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 S ...

) is the Supreme God and creator of the

Serer religion The Serer religion or Serer spirituality (''Serer language, Serer:'' A ƭat Roog, meaning "the way of the Divine", "path of God", or "religious life"Kalis, Simone, ''Médecine traditionnelle, religion et divination chez les Seereer Siin du Sén� ...

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. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

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 Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present anywhere and everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to describ ...

", 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'', 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 Kaabu (1537–1867), also written Gabu, Ngabou, and N'Gabu, was a federation of Mandinka kingdoms in the Senegambia region centered within modern northeastern Guinea-Bissau, large parts of today's Gambia, and extending into Koussanar, Kou ...

or Tekrur (present-day

Futa Tooro Futa Toro ( Wolof and , , ; ), often simply the Futa, is a semidesert region around the middle run of the Senegal River. This region, along the border of Senegal and Mauritania, is historically significant as the center of several Fulani states, ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

)Gravrand, "Pangool", p 169 after their exodus in the 11th century from Takrur following their religious persecution. According to the oral tradition of the Cangin, the original name of the supreme being was Kooh.

Beliefs

Roog is the

Supreme being {{broad-concept article A supreme deity, supreme god or supreme being is the conception of the sole deity of monotheistic religions or, in polytheistic or henotheistic religions, the paramount deity or supernatural entity which is above all other ...

and

Creator God A creator deity or creator god 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 monolatristic traditions separate a ...

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 hist ...

, 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 e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headq ...

(23 and 24 June 2009),

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

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(Retrieved : 25 May 2012)

Gender

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

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 (; ; Noon language, Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population of 391,253 in 2023. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road (Senegal), N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and Saint-Louis, ...

", 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