Editing Spirit possession (section)

== African traditions ==

===Central Africa===
{{anchor|Congo|Democratic Republic of the Congo}}

====Democratic Republic of the Congo====
[[Zebola]]<ref>[http://www.aequatoria.be/04common/020publications_pdf/Etudes%20Aequatoria%20-%206%20Jebola.pdf ETUDES AEQUATORIA·6 JEBOLA Textes, rites et signification Thérapie traditionnelle mongo Piet KORSE MONDJULU Lokonga BONGONDO Bonje wa Mpay  Centre IEquatoria B. P. 276 Bamanya -Mbandaka-Zaire 1990]</ref> is a women's spirit possession dance ritual practised by certain ethnic groups of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]. It is believed to have therapeutic qualities and has been noted in the West as a traditional form of [[psychotherapy]].

It originated among the [[Mongo people]] but is also practised among various ethnic groups in [[Kinshasa]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Lambek | first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Lambek| title=Bodies and persons: comparative perspectives from Africa and Melanesia | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge, U.K. New York | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-521-62737-5 | oclc=39035692|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8RI22OdxFQC&pg=PA87 | page=87}}</ref>

===Horn of Africa===

====Ethiopia====
Among the [[Gurage people]] of Ethiopia, spirit possession is a common belief. William A. Shack postulated that it is caused by Gurage cultural attitudes about food and hunger, while they have a plentiful food supply, cultural pressures that force the Gurage to either share it to meet social obligations, or hoard it and eat it secretly cause feelings of anxiety. Distinctions are drawn between spirits that strictly possess men, spirits that possess women, and spirits that possess victims of either sex. A ritual illness that only affects men is believed to be caused by a spirit called ''awre''. This affliction presents itself by loss of appetite, nausea, and attacks from severe stomach pains. If it persists, the victim may enter a trance-like stupor, in which he sometimes regains consciousness long enough to take food and water. Breathing is often labored. Seizures and trembling overcome the patient, and in extreme cases, partial paralysis of the extremities.{{sfnp|Shack|1971|pp=40–43}}

If the victim does not recover naturally, a traditional healer, or ''sagwara'', is summoned. Once the ''sagwara'' has determined the spirit's name through the use of divination, he prescribes a routine formula to exorcise the spirit. This is not a permanent cure, it merely allows the victim to form a relationship with the spirit while subject to chronic repossession, which is treated by repeating the formula. This formula involves the preparation and consumption of a dish of ''[[ensete]]'', butter, and red pepper. During this ritual, the victim's head is covered with a drape, and he eats the ''ensete'' ravenously while other ritual participants participate by chanting. The ritual ends when the possessing spirit announces that it is satisfied. Shack notes that the victims are overwhelmingly poor men, and that women are not as food-deprived as men, due to ritual activities that involve food redistribution and consumption. Shack postulates that the ''awre'' serves to bring the possessed man to the center of social attention, and to relieve his anxieties over his inability to gain prestige from redistributing food, which is the primary way in which Gurage men gain status in their society.{{sfnp|Shack|1971|pp=40–43}}

The belief in spirit possession is part of the native culture of the [[Sidama people]] of southwest [[Ethiopia]]. [[Anthropologist]]s Irene and John Hamer postulated that it is a form of compensation for being deprived within Sidama society, although they do not draw from I.M. Lewis (see Cultural anthropology section under Scientific views). The majority of the possessed are women whose spirits demand luxury goods to alleviate their condition, but men can be possessed as well. Possessed individuals of both sexes can become healers due to their condition. Hamer and Hamer suggest that this is a form of compensation among deprived men in the deeply competitive society of the Sidama, for if a man cannot gain prestige as an [[orator]], warrior, or farmer, he may still gain prestige as a spirit healer. Women are sometimes accused of faking possession, but men never are.{{sfnp|Hamer|Hamer|1966}}

===East Africa===
{{anchor|Kenya}}'''Kenya'''
{{See also|Ufufunyane|label 1=Saka}}
* The [[Digo people]] of [[Kenya]] refer to the spirits that supposedly possess them as ''shaitani''. These ''shaitani'' typically demand luxury items to make the patient well again. Despite the fact that men sometimes accuse women of faking the possessions in order to get luxury items, attention, and sympathy, they do generally regard spirit possession as a genuine condition and view victims of it as being ill through no fault of their own. Other men suspect women of actively colluding with spirits in order to be possessed.{{sfnp|Gomm|1975}}
* The [[Giriama people]] of coastal Kenya believe in spirit possession.{{sfnp|McIntosh|2004}}

{{anchor|Mayotte}}'''Mayote'''
* In [[Mayotte]], approximately 25% of the adult population, and five times as many women as men, enter trance states in which they are supposedly possessed by certain identifiable spirits who maintain stable and coherent identities from one possession to the next.{{sfnp|Lambek|1988|pp=710–731}}

{{anchor|Mozambique}}'''Mozambique'''
* In [[Mozambique]], a new belief in spirit possession appeared after the [[Mozambican Civil War]]. These spirits, called ''gamba'', are said to be identified as dead soldiers, and allegedly overwhelmingly possess women. Prior to the war, spirit possession was limited to certain families and was less common.{{sfnp|Igreja|Dias-Lambranca|Richters|2008|pages=353–371}}

{{anchor|Uganda}}'''Uganda'''
* In [[Uganda]], a woman named [[Alice Auma]] was reportedly possessed by the spirit of a male Italian soldier named Lakwena ('messenger'). She ultimately led a failed insurrection against governmental forces.{{sfnp|Allen|1991|pp=370–399}}

{{anchor|Tanzania}}'''Tanzania'''
* The [[Sukuma people]] of [[Tanzania]] believe in spirit possession.{{sfnp|Tanner|1955|pp=274–279}}
* A now-extinct spirit possession cult existed among the [[Hadimu]] women of [[Zanzibar]], revering a spirit called ''kitimiri''. This cult was described in an 1869 account by a French missionary. The cult faded by the 1920s and was virtually unknown by the 1960s.{{sfnp|Alpers|1984|pp=677–702}}

===Southern Africa===
{{See also|Amafufunyana}}
* A belief in spirit possession appears among the [[Xesibe]], a [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]]-speaking people from [[Transkei]], [[South Africa]]. The majority of the supposedly possessed are married women. The condition of spirit possession among them is called ''intwaso''. Those who develop the condition of ''intwaso'' are regarded as having a special calling to divine the future. They are first treated with sympathy, and then with respect as they allegedly develop their abilities to foretell the future.{{sfnp|O'Connell|1982|pp=21–37}}

===West Africa===
* One religion among [[Hausa people]] of West Africa is that of [[Hausa animism]], in which belief in spirit possession is prevalent.