Angels-AFRICA

There are several examples of God’s servants, messengers, and agents
in African religious beliefs. The many divinities of the Ashanti, for
instance, are thought to be God’s servants and mouthpieces, acting
between him and his creatures. The Ewe consider the divinity of the
cowries to be God’s servant, and the Igbo divinities are said to be
God’s agents.
The Chagga believe that God has a minister or servant who carries
out his instructions and it was he who found out that humanity
had broken God’s commandment by eating the forbidden fruit. God
sent his servant to punish the people of the world, and on two other
occasions to warn them against living wickedly. It is believed that this
demigod also causes sickness, famine, smallpox, and war, mocks the
wicked, kills people, and demands cattle, sheep, and goats as sacrifices
to God.
The Swazi say that God has a “one-legged” messenger, while the
Songhay believe that there are “angels” who survey the world and
humanity from God’s seventh heaven. The Lozi assign two councillors
to God, one of whom is his messenger; both are intermediaries
between God and human beings. It is reported that the Gumuz have
guardian angels who act as intermediaries between men and God and
refer human prayers to him.
According to the Vugusu, God has servants who are the spirits of
people that died long ago and who now act as guardians of families
and individuals. The spirits of the first two men on earth are considered
nearest to God in rank and act as messengers and executors of the
divine will. An evil divinity is also said to have servants that are the
spirits of wicked humans like witches and sorcerers and who are similarly
evil-minded, bringing sickness and death to men. The Yao see
God as having many servants. The Igbira think that all departed are
God’s humble agents or servants.
Some societies personify natural objects or describe them mythologically
as God’s servants or agents. The Ashanti hold that God once
sent the rivers and sea, who were his children, to receive honor from
men, and in turn to confer benefits on mankind. The religious leader
of the Meru is referred to as the messenger of God, whom God selects
and who stands as his representative. The Nuer believe that God uses
a variety of things—such as natural circumstances, spirits, spears, and
beasts—as agents through which he takes human life.
The Bambuti consider lightning and rainbows to be servants of
God. They also hold that he has spirit servants in charge of game.
Rain is considered by the Suk to be God’s servant whose duty is to carry water; when this water spills, men experience or see it as rain.
The Didinga do not eat fish, believing that fish came down to earth in
lightning as God’s messengers.
A number of peoples consider their kings and chiefs to be God’s
special agents through whom he carries out his rulership of the world.
Such societies include the Bavenda, Sangama, Shilluk, and Shona.
Although the basic Yoruba worldview is ultimately monotheistic,
the Yoruba are simultaneously polytheistic, postulating a pantheon
of some four hundred demigods called orishas. In the syncretistic
religious systems of the Western Hemisphere—systems
such as Santeria (Cuba) and Candomblé (Brazil) that mix the
Yoruba tradition with Catholicism and other religious elements—
orisha are retained as important demigods. In these later religions,
the comparison between orishas and angels is particularly appropriate,
given that Catholic saints and angels supplied important models
for the role orishas play in these new religions. For example,
among the Candomblé it is believed that each person receives two
orishas (one male, one female) at birth, who play the role of
“guardian angels.”
Among some African peoples there is a sort of angelic rite in
which angels are specifically evoked and called down, either to give
and receive messages or to enter into the body of the ritualist. In its
simplest manifestation this results in the phenomenon of “possession,”
which in some religions is the chief rite. Whether the beings who possess
are called gods or spirits, they may certainly be seen as angels,
since they come down from and return to heaven and form a link
between humanity and God.