Ruwa is the supreme god of the ancient Chagga religion of the

Chagga people The Chaga or Chagga () are a Bantu people, 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 s ...

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. It was practiced before

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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 chiefs and livestock. Ancestral spirits of ''Mangi'' (kings) must be honored on behalf of the entire Kingddom, while other ancestral spirits primarily influence the lives of their direct descendants.Moore, Sally Falk, and Paul Puritt. The Chagga and Meru of Tanzania: East Central Africa, Part XVIII. Routledge, 2017. ISBN 978-1-315-30949-1.

References

African gods {{deity-stub