THE PLACE WHERE AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IS FOUND AND ITS

IMPORTANCE

According to Mbiti(1974) African traditional religion is defined as the religion of African

people based on their, tradition ,practices as distraction from other religion experienc. It is

practiced depending on specific demands upon their lives, one of elements that need to be

borne in mind is that ATR is collection of practice and idea which pertain today's life. ATR

is practised in some many place here in Malawi and mostly everyday that we practise ATR in

different place like the natural of the country, ritual places and object and many place. ATR is

important because it help to pass history from generation to generation.

Firstly sacred space and shrines are where African traditional religion is found here in

Malawi. It is very interesting that here in Malawi we have some many places that are sacred

and people do respect these specific place with the religious occasion such as Sacrifice ,

offerings and prayers also happen here (Mbiti, 1975). We keep our sacred stuff in mesuem

for protection and mostly sacred place are respected. These places are manmade assoiled

thing because its where so many religious activities happen. Shrines and Sacred sites in

Malawi have been existence since 1500 AD, they were used by our ancestors to offer

sacrifices to their mphambe(god), in times of drought and calamities and the ancestors were

using sacred space and shrines to constate the gods and the chewa people they had Bimbi

shrine where they used to organise activities that would happen in the village like rain

making(James, N. 2002).

Again ritual places and religious places is where ART is found here in Malawi, and the ritual

place and religious place are human made structure that are there for religious porpuses.
These rituals and religious place are for community levels or the family levels and they have

some religious meanings and these rituals include marriange, funeral, circumstion. Thes

religious places are the mountain, shrines groves and some others, for example in khulubvi

sacred in southern part of Malawi in nsanje it is where people worship mbona. It is believed

that mbona had super natural power which he was using to make rain and protect the

community and when he was killed his head was hanged in khulubvi sacred. These our

ancestors were offering Sacrifice during time of calamities to mwala umodzi because it was

believed that mbona used to sit on that rock.

In addition, ATR is also found in art and symbols in Malawi and this help to gives strong

communication to the people and also strengthen the religious ideas (Ligula, 1997). Here in

Malawi we have some many different symbols that have so many meanings hence other

symbols their meaning are hidden by our parents for the religious activities and these symbols

are associated with arts like the mask that people wear when the are dancing the traditional

dances. These are the symbols of scare animals and are using art to come up with that and it

is a symbols of scarce animals and also some represent our own ancestors and doing that we

are practising ATR. Here in Malawi we have so many symbols which are religion for

example the black clothes represent death while the white colour it is a happy ceremony such

as weddings also putting the branches on the road help to communicate that there is funeral

near that road so on this point we can get assurance that ATR is also found in symbols here in

Malawi.

Furthermore ATR it can also found in the music and dance that we practice in Malawi. A lot

of songs we sing and the dances are connected to the religious practise. The songs and the
dance helps to unite the people in country or community. For example the cerebration

lhomwe people it is associated with tchopa which is the traditional dance which they practice

so we can see that this brings the lhomwe people together as one. And also the music and

dance always are done when there is happy ceremony or even the sad one but mostly the

dancing activities is done during the dry season after the people have harvest the crops in the

farm for example the chewa people always dance gule wamkulu when they have harvest and

also when they are giving out the kingship and this dance help to add their happiness. So

these dances and the music are the religious activities because our ancestor when the were

paying scarifies to their gods were dancing and singing the traditional songs so it is

associated with the ATR .

On the other hand, African traditional religion help to pass culture and tradition from one

generation to other. Culture is very significant because it give the picture of who we are and

where we are coming from because history and culture are incomplete without religion and

its roles. So it is important to tell the young once about the culture and their tradition

(Kessler, 2006), for example in the villages after having supper the children and the elders

used to sit around the fire while the elder explaining the things about the past and also the

wise words which will help the young children to grow with respect and knowing their

tradition and religion. Gordon (1997) suggest that every culture known to modern

investigators no matter how primitive possesses myth which is set out picture of the world

within which the life of the people lived and provide fundamental guidance and orientation

for that life, the religion and culture are insuperable the study of ATR is necessary although

African join Christianity but the still practise ATR so we can not run away from this religion.
African traditional religion is also important because it is a means of communication. It is

the simple way of communication because we can use symbols ,music, dance and many other

more to share the important messages to the people and this gives knowledge that help to

understand the society we live in (Muzorewa, 1985). The communication can be done by

prayers whereby the leaders can be communicated with the gods of what we need and even

the tradition doctors communicate with the ancestor spirit thought the prayer, through

scarifies paying whereby communicate to the gods what people want in the community and

also the symbols. For example in Malawi when they put the branches of the leaves on the

road it means there is funeral around that so respect is needed around that place so it can be

understood that ATR is the means of communication which people can use to pass

information from one place to another.

To continue, ATR is important because academically, university student desire to explore

their cultural heritage, in the school mostly the focus is on the Christianity and Islamic

religion without considering the religion of Africa so it is very relevant to put ATR in courses

so that the students can study about their own religion and culture, most of the student think

that they have been deprived by western ways for so long and some of them want to try ATR

(Idowu, 1975) and this is very important because it will promote the traditional of African

people. ATR must be studied because it is part of the religion and great people with great past

and heritage and this people explain some people who were are were there 200 years ago.

Lastly ATR it also help to cerebrate life and also gives a limitation to the same life. It is

important to study it. When the child is born in the family people cerebrate that they have

increased in family and the community and they do some ceremony which include the
naming of the child this is important because it shows who are we as Africans and our

cultures and also the cerebration goes with the festivals that happen in the community after

the harvest of crop or during any happy occusation. And the ATR shows the limitation of life

that is too short, we born then we die and so we have to be depending on the creator (Idowu,

1975).

In summary ATR is the religious belief of African people which is associated with their own

cultures and there are some many places which we can find ATR here in Malawi such as

sacred places, ritual places and religious places and many more. These places help to keep the

religious safe and to keep the culture going generation to generation hence gives the

importance for ATR that it help in communication whereby people use ATR to give different

types of the message that they have. This is important because it gives chance to culture to

grow in a morden world.