African Gods and Saints in the Americas

Some Considerations

Abstract

In addressing the way in which African religious traditions transited the Atlantic during the slave trade, this article takes up a theology driven approach to African religion.  African religious traditions generally have spiritual figures that are local in character: ancestors, territorially delimited deities and lesser spiritual entities.  Major exceptions were areas like Angola where African deities were discovered to be Christian saints in Africa; and the Gbe speaking areas (in Togo, Benin and Nigeria) where some deities were not limited to a particular territory.  Although in general African deities could not pass the ocean, the techniques for locating spiritual entities by continuous revelation did, and so new deities were located in Brazil.  For many Africans in Brazil, the Catholic saints known in Angola became focus for worship and propitiation in Brazil; and there is documentary evidence that continuous revelation in Brazil allowed deities from the Gbe speaking area to transit the ocean as well, resulting in the earliest stages of the development of Candomblé.