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AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Africans are notoriously religious, and each people has its own religious
system with a set of beliefs and practices. Religion permeates into all
the departments of life so fully that it is not easy or possible always to
isolate it.
1

To say that Africans are a religious people is not just a claim without any proof to support
it. Religion is part and parcel of the Africans life. However, because the study of African
Traditional Religion is closely linked with the aspect of African Metaphysics in African
Philosophy, in discussing African traditional religion we make use of various African
metaphysical terms.
Therefore, this paper attempts to expose the challenges faced in the study of African
Traditional Religion in Benin City. In doing this, we shall highlight the concept of African
Traditional Religion, its relationship with the Old Benin Kingdom, contemporary Benin City, the
problem of studying it, some possible solutions and then conclusion.









1
John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies (New York: Anchor Books, 1970), p. 1.
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2.0 WHAT IS AN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION?
We ask what an African Traditional Religion is, because there are many African
religions, but they are similar in nature. According to J. O. Awolalu, when we speak of African
Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Africans. It is
the religion which resulted from the sustaining faith held by the forebears of the present
Africans, and which is being practised today in various forms and various shades and intensities
by a very large number of Africans, including individuals who claim to be Muslims or
Christians.
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In African Traditional Religion, God is seen as the driving force or first cause of reality.
God, who is ascribed various names, according to the particular culture and language of the
people, is seen as the creator, one who lived among his people and as one who is supreme.










2
See J. O. Awolalu, What is African Traditional Religion, Studies in Comparative Religion
vol.10, no.2, (1976), p.1.
I DOLS USED FOR WORSHI P.
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However, it is to be noted that this belief of the Africans has suffered a most serious
wound since the colonialists colonized us. So many accusations have been leveled against the
religion, such that it has almost lost its beauty in the eyes of the world. African Traditional
Religion is now seen a barbaric, carnivorous, totem tic and worthless venture. Maybe it is due to
the fact that it is a religion that is based mainly on oral transmission. It is not written on paper but
in peoples hearts, minds, oral history, rituals, shrines and religious functions. It has no founders
or reformers like Gautama the Buddha, Asoka, Christ, or Muhammad. It is not the religion of one
hero. It has no missionaries, or even the desire to propagate the religion, or to proselytise.
However, the adherents are loyal worshippers and, probably because of this, Africans who have
their roots in the indigenous religion, find it difficult to sever connection with it.












RI TUAL BEI NG PERFUMED BY TRADI TI ONAL
PRI ESTS.
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3.0 AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN BENIN CITY















Omasteye and Emeriewen tell us that Generally though, the conception of God in most
religious belief system is oftentimes the premise from virtually where most discourse of religions
begins, across cultures. Even at that, the concept of God in most religious philosophies, no
matter how personal, tends to share same commonalities. Most religious inclinations have
identified the general belief in God as an Independent being, and the creator of the Universe, and
quite distinct from the Universe He created. This has therefore evolved a consensus on the
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conception of God, as the all powerful (Omnipotent), all-knowing (Omniscient) and therefore an
Omnipresent God. In effect, God is perceived as every-where, tending to the needs of creatures.
It is also in this vein God is seen as the supremely rational, moral being, who has great concern
for human justice and suffering.
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From the foregoing we can say that, African Traditional Religion in Benin City is
basically the same as it is practiced in other parts of Africa. However, some key concepts of
African Traditional Religion as practiced in Benin City by the Edos are; Osanobua as the
Supreme God, the Spiritual Role of the Oba, the Idea of Sacrifice and the Sacred Festivals.
Osanobua as the Supreme God
The Edos worship God through various deities, such as Olokun, Orisha, Ayelala etc.
Furthermore, the Edos have a special affiliation with the mermen spirits. These various deities
and spirits are seen as links between humans and Osanobua.











3
B.O.J Omatseye and K.O Emeriewen, An Appraisal of Religious Art and Symbolic Beliefs in
the Traditional African Context, African Research Review vol.4, no.2 (April 2010), p.52.
OLOKUN (ONE OF THE DEI TI ES I N BENI N CI TY)
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For the Edos, God is not apart from the world, rather together with the world, God
constitutes the spatio-temporal totality of existence. Their thinking is hierarchical, with God at
the apex of the metaphysical chain of God- Ancestors- Divinities- Man- Lower Animals-
Vegetation- Inanimate world. God is seen as creator of the world; but that He is not outside the
world does not mean that He created the world out of nothing. They too, like other African
cultures, have their own myth regarding the origin of the cosmos.
Osanobua created the universe. He had functionaries in his kingdom, of which two are
known as Osanobua and Osanoha. Both parties were unfriendly to each other because Osanobua
was the creator of humans, while Osanoha was the creator of animals. Now, it happened that,
due to the quarrel between the both, Osanoha made a house in which he stored all kinds of
diseases. This he did because, he wanted to wreak havoc. As the humans created by Osanobua
were coming to the earth, there was a heavy downpour, and they took shelter in Osanohas
house, where they were afflicted with the diseases prepared by Osanoha. After the rainfall they
finally settled in the earth. This was how diseases came to be in the world. Consequently, the
human kingdom became enemies with the animal kingdom.
Some features of God for the Edos and indeed all Africans are:
God as judge.
God as transcendental (that is conceived as being far away from the earth), and God as
immanent (also being close).
God as pre-eminent and pre-existent.
God as immortal.
God as omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.
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God as a unique being.
The Concept of Ancestors and Sacrifice.
Like we said earlier, the Edos worship Osanobua through various deities. These deities
however, are actually the ancestors, who they believe intercede on their behalf before Osanobua.
From time to time, they appease these ancestors with prescribed sacrifices. Through the
ancestors, they seek help from Osanobua. Nevertheless, these ancestors were not just men who
once lived with them, but those who lived a good life and died a good death. Since the ancestors
were once men, but have only now occupied a higher status in the order of things, there is a high
level of interaction between them and the Edos. According to Lebisa and Abraham:

