Page 108 - Empires of Medieval West Africa

t h e m a n d e p e o p l e o f t h e m a l i E m p i r e

objects called amulets, and are believed to be sorcerers. They never
display their powers in public, but are respected and feared in their vil-
lages and towns. Group Insurance
Today, when Mande
hunters join their local
TradiTional religion in Mande SocieTy association, they pay a
membership fee. This
All African peoples had their own religions thousands of years before serves as a kind of insur-
they felt the influence of any outsiders. In sub-Saharan Africa, tra- ance fund for any mem-
ditional religion probably developed in prehistoric times along with bers injured by a wild
other fundamental aspects of culture. There are rock paintings in animal or wounded by a
southern Africa dating from 26,000, 6000, and 2000 b.c.e. that appear malfunctioning weapon.
to represent a continuous tradition of religious ritual practiced by
hunters.
Eventually, many African systems of thought were influenced by
the introduction of Islam and Christianity. Nevertheless, in most Afri-
can languages there is no word for “religion” because the spiritual and
ritual aspects of society are simply part of life. These cultural values
can be referred to as “traditional religions” or “belief systems.”
At all times in Mande society, including the days of the Mali
Empire, spiritual considerations have been a part of just about every
aspect of daily life. People in traditional rural villages are always
conscious of how their actions affect their relationship with invisible
inhabitants of the spirit world. There are names for different super-
natural beings, but nowadays most people refer to them all as genies,
which comes from the Arabic word jinn.
In the great oral tradition of Sunjata, which provides much infor-
mation about what the Mande bards believe life was like in the days of
the Mali Empire, virtually every deed performed by the heroic ances-
tors takes into account their relationship with the world of the spirits.
Early in the 13th century, rulers of Mali were starting to become
Muslim and some of them made the pilgrimage to Mecca. But the vast
majority of their subjects kept their spiritual connections to the tradi-
tional religion of their ancestors. Nowadays, most people who live in
the ancient imperial heartland claim to be Muslims. But many of them
practice Islam and also keep something of their ancient belief system.
Everyone in Mande society understands that humans and genies
share the world. But some occupations demand particular knowledge
and skill in communicating with supernatural beings. Shrine priests,
carvers of masks and other ritual objects, herbalists, healers, midwives
(women who deliver babies), and various kinds of fortunetellers confront

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