'', spirits of enslaved Africans and of Indigenous peoples in ...
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Candomblé Ketu
Candomblé Ketu (or Queto in Portuguese) is the largest and most influential branch (''nation'') of Candomblé, a religion practiced primarily in Brazil. The word Candomblé means "ritual dancing or gather in honor of gods" and Ketu is the name of the Ketu region of Benin. Its liturgical language, known as ''yorubá'' or ''Nagô'', is a dialect of Yoruba. Candomblé Ketu developed in the early 19th century and gained great importance to Brazilian heritage in the 20th century. History ''Queto'' is a system of beliefs that merges the Yoruba mythology (brought to the New World by Yoruba slaves) with different influences of other African Communities within Brazil, especially Bahia, where the Ala-Queto Nation is most prevalent. Queto developed in the Portuguese Empire. Yoruba slaves carried with them various religious customs, including a trance and divination system for communicating with their ancestors and spirits, animal sacrifice, and sacred drumming and dance. The religi ...
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Fon People
The Fon people, also called Dahomeans, Fon nu, Agadja and historically called Jeji (Djedji) by the Yoruba in the South American diaspora and in colonial French literature are a Gbe ethnic group.Fon people
Encyclopædia Britannica, undated, 1.7 million population, Retrieved June 29, 2019
They are the largest ethnic group in Benin, found particularly in its south region; they are also found in southwest and Togo. Their total population is estimated to be about 3,500,000 people, and they speak the
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Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital city, capital, Lomé, is located. It is a small, tropical country, spanning with a population of approximately 8 million, and it has a width of less than between Ghana and its eastern neighbour Benin. Various peoples settled the boundaries of present-day Togo between the 11th and 16th centuries. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the coastal region served primarily as a Atlantic slave trade, European slave trading outpost, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast of West Africa, Slave Coast". In 1884, during the scramble for Africa, German Empire, Germany established a protectorate in the region called Togoland. After World War I ...
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Destiny
Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' have distinct connotations. The earliest known mention of the term or its meaning is found on a document written in cuneiform script that reports on the mythical Tablet of Destinies. It probably refers to a political treaty between three groups of Sumerian gods (cf. the Epic Athra Hasis), whereby only the leader has the power to restore the things he once determined to their original state. Todays traditional usage defines fate similar: as a power or agency that predetermines (rules) the attributes of a thing or set of events positively or negatively affecting someone or a group. Other possibilities are that of an idiom, to tell someone's fortune, or simply the result of chance and events. In Hellenistic civilization, the chaotic and u ...
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Soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that describe the relationship between the soul and the body are Interactionism (philosophy of mind), interactionism, Psychophysical parallelism, parallelism, and epiphenomenalism. Anthropology, Anthropologists and Psychology, psychologists have found that most humans are naturally inclined to believe in the existence of the soul and that they have interculturally distinguished between souls and bodies. The soul has been the central area of interest in philosophy since Ancient history, ancient times. Socrates envisioned the soul to possess a rational faculty, its practice being man's most godlike activity. Plato believed the soul to be the person's real self, an immaterial and immortal dweller of our lives that continues and thinks even after d ...
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