The ancestors are a striking example. Immortality is conceived in pragmatic
terms. Survival is of no personal particular value. What is important,
however, is that the deceased can assist the living sections of their families,
and exercise moral leadership among them. The ancestors thus have to do
with group solidarity and tradition and in this way help guarantee moral
consistency.
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What Lebisa and Abraham are trying to say is that, the concept of ancestors in African
Traditional Religion can be linked with the idea of saints in the Catholic Church. They are not
just spirits which sacrifices are offered to, but they are role models. This concept passes for
African cultures and religion in general, that includes the Edos.



4
Lebisa J. Teffo and Abraham P.J. Roux, Metaphysical Thinking in Africa in The African
Philosophy Reader, edited by P.H. Coetzee and A.P.J. Roux (London: Routledge, 2003), p.192.
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A GOAT SACRIFI CE TO THE AYELALA DEITY
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4.0 PROBLEMS OF STUDYING AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN BENIN
CITY
Modernism is more or less like a contagious disease spreading throughout the world. It
has affected virtually all the aspects of life in our world today, including African Traditional
Religion. Hence, African Traditional Religion in Benin City has also been influenced by this
wide-spread disease. For this reason, Bolaji says:
She (Africa) has suffered so much because she has been callously and
frequently raped and despoiled by the strong ones of the world who are
adepts in the art of benevolent exploitation and civilized savagery. Even
now there are organs of her body which are under torture and cruel assault
and, consequently, she is still more or less a sick personality.
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This is probably the main reason for the many problems which the study of African Traditional
Religion faces in our contemporary society. These problems are:
4.1 PROBLEM OF AUTHENTICITY OF SOURCES
Benin City is known as the ancient city of Benin. This is due to its ancient formation,
stemming from the Ancient Benin kingdom. Benin was once a great kingdom with a very rich
culture, but her beliefs as at that time, are not yet clear. Some writers, especially non-Africans,
paint the African Traditional Religion practiced as at that time in a very barbaric way. For them
the dominant feature of the religion of the Edos was blood shedding. Even the rulers of the Benin
Kingdom were captured or killed, for they were viewed as evil people, basically because of the
practice of their religion. Now, with all these mix stories, and also false accounts of the authentic

5
E. Bolaji Idowu, African Traditional Religion (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1973), p.73.
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African Traditional Religion practiced by the Edos of old, the study of African Traditional
Religion becomes rather difficult.



















OLOGBOSERE ARRESTED BY THE COLONI ALI STS FOR DEFENDI NG HI S
RELI GI ON
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4.2 THE PROBLEM OF ASCERTAINING THE TRUTHFULNESS OF ITS
EXISTENCE
Here, we faced with the question of whether there is actually a religion peculiar to the
Edos. In the study of African Traditional Religion in Benin City, it is difficult to point the
difference between A.T.R as practiced in Benin City, and the entire Africa. The dominant
question is whether there is an African Traditional Religion of the Binis.

4.3 THE PROBLEM OF NOMENCLENTURE AND TERMINOLOGY
It may sound rather elementary. But the issue of the precise name of the subject has not
been fully settled. A group of scholars, led by E.B. Idowu, insist that one could legitimately
speak of One African Traditional Religion, that is, in the singular.
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J.S. Mbiti thinks that there is
no basis for such a position. He maintains that the title of the subject should be in the plural;
African Traditional Religions, Many not One. The debate engaged the attention of scholarship
and constantly featured in publications and conferences for a considerable period of time. But
this is basically the same problem in that of the Edos. One would wonder if the various deities
are different religions or the same religion.
4.4 THE PROBLEM OF METHODOLOGY
Issues related to methodology, as earlier stated, are central in the systematic study of
African traditional religion in Benin City as they are bound up with the quality of work and
result one hopes to achieve. They concern data on which analysis is based, their collection and
viability. And they are closely linked and determined, as in other disciplines, by the nature and

