Ancestors & memory
24 related entries. Shared tags aid navigation; they do not imply identical beliefs or practices.
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Ngoyo and Woyo proverb wisdom
A historically grounded introduction to Ngoyo and to the Woyo art of using carved proverbs for counsel, disagreement, and reflection.
Lower Congo · Cabinda · 9 highlights↗Kongo cosmology
Related Kongo-speaking traditions that connect cycles of life, the ancestral realm, ritual specialists, and community concerns.
West Central Africa · 5 highlights↗Yorùbá and Ifá
An interconnected field of ethics, divination, poetry, ritual, and philosophical reflection across Yorùbá communities.
Nigeria · Benin · Togo · 5 highlights↗Igbo thought and practice
Ideas of life, destiny, ethical authority, work, and social responsibility expressed in many Igbo settings.
Nigeria · 5 highlights↗Vodun in Benin
Living religious traditions relating divinities, ancestors, communities, and the world around them.
Benin · Togo · 5 highlights↗Haitian Vodou
A distinct Caribbean religion formed through African continuities, Haitian history, and living communities.
Haiti · 5 highlights↗Gnawa
North African music and ritual traditions formed through long histories of exchange, displacement, and devotion.
Morocco · 5 highlights↗Ancient Egyptian wisdom
Ethical teaching, ritual, cosmology, and conceptions of order from ancient Egypt, firmly part of African history.
Northeast Africa · 5 highlights↗Māori concepts and responsibilities
Interrelated ideas of genealogy, care, hospitality, and guardianship in Māori life.
Aotearoa New Zealand · 5 highlights↗Luba lukasa memory boards
Luba lukasa are crafted memory boards interpreted by trained members of the mbudye association.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · 5 highlights↗Cuban Lukumí and Regla de Ocha
Lukumí or Regla de Ocha developed in Cuba through Yoruba continuities and Afro Cuban community life under slavery and freedom.
Cuba · 5 highlights↗Brazilian Candomblé
Candomblé is an Afro Brazilian religious family that developed through African continuities and Brazilian histories of enslavement, resistance, and community building.
Brazil · 5 highlights↗K’iche’ Maya Popol Vuh
The Popol Vuh is a K’iche’ Maya narrative of creation, the Hero Twins, and community origins.
Guatemala · 5 highlights↗Serer Xooy
Xooy is a Serer gathering before the rainy season in west-central Senegal.
West-central Senegal · 6 highlights↗Jamaican Kumina
Kumina is a living Afro-Jamaican religious tradition with documented Central African connections.
Jamaica · 6 highlights↗African American Hoodoo and Conjure
Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork name overlapping African American traditions of practical spiritual knowledge.
United States · 6 highlights↗Obeah in Caribbean history
Obeah is a historically charged Caribbean term for varied spiritual, healing, and protective practices.
English-speaking Caribbean · 6 highlights↗Aṉangu Tjukurpa
Aṉangu understand Tjukurpa as living law, knowledge, and responsibility connecting people, ancestors, and Country.
Uluṟu–Kata Tjuṯa · Central Australia · 5 highlights↗Marlaloo Songline
The publicly shared Marlaloo Songline links story, named places, language, and cultural relationships in the Kimberley.
Kimberley · Australia · 5 highlights↗Rabinal Achí dance drama
Rabinal Achí is a Rabinaleb’ Maya dance drama in which political conflict, ancestry, masks, and music meet.
Rabinal · Guatemala · 6 highlights↗Taíno heritage and living identity
Taíno heritage is part of the living Indigenous Caribbean, despite a long colonial story that declared Native peoples vanished.
Puerto Rico · Dominican Republic · Cuba · diaspora · 6 highlights↗Moore Town Maroon heritage
Moore Town Maroon heritage joins collective autonomy, ancestral ceremonies, language, and treaty land in Jamaica.
Blue and John Crow Mountains · Jamaica · 6 highlights↗Gunditjmara knowledge at Budj Bim
At Budj Bim, Gunditjmara knowledge connects Country, deep time, water engineering, kooyang aquaculture, and continuing cultural practice.
Western Victoria · Australia · 6 highlights↗Edo Iyoba and women’s authority in Benin
Iyoba is the title of queen mother in the Edo kingdom of Benin.
Benin City · Nigeria · 6 highlights↗