Oracles and altars

ORACLES The oracles is the answer of a divinity to the question posed by a believer. The word is also applied to the rite by which the invocation is made and even to the material objects that serve during these rites. In traditional or animistic societies the common man is considered very little to dare address himself directly to a divinity and for fear of offending it or unleashing his anger to lead the divinities through a mediator, specialist in these negotiations with the hereafter, as is usually the sorcerer, the priest or the soothsayer. In all ages and in all civilizations the oracle has played an essential role in solving the problems of men by obtaining the favors of the powers of the hereafter. The oracle is not only a means employed in divination, but it allows you to discover what is hidden or get help or clairvoyance to make a decision. Of all the divinatory practices employed in Africa one of the most well-known in the Western world is undoubtedly the oracle of Baulé mice, although they were the Guro the first to use this type of oracle. It is a wooden container, with two floors inside. On the lower floor, separated by a small platform or floor from the upper, the fortune teller introduces a small mouse to fast. On the upper floor he has previously arranged a few sticks, a few pieces of wood or cauris placed in a certain position. Add some rice, cereal, or any other food. Attracted by the smell of food, the mouse rises, through a hole intended for this purpose in the separation plate of both floors, and when eating the food displaces the sticks or cauris. Meanwhile the fortune teller has closed his top floor and pronounced ritual enchantments. Then the new order of objects provoked by the mouse is interpreted by the soothsayer, immersed in meditation. The mouse, as an animal very much in contact with the earth, has a close relationship with the goddess of the earth Asyé, wife of the God of Heaven Niamyé. Small oracles using a cricket instead of a mouse are also commonly used. The cricket is also directly related to the earth. Another of the best known oracles is the Fâ divinatory tray of the Yoruba ALTARES FAMILIARES The family altar is a sacred place intended for the cult of ancestors and used by practically all the animistic ethnicities of black Africa. It is the center of the vital energies and the par excellence in which the world of the living and that of the dead enters into communication, or rather that of the ancestors, because they have not died, they have simply passed into another dimension. In these altars, statues, masks and other objects intended to worship ancestors will be kept in the shelter of the eyes of the profane. Most of these statues represent the ancestors, others are erected to thank a divinity for the service rendered. In both cases they serve to intensify devotion. Normally these altars are erected in a hut, called sanctuary, especially dedicated to worship. This is where the family will celebrate their rites, prayers, libations and even animal sacrifices intended to obtain the favor of their deceased. And this is where the deceased transmit their strength, their advice, their teachings and all their help to those who still remain is this world of the living. Life in traditional Africa is inconceivable without this interaction. These altars can take multiple forms. Sometimes, as in the case of some ethnic groups, such as Igbo (Nigeria) with the Ikenga the altar can be reduced to a statue or even a mask.