African Cultural Practices - Essay Example

African Cultural PracticesAfrican is herb of diverse cultural practices, traditional cultural practices have in great deal influenced art domain in African society. African arts have really drawn attention of many people who visit museums. However, despite the fact that they have dominated art industry, it has become difficult to understand the meaning of some of the cultural practices by African communities. This has majorly affected most colonial masters who generalize African culture without vivid understanding of the meaning and the reason behind ceremonies.

Ceremonies differ greatly from one community to the other depending on their cultural beliefs. The case in point is how Oduduwa ceremony is presided over by priests and priestess in Yoruba land found in Nigeria. Although Africa is rich in ceremonies, the sacred ceremony for the Oduduwa the first king of the Yoruba community is one of kind. In this festival, drumming is prohibited and instead a percussive instrument known as eganira is used (Olupona 83). Notably, the instrument is particularly used by priests and priestess who have learnt how to effectively produce desired sound.

Sound from drums and chanting from priests usually communicate to the spirits and ancestors thus they are evoked to answer the needs of the society. The ceremony has of great important especially for those that believe in power of traditional beliefs. Chanting from the priests and priestess has enabled Yoruba community engage deity forces with courage as they try to inspire them through chanting. The Oduduwa ceremony was first conducted in Nigeria; it specifically started at Yoruba land a region that was formally dominated by the Yoruba community.

The ceremony initially started as a move to engage forces from the evil. Because of their rich cultural practices, the Yoruba community has since continued to enjoy high profit made from the sales of beads and objects. This has really boosted Nigerian economy because of high income obtained from the tourism sector. Interestingly, Yoruba community has practiced the ceremony up-to-date despite challenging influence from modern way of life especially targeting the young generation. Priests and priestess take the center stage of the ceremony; they are the ones in charge of residing over the ceremony.

Priests are perceived of being mystical since they obtain powerful spirit during their initiation. They relentlessly learn how to tune their voices like an instrument in order to contend the supernatural powers. However, not every priest or priestess who have a good voice can chant. It is believed that deity Ogun is only inspired by the Ijala chanters of the Yoruba community. They therefore preside over most of the Oduduwa ceremonies. Despite chanting, Yoruba priests and priestess make divination speech, which is believed to be inspiration to spirits, which can possibly make it easy to achieve desired results.

In conclusion, African practices have rocked the entire global market despite the fact that, some people do not comprehend the meaning and the reason why Africans emphasis on maintaining their cultural activities. This has promoted tourism, which in turn has boosted African economy. However, there is need to instill importance of culture among the young generation.Works citedOlupona, Jacob. African Religions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.