Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Christianity is the predominant religion in the Republic of the Congo, with Catholicism being its largest denomination. Different sources give varying population figures for various denominations. The 2012 census reported 55% of the native-born population is Catholic, 32% Protestant, and 2% Muslim. [ 2 ]
Kongo religion (Kikongo: Bukongo or Bakongo) encompasses the traditional beliefs of the Bakongo people. Due to the highly centralized position of the Kingdom of Kongo , its leaders were able to influence much of the traditional religious practices across the Congo Basin . [ 1 ]
Traditional religions embody such concepts as pantheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups. The syncretic sects often merge Christianity with traditional beliefs and rituals, and may not be accepted by mainstream churches as part of Christianity.
The Kongo cosmogram (also called yowa or dikenga cross, Kikongo: dikenga dia Kongo or tendwa kia nza-n' Kongo) is a core symbol in Bakongo religion that depicts the physical world (Ku Nseke), the spiritual world (Ku Mpémba), the Kalûnga line that runs between the two worlds, the sacred river that forms a circle through the two worlds, the four moments of the sun, and the four elements.
Throughout the DRC the beliefs take on a number of forms, but they have a number of things in common: A creator spirit is thought to be sovereign of the spirit world, but this god is rarely the direct cause of events. In many Congolese languages, the name of the creator god derives from the word father or maker. Some groups regard the creator ...
Nzambi Mpungu was recorded as the name of the God of the Kongo people as early as the early 16th century by Portuguese who visited the Kingdom of Kongo. [1] [2]European missionaries along with Kongo intellectuals (including King Afonso I of Kongo) set out to render European Christian religious concepts into Kikongo and they chose this name to represent God.
The culture of the Republic of the Congo is rich, diverse and made up of a mix of about 4.5 million people in 2015 and many languages and customs. Half of Congolese people follow traditional beliefs, and there are 15 principle Bantu groups and more than 70 subgroups.
Because the sun is seen as a great force that powers everything in the universe, the Lozi also see Nyambe as the Sun God. Their oral traditions state that the first humans that Nyambe created were the Kamura people. After seeing how destructive his creation could be, he retreated to a mountaintop and never interacted directly with man again. [1]