| Part of a series on |
| Serers and Serer religion |
|---|
  |
Roog or Rog (Koox in the Cangin languages) is the Supreme God and creator of the Serer religion of the Senegambia region. [1]
| Part of a series on |
| Serers and Serer religion |
|---|
| |
Roog or Rog (Koox in the Cangin languages) is the Supreme God and creator of the Serer religion of the Senegambia region. [1]
In Serer, roog means sky or the heavens. [2]
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. [3] 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 [or "Roog a faha"] (Roog is great), Roog a yaal'in Seen (Roog our Lord), Roog o Ndimaan Seen (Roog! The giver of the fruit [or life]), [1] and "The Master of the World". [4]
The name Roog is probably a corruption of the deity Koox. [5] [ clarification needed ] This may stem from the Serers of Kaabu or Tekrur (present-day Futa Tooro in Senegal) [6] after their exodus in the 11th century following a religious war. According to the oral tradition of the Cangin, the original name of the supreme being was Kooh.
Roog is the Supreme being and Creator God of the Serer pantheon. [1] [4] [7] Roog is the source of life and everything returns to Roog. [4] Roog is "the point of departure and conclusion, the origin and the end". [8] [ clarification needed ] The practitioners of the Serer traditional religion do not directly pray to Roog, choosing instead to pray through ancestral spirits known as pangool, [9] and as a result Roog has no place of worship. [7] It is considered blasphemous to make images of Roog. [7]
The Pangool, they are the spirits of our departed ancestors. Any mouth [person] who does not lie, does not harm, does not fornicate, does not take the property of others, that one, all he asks Roog will see his wishes granted by Roog. Roog Seen has no parent or friend. The individual does not evoke the name of God but him, he gives what he wants.
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 and English the masculine pronoun is usually used. Saltigues refer to Roog as "father and mother" during their consecration rituals, [4] while in the Serer creation myth it is both grandfather and grandmother, with the grandmother aspect giving birth to humanity. [11]
A protoplast, from ancient Greek πρωτόπλαστος, in a religious context initially referred to the first human or, more generally, to the first organized body of progenitors of humankind, or of surviving humanity after a cataclysm.
The Serer-Ndut or Ndut also spelt are an ethnic group in Senegal numbering 38600. They are part of the Serer people who collectively make up the third largest ethnic group in Senegal. The Serer-Ndut live mostly in central Senegal in the district of Mont-Roland, northwest of the city of ancient Thiès.
Senegalese wrestling is a type of folk wrestling traditionally performed by the Serer people and now a national sport in Senegal and parts of The Gambia, and is part of a larger West African form of traditional wrestling. The Senegalese form traditionally allows blows with the hands (frappe), the only one of the West African traditions to do so. As a larger confederation and championship around Lutte Traditionnelle has developed since the 1990s, Senegalese fighters now practice both forms, called officially Lutte Traditionnelle sans frappe and Lutte Traditionnelle avec frappe for the striking version.
The Saltigue, are Serer high priests and priestesses who preside over the religious ceremonies and affairs of the Serer people, such as the Xooy ceremony, the biggest event in the Serer religious calendar. They usually come from ancient Serer paternal families, and the title is inherited by birthright. In Serer country, Saltigue are always diviners.
The Serer-Laalaa or Laalaa are part of the Serer ethnic group of Senegambia. They live in Laa, the Léhar Region, which comprises eighteen villages north of Thies and whose inhabitants are Serer-Laalaa. Although the people are ethnically Serer, their language Laalaa is not a dialect of the Serer-Sine language, but—like Saafi, Noon, Ndut and Palor, one of the Cangin languages.
The Serer-Noon also called Noon are an ethnic people who occupy western Senegal. They are part of the Serer people though they do not speak the Serer-Sine language natively.
The Serer religion, or a ƭat Roog, 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. In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox, Kopé Tiatie Cac, and Kokh Kox.
Issa Laye Thiaw was a Senegalese historian, theologian and author on Serer religion, Serer tradition and history. Born into a Serer family, himself the son of a Serer High Priest (Saltigue), Thiaw is a specialist in the Serer religion. He was a former researcher at the Centre d’études des civilisations (CEC) de Dakar.
The prehistoric and ancient history of the Serer people of modern-day Senegambia has been extensively studied and documented over the years. Much of it comes from archaeological discoveries and Serer tradition rooted in the Serer religion.