6
E. Bolaji Idowu, African Traditional Religion (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1973), p.82.
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characteristic features of the subject. Incidentally, several scholars both Africans and Westerners
clearly recognize the essential elements of African Traditional Religion in Benin City. But many
fail to press home the implications of such significant elements for methodology in their
respective works.
4.5 PROBLEM OF INTERPRETATION
Interconnected with methodology are issues relating to theoretical presuppositions and
models of interpretation of unearthed materials in the study of African traditional religion.
Strictly speaking, conceptual schemes of interpretation or analysis of data generally fall within
the broad area of methodology. Writers and scholars of different intellectual hues and
backgrounds have contributed to the study. Some of the researchers were evolutionists who hold
strongly the theory of unilineal stage by stage development of culture and civilization. The
diffusionists among them worked from the perspective that holds that whatever higher cultural
form found in sub-Saharan Africa, derived its origin from an external source, that is old hamitic
hypothesis. On the other hand, many ethnographers and social anthropologists were equipped
with one refurbished version of Marxian or Frazerian theory or another in their studies of African
traditional religion. Many of the African scholars who systematically sought to explain the
indigenous religion, as already mentioned, adopted the schemes of scholastic philosophy and
theology from their Christian background of training.



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4.6 THE PROBLEM OF SUBSTANCE/CONTENT OF THE RELIGION
Issues relating to the content or substance of African traditional religion are closely tied
and corollary to the problem of the problem of methodology. And they also derive from the
major trend that marked the study of African traditional religion in the past. In other words, they
arise mainly because of the kind of questions that for a long time, occupied the attention of
scholarship in the subject.
Due to the contents, one would say the study of African Traditional Religion in Benin
City may be closely associated to African Metaphysics. This is another problem because; we are
not yet sure if there is an African Metaphysics.














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THE COLONI ALI STS, HAVI NG I NVADED AFRI CANS
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5.0 POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF STUDYING AFRICAN
TRADITIONAL RELIGION.
We have seen that Benin City is rich with culture, tradition and religion. However, with
the problems we earlier mentioned, study of its religion has become inevitably difficult. Here are
some suggestions regarding how we can solve these problems:
5.1 ADEQUATE RESEARCH OF BENIN WRITERS
Benin City is blessed with intellectuals, who have written one or more books about the
Bini Culture, which includes African Traditional Religion. Someone like Jacob Egharevba has
written a book which could help students to understand better, the idea of African Traditional
Religion as practiced in Benin. This is a better means of studying, rather than using the works of
the same Europeans who have little or nothing good to say about the religion of Africans in
general.
5.2 PROOVING THE EXISTENCE OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
It pertains to the students of African Traditional Religion to prove the existence of an
African Traditional Religion in Benin City, for if we do not know of its existence, then trying to
study its content would be a futile venture. This is to be done through rigorous study and very
importantly, perseverance.
5.3 EXPOSING STUDENTS TO ITS TERMINOLOGIES VIA EMPERICISM
Studying the African Traditional Religion of the Edos outside Benin City, could yield
unsound arguments. This is because; books alone cannot suffice for such a practical venture. It is
advisable then that students of African Traditional Religion, get acquainted with the
terminologies of the Edo African Traditional Religion, through personal contact with the people
and their deities.
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5.4 PHILOSOPHICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH
Philosophy is basically about the pursuit of truth, and anthropology desires to know man
in his entirety through empirical means. So, if the methodologies used in Philosophy and
Anthropology are used connectively in the study of African Traditional Religion in Benin City,
we would have a very great impact and improvement.
5.5 CAREFUL INTERPRETATION OF EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION
Now, it is one thing to observe the actions of people, but it is another thing to interpret
what such actions would mean. If the wrong interpretation is given, is distorts the entire research
method and fruits. So even when students experience the worship of deities in Benin, questions
should be asked of the proper authorities for the meaning of each action during the worship.
5.6 AVOIDANCE OF SENTIMENTAL POSITIONS
When students venture into the study of African Traditional religion in Benin City, it is
advisable that they dispose themselves to learning and do away with any sentimental position, no
matter their own religious background or philosophy of life. When this is done, students will be
ready to learn more and this will enhance the study of the African Traditional Religion in Benin
City.







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SERVANTS OF THE I DA DEI TY
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CONCLUSION
African Traditional Religion in Benin City is part and parcel of their life, hence it is very
necessary to study. However going by Sogolos view:
At first it would appear that claims in traditional African thought do not fall within the
category of explanations generally associated with science-oriented thought systems.
The reason for this is obvious. In seeking to understand events, as Horton (1970) points
out, the prevalent explanatory models adopted by a given culture are determined by the
peculiarities of that culture.
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Evidently, if students of African Traditional Religion do not study that of the Edos within its
own culture it would be very difficult to make any progress. Therefore, African Traditional
Religion in Benin City is real to the extent to which the students take their research, following all
the recommendations of this paper.

7
Godwin S. Sogolo The Concept of Cause in African Thought in The African Philosophy
Reader, edited by P.H. Coetzee and A.P.J. Roux (London: Routledge, 2003), p.228.