Yoruba dance is the most important non-verbal art form for the people of West Africa. The dances’ history, cultural roots, and aesthetic values form two very distinct ways of life. Bharata Natyam originated in the temples of South India. This classical dance evolved from the polytheistic religion, Hinduism. The four books of the Hindu religion, known as the holy Four Vedas, bring ritual and sacred elements to the classical dance.
The continent of Africa is very diverse in its culture. Not only are there culture variations from one country to another, but within an individual country as well. Much of Africa’s cultural activity centers on family and ethnic groups. Art, music and oral literature serve to reinforce existing religious and social patterns. Many of Africa’s inhabitants are of indigenous origin, which contributes to the scientific notation that Africa was the birthplace of all human species.
For many indigenous peoples, the natural world is a valued source of food, health, spirituality and identity. Land is both a critical resource that sustains life and a major cause of struggle and even death. Each indigenous culture is distinct and unique. While many peoples may express similar worldviews and a common indigenous identity, their cultures are nonetheless based on different histories, environments, and creative spirits. (www.indigenouspeople.net/) Here in Trinidad indigenous people existed for over 6,000 years before the arrival of Columbus, and numbered at least 40,000 at the time of Spanish settlement in 1592.
Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Although unrelated ritual that exit today in West Africa, most traditional dances have been connected to or are performed during religious ceremonies. Since such ceremonies are public events, in most cases, officials and elders presence are required and must be able dancers. Dance in Africa is not a separate art, but a part of the whole complex of living. For Africans, the magic of all life is experienced.
Family plays such a central role in Igbo life that the spirits of their ancestors are consulted for almost every decision and even serve as judges in legal trials (in the form of masked elders). The Igbo religion has a tendency to symbolize
Several different forms include: masks, soapstone carvings, walking canes, ebony carvings, jewelry, musical instruments, and music. Masks are a very big part of African tribes’ culture and religion. Masks were worn in harvest festivals, initiation rites, war preparations, peace gatherings, and ceremonies for reunions, deaths, births, and marriage. The masks were typically made of wood, bronze, brass, copper, and ivory, and decorated using, colored beads, bone, animal skins and vegetable fibers. Soapstone carvings are usually found and made in Kenya.
Some of the most complex rituals that have been studied by scholars are found in Nigerian cultures such as those of the Yoruba and Edo peoples, that bear some resemblances to the Western notion of theatre. [4] Since every mask has a specific spiritual meaning, most traditions comprise several different traditional masks. The traditional religion of the Dogon people of Mali, for example, comprises three main cults (the Awa or cult of the dead, the Bini or cult of the communication with the spirits, and the Lebe or cult of nature); each of these has its pantheon of spirits, corresponding to 78 different types of masks overall. It is often the case that the artistic quality and complexity of a mask reflects the relative importance of the portrayed spirit in the systems of beliefs of a particular people; for example, simpler masks such as the kple kple of the Baoulé people of Côte d'Ivoire (essentially a circle with minimal eyes, mouth and horns) are associated to minor spirits. [5] Subject and style[edit] African masks are usually shaped after a human face or some animal's muzzle, albeit rendered
Maasailand is a cultural area which stretches from southern Kenya to northern Tanzania and has been inhabited by the Maasai people for thousands of years. The Maasai are a people characterized by their slender frames, dark skin, and tall stature, and posses a lifestyle based upon unique cultural traits. The name Maasai comes from the indigenous language of the people, Ma, and literally means people who speak Ma. Because the people are tied together by their language, they share unique similarities with other Ma speaking tribes of East Africa, such as the Samburu. However, the Maasai are the largest of the Ma speaking tribes, and are said to have nearly a million members living between the two countries they inhabit.
Now this might be true of all the four areas in this time however with History the actual language it was told in was very important to the History itself. For example in the tribes that habited parts of West Africa they passed down their history in chants set to drum beat where the language of the ‘songs’ where set in time with the rhythm and was used to depict the mood of the historical story. Also in the same tribes they had their own individual words for certain things in their life style that others with a different history wouldn’t understand like the ojobwa word “assiniboin” which literally translates as ones who cook using stones or “Peoria” which refers to carrying a pack on his back. Both these words relate to their history of hunter gathers and of travelling over the land carrying their few belongings and wouldn’t make sense if used to tell British history and so history is dependent on the language it is told in do define it and explain it properly and authentically. Maths and science as areas of knowledge although are taught and recorded in language they are comenly agreed on to have only one answer
H. Edward Deluzain said that “Names are a part of every culture and that they are of enormous importance both to the people who receive names and to the societies that gives them” (Deluzain, 1996). In the Biblical era, names were given to individual because of the meaning and if a name was change it was because there was a change in status. Throughout the Bible, people are given names at birth to reflect something of significance or describe the course of their lives. In other cultures, names are derived from family trees, events that took place during the pregnancy and some name are based off the month in which a child was born and the gender of the child. “The names parents choose for their children also reflect the relationship between name and identity that the symbolic contract seals” (Deluzain, 1996).