Shrines

Shrine is a word of Latin origin, which means a box used to contain a precious or sacred object of worship or veneration. The term is generally expanded to include buildings and places such as churches, temples, mosques, and cathedrals. The African cos-mological concept of a shrine is much more expansive. Thus, it could include animate and inanimate objects such as a river, building, rock, lake, mountain, or tree. African cosmology suggests that a shrine would not merely be a means of containment for some sacred or precious object or deity but comprises the essence of that which the African deems divine and worthy of worship and veneration. Because Africans conceptualize the universe and its entities as a composite whole, it is difficult to separate the shrine from the entity it represents or contains. African shrine activities include prayers, libation, sacrifices, divinations, offerings and consultations, and other sacred events.

African shrines vary in form and location. They are generally constructed of natural materials found in nature and can be found inside the African home, the African compound, the African village, and other venues such as forests or river banks.

African shrines are usually maintained by trained priests, priestesses, or family elders. African shrines are often dedicated to deities representative of families, lineages, vocations, clans, and stratification levels. Africans construct shrines as vehicles of interface between the practitioners and the divine entity, which is the focus of their worship/veneration. Shrines may also serve as sanctuary for both animals and human beings. In many spiritual systems, each of these entities has its distinct shrine, which serves as a mode of communication among the spiritual practitioner, a prospective deity, or God within the context of a particular spiritual system. Because of the African's vast concept of God, shrines are rarely dedicated to any Supreme Deity because there is no shrine that can contain the omniscient divinity.