Kongo religion

Kongo religion (KiKongo: BuKongo) is a broad set of traditional beliefs from the KiKongo speaking
peoples. The faith bases itself on a complex Animistic system and a Pantheon of various gods and spirits.
The idea of a high god named Nzambi Mpungu who gave birth to all the other gods, the world and spirits
who inhabit it, is common, but Ancestor worship builds up the main religious beliefs.[1] Shamanly doctors,
known as Nganga, try to mediate between the spirit realms and the physical world, as well as heal
followers' minds and bodies. Mediatory roles like being a Nganga require legitimization from the other
world of spirits and ancestors.[2] The universe is split between two worlds, one of the living (nza yayi) and
a world of the dead (nsi a bafwa), where spirits and gods exist, these worlds are split by a metaphorical
body of water.[3]

Contents
History
Beliefs
General cosmology
Practices and charms
Spirits
See also
References

History
The traditional spirituality has its roots in Bantu speaking peoples in Africa. As the faith traveled to the
Americas it retained various traditions but often mixed with other faiths. Some surviving traditions include
possession by the dead to learn wisdom from the ancestors, and working with Nkisi. The religions that
have preserved Kongo traditions include Palo Monte, Lumbalú, Kumina, Haitian Vodou, Candomblé
Bantu and Hoodoo.[4][5][6]

Beliefs

General cosmology

The religion of the Kongo is deeply complex. According to historian John K. Thornton "Central Africans
have probably never agreed among themselves as to what their cosmology is in detail, a product of what I
called the process of continuous revelation and precarious priesthood."[7] The Kongo people had diverse
views, with traditional religious thought best developed in the northern Kikongo-speaking area.[7] There is
plenty of description about Kongo religious ideas in the Christian missionary and colonial era records, but
as Thornton states, "these are written with a hostile bias and their reliability is problematic".[8] Kongo
beliefs included Kilundu as Nzambi (god) or Jinzambi (gods, deities).[9]
In general, according to the Kongo cosmogram, the highest god, next to other high gods, reside at the top
of the world, the spirits and other deities living below, followed by the physical realm populated by humans
and animals, with water existing in the middle where the two worlds meet.[10]

Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and passed down from one generation to another
through folk tales, songs, and festivals,[11][12][13] include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods,
sometimes including a supreme creator or force, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and
traditional African medicine. Kongo mythology, next to other nearby traditional religions can be described
as animistic[14][15] with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects.[16][17][18] Animism builds the core
concept of the all Bantu religious traditions, including the Kongo religious beliefs, similar to other
traditional African religions. This includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship
and the belief in an afterlife. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview, most follow a
polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings.[19] Traditional African religions
also have elements of fetishism, shamanism and veneration of relics, and have a high complexity,
comparable to Japanese Shinto or Hinduism.[20]

Spirits as well as dead ancestors could be communed with and those with authority got special rights to
such communing. The priestly Nganga can interact with such spirits and ancestors. They would use
spiritual cures to battle black magic in the world, sometimes using Nkisi. Nganga are not allowed to use
black magic and only assisted clients to bring upon good fortune.[21]

Practices and charms

Humans may manipulate the universe through the use of charms called Nkisi. Within these charms are
natural objects since it is believed all natural things contain a soul. These charms protect humans either by
embodying a spirit or by directing a spirit to hunt evil.[10]

Spirits

After death a person's soul leaves the body to become a ghost and usually enters the land of the dead
(Kalunga). Those who have done evil in life (such as witches) cannot enter the land of the dead and instead
roam the Earth as spirits. Ancestors can become gods, but in most cases are revered as Ancestral spirits,
which protect and guide living relatives. The dead communicate with the living in different ways; for
example, they talk to them in dreams, send omens, or can be addressed by specially gifted seers.

A practitioner may commune with their family's ancestor spirits in a linear fashion, they may not commune
with spirits who are not their ancestors , Unless they pray first.[10]

However, a lot of practitioners worshiped spirits of nature, whereas they don'tu from their lineage. There is
lot of spirits who surrounds Nzambi a Mpungu like Nzambici, his wife (spirit of earth), Nzazi (the spirit of
thunder and lightning), Ngonda (spirit of moon and menstruations) and his brother Ntangu (spirit of time
and sun), Chicamassichinuinji (ruler of seas and oceans), Mpulu Bunzi or Bunzi (male or female spirit of
rain), Mbumba (rainbow serpent) and his wife Funza (female spirit of waters, twin phenomenon,
malformations in children) or Kalunga (spirit of death and sea).

