Chagga Religion
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Chagga Religion
Chagga religion (''Dini ya Wachagga'' in Swahili, ''Vanruvairuwa'' in Kichagga) was the pre-colonial Bantu religion of the Chagga people of the former Chagga states on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in present-day Tanzania. Overview In Chagga cosmology, the natural and supernatural realms are intertwined, with every aspect of the world considered to possess a supernatural influence. Human actions are believed to carry significant otherworldly implications, where misfortunes may arise from improper conduct leading to ancestral punishment, the malevolent practices of individuals, or the negative intentions of either people or spirits. The attribution of misfortune is often a subject of debate within the community. Conversely, the explanation for good fortune involves the need to coax favorable outcomes from a universe inhabited by capricious ancestral spirits and potent forces. This coaxing is achieved through ritual acts aimed at appeasing and controlling these spirits. A prominent de ...
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Swahili Language
Swahili, also known as as it is referred to endonym and exonym, in the Swahili language, is a Bantu languages, Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent littoral islands). Estimates of the number of Swahili speakers, including both native and second-language speakers, vary widely. They generally range from 150 million to 200 million; with most of its native speakers residing in Tanzania and Kenya. Swahili has a significant number of loanwords from other languages, mainly Arabic, as well as from Portuguese language, Portuguese, English language, English and German language, German. Around 40% of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including the name of the language ( , a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coasts'). The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab slave trade, Arab traders and the Northeast Bantu languages, B ...
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Sexual Reproduction
Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote that develops into an organism composed of cells with two sets of chromosomes ( diploid). This is typical in animals, though the number of chromosome sets and how that number changes in sexual reproduction varies, especially among plants, fungi, and other eukaryotes. In placental mammals, sperm cells exit the penis through the male urethra and enter the vagina during copulation, while egg cells enter the uterus through the oviduct. Other vertebrates of both sexes possess a cloaca for the release of sperm or egg cells. Sexual reproduction is the most common life cycle in multicellular eukaryotes, such as animals, fungi and plants. Sexual reproduction also occurs in some unicellular eukaryotes. Sexual reproduction does not occur in pro ...
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Banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a peel, which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless ( parthenocarp) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – '' Musa acuminata'' and ''Musa balbisiana'', or hybrids of them. ''Musa'' species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia; they were probably domesticated in New Guinea. They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make banana paper and textiles, while some are grown as ornamental plants. The world's largest producers of bananas ...
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Chagga Kata (calabash) Cups For Mbege 1891
The Chaga or Chagga () are a Bantu ethnic group from Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania and Arusha Region of Tanzania. They are the third-largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They founded the now former sovereign Chagga states on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro which governed both the current Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions (eastern) of Tanzania. The Chagga people are recognized as one of the economically successful groups in Tanzania. Their relative wealth is attributed to the fertile soil of volcanic Mount Kilimanjaro, which supports intensive agricultural activities. The Chagga have developed a strong work ethic and engaged in trade, contributing to their current economic standing in the country. They are known for historically employing various agricultural techniques, including sophisticated irrigation systems and terracing. Furthermore, they have intensive farming methods for centuries, a tradition that dates back to the time of the Bantu expansion within their historical stat ...
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Devil
A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a '' fallen angel'') or 4) a symbol of human evil. Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil.Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 , pp. 41–75 The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature, developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names— Satan (Judaism), Lucifer (Christianity), Bee ...
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Dracaena (plant)
''Dracaena'' () is a genus of about 200 species of trees and succulent shrubs. The formerly accepted genera '' Pleomele'' and '' Sansevieria'' are now included in ''Dracaena''. In the APG IV classification system, it is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). It has also formerly been separated (sometimes with '' Cordyline'') into the family Dracaenaceae or kept in the Agavaceae (now Agavoideae). The name ''dracaena'' is derived from the romanized form of the Ancient Greek – ''drakaina'', "female dragon". The majority of the species are native to Africa and the Canary Islands, southern Asia through to northern Australia, with two species in tropical Central America. Description Species of ''Dracaena'' have a secondary thickening meristem in their trunk, termed Dracaenoid thickening by some authors, which is quite different from the thickening meristem found in dicotyledonous plants. This characteristic is shared with me ...
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Poison
A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broad sense. Whether something is considered a poison or not may depend on the amount, the circumstances, and what living things are present. Poisoning could be accidental or deliberate, and if the cause can be identified there may be ways to neutralise the effects or minimise the symptoms. In biology, a poison is a chemical substance causing death, injury or harm to organisms or their parts. In medicine, poisons are a kind of toxin that are delivered passively, not actively. In industry the term may be negative, something to be removed to make a thing safe, or positive, an agent to limit unwanted pests. In ecological terms, poisons introduced into the environment can later cause unwanted effects elsewhere, or in other pa ...
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Mythology
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by religious (when they are closely linked to religion or spirituality) and secular authorities. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. Etymology The word "myth" comes from Ancient ...
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Marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and between them and their Affinity (law), in-laws. It is nearly a cultural universal, but the definition of marriage varies between cultures and religions, and over time. Typically, it is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be Premarital sex, compulsory before pursuing sexual activity. A marriage ceremony is called a wedding, while a private marriage is sometimes called an elopement. Around the world, there has been a general trend towards ensuring Women's rights, equal rights for women and ending discrimination and harassment against couples who are Interethnic marriage, interethnic, Interracial marriage, interracial, In ...
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Ancestor
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom one is descended. In law, the person from whom an estate has been inherited." Relationship Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some bacteria and other organisms capable of horizontal gene transfer. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female hypergamy. Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2'' ...
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West Kilimanjaro Language
West Kilimanjaro, or West Chaga, is a Bantu language of Tanzania spoken by the Chaga people. There are several dialects: * Rwa (Rwo, Meru, ''Kirwo''), or Meru, from Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ... * Mashami (''Kimashame''), or "Hai" (''Kihai'') * Siha * Kiwoso (Kibosho including Kindi, Kombo, Mweka) * Masama * Ng’uni Phonology Vowels Consonants * may also be heard as uvular in free variation. * can also be realized as �or among some speakers. * is found in loanwords. * only rarely occurs. References Languages of Tanzania Chaga languages {{Bantu-lang-stub ...
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Ruwa (god)
Ruwa is the supreme god of the ancient Chagga religion of the Chagga people of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. It was practiced before German colonial occupation in the 1890s. Ruwa is one of the Bantu many prominent deities of the Bantu people The Bantu peoples are an Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native Demographics of Africa, African List of ethnic groups of Africa, ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The language ... of East and southern Africa. Overview In Chagga cosmology, Ruwa, who was associated with the sun, is believed to reside in the sky alongside his consort, the moon. Sacrifices to Ruwa are traditionally performed at high noon. While these superior spirits typically do not intervene directly in human affairs, the spirits of the deceased, who inhabit the earth, play a more active role in the lives of the living. The spirit world is perceived as a reflection of the earthly realm, populated with powerful ...
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