_
This crucifix is an example of the African
integration of Christianity after the Portuguese missionaries arrived in Africa
in the fifteenth-century. The cross, in
Kongo culture, represents the crossroads where this world meets the spirit
world. Kongo artists continued creating
images of Christ, which tend to have African features, even after the
missionaries departed in the mid-18th century.
The boundaries between Christianity and African cosmology were blended frequently throughout Africa and this is an example of this interculturalization.
Crucifix, Kongo peoples, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, 17th century,
Copper alloy, Wikimedia Commons
The boundaries between Christianity and African cosmology were blended frequently throughout Africa and this is an example of this interculturalization.
Crucifix, Kongo peoples, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, 17th century,
Copper alloy, Wikimedia Commons
_In Vodou, Ezili Dantò watches over and cares for her children. When the
enslaved Africans where forcibly converted to Catholicism in Haiti, they
chose the image of the Madonna holding a child, specifically the dark
Mater Salvatoris you see above to represent their Vodun warrior/goddess,
Ezili Dantò.
Vodou is strongly acclimated to, if not merged with the Catholic faith. Besides the historical facts that both in Benin as well as in the French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies where Vodou landed, the Catholic Church was either the only and official religion, or was heavily propagated; only the Catholic Church offers the nearly identical spiritual practices that the Vodou could relate to.
Ezili Danto, Haiti, Wikimedia Commons
Vodou is strongly acclimated to, if not merged with the Catholic faith. Besides the historical facts that both in Benin as well as in the French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies where Vodou landed, the Catholic Church was either the only and official religion, or was heavily propagated; only the Catholic Church offers the nearly identical spiritual practices that the Vodou could relate to.
Ezili Danto, Haiti, Wikimedia Commons
St. Anthony, Kongo peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 17th century, Icons, p. 145