See also
Bantu mythology

References
1. "The Place of African Traditional Religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the
Advent of Christianity | Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences" (https://www.richtmann.or
g/journal/index.php/mjss/article/view/3184). 2020-08-06.
2. "Kongo Religion" (https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-tran
scripts-and-maps/kongo-religion). encyclopedia.com. 2005.
3. "Kongo Religion" (http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/sub/kongo.html). philatar.ac.uk.
4. "Kongo religion" (http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Other_religions/kongo_reli
gion.htm). meta-religion.com.
5. Thompson, Robert Farris (1983). Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and
Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=DzOIY4iHSjAC&q=Flash+of+the+spirit).
New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 9780307874337.
6. Mary Margaret McCurnin. "From the Old to the New World: The Transformation of Kongo
Minkisi in African American Art" (https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article
=1077&context=etd). Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU Scholars Compass). p. 11.
Retrieved 10 July 2021.
7. John Thornton, "Religious and Ceremonial Life in the Kongo and Mbundu Areas," in Linda
M. Heywood (ed) Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora
(London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), ISBN 978-0-521-00278-3, pp.
73-74.
8. John Thornton (2002), "Religious and Ceremonial Life," Cambridge University Press,
ISBN 978-0-521-00278-3, pp. 72-73.
9. John Thornton (2002), "Religious and Ceremonial Life," Cambridge University Press,
ISBN 978-0-521-00278-3, pp. 74-77
10. Gibson, Kean (2001). Comfa Religion and Creole Language in a Caribbean Community (htt
ps://books.google.com/books?id=tw87gAuSLOsC). ISBN 9780791449608.
11. Juergensmeyer, Mark (2006). The Oxford Handbook Of Global Religions. ISBN 0-19-
513798-1.
12. S. Mbiti, John (1991). Introduction to African religion. ISBN 0-435-94002-3.
13. "The Place of African Traditional Religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the
Advent of Christianity | Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences" (https://www.richtmann.or
g/journal/index.php/mjss/article/view/3184). 2020-08-06.
14. Kimmerle, Heinz (2006-04-11). "The world of spirits and the respect for nature: towards a
new appreciation of animism" (https://doi.org/10.4102%2Ftd.v2i2.277). The Journal for
Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa. 2 (2): 15. doi:10.4102/td.v2i2.277 (https://doi.
org/10.4102%2Ftd.v2i2.277). ISSN 2415-2005 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2415-2005).
15. Vontress, Clemmont E. (2005), "Animism: Foundation of Traditional Healing in Sub-Saharan
Africa" (https://sk.sagepub.com/books/integrating-traditional-healing-practices-into-counselin
g-and-psychotherapy/n11.xml), Integrating Traditional Healing Practices into Counseling
and Psychotherapy, SAGE Publications, Inc., pp. 124–137, doi:10.4135/9781452231648 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.4135%2F9781452231648), ISBN 9780761930471, retrieved 2019-10-31
16. An African Story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_sectio
n6.shtml) BBC Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151102074637/http://www.bbc.co.u
k/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section6.shtml) November 2, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine.
17. Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante
18. "The Place of African Traditional Religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the
Advent of Christianity | Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences" (https://www.richtmann.or
g/journal/index.php/mjss/article/view/3184). 2020-08-06.
19. Kimmerle, Heinz (2006-04-11). "The world of spirits and the respect for nature: towards a
new appreciation of animism" (https://doi.org/10.4102%2Ftd.v2i2.277). The Journal for
Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa. 2 (2): 15. doi:10.4102/td.v2i2.277 (https://doi.
org/10.4102%2Ftd.v2i2.277). ISSN 2415-2005 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2415-2005).
20. Asukwo (2013). "The Need to Re-Conceptualize African Traditional Religion" (https://www.aj
ol.info/index.php/afrrev/article/download/91437/80924).
21. Erwan Dianteill. Kongo in Cuba: the Transformations of an African Religion (https://www.cair
n-int.info/article-E_ASSR_117_0004--congo-to-cuba-transformations-of-an.htm). Centre for
the Interdisciplinary Study of Religious Phenomena. pp. 59–80.

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