« 2023. # 6 (174)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2023. № 6 (174), 1437—1449

UDK [398.4+392/393:27-528.5](=1:6-15):001.891Ю.Шумовський 

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2023.06.1437

SYSTEM OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND RITUAL TRADITIONS OF THE TRIBES OF WEST AFRICA: RITUALLY MAGICAL ASPECT (ON THE MATERIALS OF SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE OF YURIY SHUMOVSKY)

LYTVYN Mykola

• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1010-2329
• ResearcherID: C-1385-2019 (http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-1385-2019)
• Professor, Head of the Center for Ukrainian-Polish researches, Ivan Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 4 Kozelnyts’ka, 79026 , Ukraine
• Contacts: e-mail: lytvynmr@gmail.com

TARAS Yaroslav

• ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7241-9466
• Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor,
• Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
• Head of the modern ethnology department,
• 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine;
• Professor,
• Lviv Polytechnic National University,
• department of architecture and design,
• 12, Bandera street, 79013, Lviv, Ukraine,
• Contacts: e-mail: etnomod@ukr.net

Abstract. The article is based on the elaborated work of Yu. Shumovsky, analyzes the materials devoted to the system of religious beliefs and ritual traditions of West African tribes, which is represented by the development and practice of maternity (observance of ancient customs) and funeral rituals (places and methods of burial, specifics of the funeral ceremony) worship of plants (combination of symbols and meanings of the healing and miraculous properties of certain representatives of the flora), animals (honoring the mythological creature of the snake – area of ​​distribution and history of origin), natural elements (a variety of rituals associated with water spirits), beliefs (in the afterlife of the soul,beliefs (in the afterlife of the soul, afterlife), rituals (circumcision, excision — as an important element of the religious practice of African peoples).

The novelty of the publication is the introduction into scientific circulation of previously unpublished materials about the traditional-customary system of West African tribes collected by the Ukrainian scientist Yury Shumovsky.

The purpose of the article is to highlight research by scientists into the system of religious beliefs and ritual traditions of West African tribes.

The source base is materials from the scientific heritage of Yuriy Shumovsky, contained in the funds of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve of Dubno.

The methodological basis of the article is the principle of systematization, thanks to which new inferential knowledge about the level of development of life and culture of representatives of ancient African culture is formulated.

The ritual-magical aspect in the reproduction of ritual actions at the level of three components «animism» – «religion» – «magic» is outlined, in the basis of which the role of the main performer of the human magician – the «African magician» is highlighted. It was established that the presence of all the described elements of magical beliefs and rituals is a determining indicator of the formation of African peoples’ own value system, which emphasizes their originality and identity.The importance of introducing into the scientific circulation the results of the study of the scholar’s works of the African period, which will contribute to the proper presentation of the figure of Yu. Shumovsky as an «Africanist» and the highlighting of the traditional-customary system of the tribes of West Africa, is determined.

Keywords: West Africa, Yuri Shumovsky, animism, fetishism, magic, African wizard, beliefs, rites, rituals, worship.

Received 30.10.2023

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