This is a list of states headed by the Serer Lamanes. The Lamanes have a historical, economic and religious significance in Serer countries. The following pre-colonial kingdoms and new states (post-independence) were for a long time dominated by the Serer Lamanic class :
Father Henry Gravrand was a French Catholic missionary to Africa and an anthropologist who has written extensively on Serer religion and culture. He was one of the leading pioneers of interfaith dialog and believed that African religion was the "'first covenant between God and man". His works about the Serer people are cited by other historians and scholars writing on Serer history, religion and culture, for instance Martin A. Klein, Charles Becker, Alioune Sarr, Marguerite Dupire, Issa Laye Thiaw, etc. Papa Massène Sene argues that his approach lacks scientific rigor and include fundamental linguistic and historical errors. Alioune Sarr noted that Gravrand reported an oral tradition describing what he called the "Battle of Troubang", a dynastic war between the two maternal royal houses of Ñaanco and the Guelowar, an off-shot and relatives of the Ñaanco maternal dynasty of Kaabu, in modern-day Guinea Bissau. According to Charles Becker, Gravrand is confusing a description of the 1867 Battle of Kansala.
Lamane Jegan Joof, was a Serer lamane who according to Serer tradition founded the Serer village of Tukar now part of present-day Senegal. The Raan Festival takes place each year at Tukar, two weeks after the appearance of the new moon in April.
The Ndut is a rite of passage as well as a religious education commanded by Serer religion that every Serer must go through once in their lifetime. The Serer people being an ethnoreligious group, the Ndut initiation rite is also linked to Serer culture. From the moment a Serer child is born, education plays a pivotal role throughout their life cycle. The ndut is one of these phases of their life cycle. In Serer society, education lasts a lifetime, from infancy to old age.
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 and Ndut traditions are included in the narratives contained herein but are not limited to them.
Pangool singular: Fangool, 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 history. In a religious sense, they act as interceders between the living world and the supreme being Roog or Koox. In a historical sense, the ancient Serer village and town founders called Lamanes were believed to be accompanied by a group of Pangool as they travelled in search of land to exploit. These Lamanes became guardians of Serer religion and created shrines in honour of the Pangool, thus becoming the custodians of the "Pangool cult".
Yaboyabo is an ancient village in the rural community of Séssène, in the Thies Region of Senegal.
The Njuup tradition is a Serer style of music rooted in the Ndut initiation rite, which is a rite of passage that young Serers must go through once in their lifetime as commanded in the Serer religion.
Religion and beliefs occupy an important place in the daily life of the nation of Senegal. The majority of citizens follow Islam. In 2013, 6% of the population followed indigenous beliefs, while 2% followed Christianity.
Serer maternal clans or Serer matriclans are the maternal clans of the Serer people of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. The Serer are both patrilineal and matrilineal. Inheritance depends on the nature of the asset being inherited – i.e. whether it is a maternal asset which requires maternal inheritance or paternal asset requiring paternal inheritance (kucarla). The Serer woman play a vital role in royal and religious affairs. In pre-colonial times until the abolition of their monarchies, a Serer king would be required to crown his mother, maternal aunt or sister as Lingeer (queen) after his own coronation. This re-affirms the maternal lineage to which they both belong (Tim). The Lingeer was very powerful and had her own army and palace. She was the queen of all women and presided over female cases. From a religious perspective, the Serer woman plays a vital role in Serer religion. As members of the Serer priestly class, they are among the guardians of Serer religion, sciences, ethics and culture. There are several Serer matriclans; not all of them are listed here. Alliance between matriclans in order to achieve a common goal was, and still is very common. The same clan can be called a different name depending on which part of Serer country one finds oneself in. Some of these matriclans form part of Serer mythology and dynastic history. The mythology afforded to some of these clans draws parallels with the Serer creation narrative, which posits that: the first human to be created was a female. Many Serers who adhere to the tenets of Serer religion believe these narratives to contain profound truths which are historic or pre-historic in nature.
Maad is the title given to a male monarch by the Serer people of Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania. In Serer royal history, the Maad possessed supreme power throughout Serer country. The Maad was chosen from the royal lineage and crowned by the great Jaraaf who was equivalent to a prime minister. After his coronation, he would crown a member of his maternal family, usually his mother, sister, maternal aunt, or wife as Lingeer (Queen). The Serer titles Maad a Sinig and Maad Saloum take their names from the radical Serer title Maad, and identifies which part of Serer country they rule.
