Roog or Rog (Koox in the

Cangin languages The Cangin languages are spoken by 200,000 people (as of 2007) in a small area east of Dakar, Senegal. They are the languages spoken by the Serer people who do not speak the Serer language (''Serer-Sine''). Because the people are ethnically Ser ...

) is the

Supreme God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and creator of the

Serer religion The Serer religion, or ''a ƭat Roog'' ("the way of the Divine"), is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog ( ...

of the

Senegambia The Senegambia (other names: Senegambia region or Senegambian zone,Barry, Boubacar, ''Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade'', (Editors: David Anderson, Carolyn Brown; trans. Ayi Kwei Armah; contributors: David Anderson, American Council of Le ...

region. Thiaw, Issa Laye, "La Religiosite de Seereer, Avant et pendant leur Islamisation". Ethiopiques no: 54, Revue semestrielle de Culture Négro-

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

ine, Nouvelle série, volume 7, 2e Semestre (1991

(Retrieved : 25 May 2012)

Names and titles

In Serer language, Serer, ''roog'' means sky or the heavens.Gravrand, "Pangool", p 176 Roog is sometimes referred to as ''Roog Sene'' (''Rog Seen, Rog Sene, Rooh Seen,'' etc.) which means ''Roog the Immensity'', or by extension, ''the merciful god''. Other titles which are used outside of prayers include ''Roog Dangandeer Seen'' ("Roog the omnipresent", by extension it can also mean "the Omnipresent God"), ''Roog o Caaci’in Seen'' (Roog our ancestor), ''Roog o maak Seen'' r ''"Roog a faha"''(Roog is great), ''Roog a yaal'in Seen'' (Roog our Lord), ''Roog o Ndimaan Seen'' (Roog! The giver of the fruit

r ''life'' R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irela ...

, and "The Master of the World". The name Roog is probably a corruption of the deity Koox.Gravrand, "Pangool", pp 169-171 This may stem from the Serers of

Kaabu The Kaabu Empire (1537–1867), also written Gabu, Ngabou, and N'Gabu, was an empire in the Senegambia region centered within modern northeastern Guinea-Bissau, larger parts of today's Gambia; extending into Koussanar, Koumpentoum, regio ...

or Tekrur (present-day

Futa Tooro Futa Toro ( Wolof and ff, Fuuta Tooro ''𞤆𞤵𞥄𞤼𞤢 𞤚𞤮𞥄𞤪𞤮''; ar, فوتا تورو), often simply the Futa, is a semidesert region around the middle run of the Senegal River. This region is along the border of Senegal and ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣� ...

)Gravrand, "Pangool", p 169 after their exodus in the 11th century following a

religious war A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to w ...

. According to the oral tradition of the Cangin, the original name of the supreme being was Kooh.

Beliefs

Roog is the

Supreme being In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and

Creator God A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatris ...

of the Serer pantheon.Gravrand, "Pangool", p 183 Roog is the source of life and everything returns to Roog. Roog is "the point of departure and conclusion, the origin and the end". The practitioners of the Serer traditional religion do not directly pray to Roog, choosing instead to pray through ancestral spirits known as

pangool Pangool (in Serer and Cangin) singular: Fangool (var : ''Pangol'' and ''Fangol''), are the ancient saints and ancestral spirits of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. The Pangool play a crucial role in Serer religion and h ...

, and as a result Roog has no place of worship. It is considered blasphemous to make images of Roog. Thiaw, Issa laye, "Mythe de la création du monde selon les sages sereer", pp 45-50, 59-61 n"Enracinement et Ouverture" – ''"Plaidoyer pour le dialogue interreligieux"'',

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sa ...

(23 and 24 June 2009),

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in ...

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(Retrieved : 25 May 2012)

Gender

The Serer believe that Roog is an incorporeal and hermaphroditic being, possessing both a male and female nature. Depending on the situation, an individual may attempt to evoke its male or female side by using whichever pronoun is appropriate, although in scholarly works written in French language, French and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

the masculine pronoun is usually used.

Saltigue The Saltigue (other spelling: Saltigué, Saltigui or Saltigi in Serer), are Serer high priests and priestesses who preside over the religious ceremonies and affairs of the Serer people, such as the '' Xooy'' (or ''Xoy'') ceremony, the biggest e ...

s refer to Roog as "father and mother" during their consecration rituals, while in the

Serer creation myth The Serer creation myth is the traditional creation myth of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of the Serer religion believe these narratives to be sacred. Some aspects of Serer religious ...

it is both grandfather and grandmother, with the grandmother aspect giving birth to humanity.Henry Gravrand, "La civilisation Sereer - Pangool", in Universität Frankfurt am Main, Frobenius-Institut, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kulturmorphologie, Frobenius Gesellschaft, "Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Volumes 43-44", F. Steiner (1997), pp 144-5,

References

Bibliography

* Thiaw, Issa Laye, "La Religiosite de Seereer, Avant et pendant leur Islamisation", nEthiopiques no: 54, Revue semestrielle de Culture Négro-Africaine, Nouvelle série, volume 7, 2e Semestre (1991

(Retrieved : 25 May 2012) *Thiaw, Issa laye, "Mythe de la création du monde selon les sages sereer", pp 45–50, 59-61 n"Enracinement et Ouverture" - "Plaidoyer pour le dialogue interreligieux",

(23 and 24 June 2009),

br>
(Retrieved : 25 May 2012) *Ndiaye, Ousmane Sémou, "Diversité et unicité sérères : l’exemple de la région de

Thiès Thiès (; ar, ثيس, Ṯyass; Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population officially estimated at 320,000 in 2005. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St- ...

", Éthiopiques, no. 54, vol. 7, 2e semestre 199

(Retrieved : 25 May 2012) * Louis Diène Faye, Faye, Louis Diène, "Mort et Naissance le monde Sereer", Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines (1983), * Gravrand, Henry, "La Civilisation Sereer - Pangool", vol. 2. Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal (1990), *Gravrand, Henry, "Le Symbolisme sereer : Mythe du Saas et symboles", "Revue de Psycho-Pathologie" vol. 9 N^o 2 Dakar (1971) (Published and reviewed under the title "Le symbolisme serer" nPsychopath. Afric. 1973, IX, 2, 237-265 [in
Psychopathologie africaine
- (Link retrieved : 25 July 2012) *Kellog, Day Otis, & Smith, William Robertson,"The Encyclopædia Britannica: latest edition. A dictionary of arts, sciences and general literature", Volume 25, Werner (1902) *Madiya, Clémentine Faïk-Nzuji, "Canadian Museum of Civilization", Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, "International Centre for African Language, Literature and Tradition", (Louvain, Belgium), *Kesteloot, Lilyan, "Introduction aux religions d'Afrique noire", s.n., 2007, p 50, * Universität Frankfurt am Main, Frobenius-Institut, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kulturmorphologie, Frobenius Gesellschaft, "Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Volumes 43-44", F. Steiner (1997), pp 144–5, " Henry Gravrand,"La Civilisation Sereer - ''Pangool''"[in]",

Names and titles

Beliefs

Gender

References

Bibliography

Further reading