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Winti is the Afro-Surinamese traditional religion that resulted from the coming together of different elements of the religious luggage of the slaves that were brought to Suriname from different west African tribes (nowadays countries). Similar religious developments can be seen elsewhere in the America's and the Caribbean (e.g. in Brazil's Candomble, Cuba's Santería, Haiti's Voodoo, Trinidad and Tobago's Orisa, etc.).
Winti may further be described according to C. WOODING (a Winti expert) as:
"...an Afro American religion, within which the belief in personified supernatural beings occupies a central position. These personified supernatural beings can take possession of a human person, switch off their consciousness, as it were, and thereby reveal things concerning the past, present and future as well as cause and/or heal illnesses of a supernatural nature." (C. WOODING, Winti: een Afro Amerikaanse godsdienst in Suriname (Meppel: 1979) 251, Milton A. George's translation.)
According to another Winti expert, S. WOLF, Winti is:
"... the Afro Surinamese (Creole) way of looking at life, a colourful collection of ideas and practices that strongly differs according to regions and historical periods, but whose fundamental features are the belief in a Creator Upper God, the veneration of the foreparents and a pantheon of gods/spirits, who affect daily life so that thereby a harmonious existence may come about. There is here a clear engagement in the reality of existence (salvation), and a striving for the promised land, for God's kingdom, where justice reigns." (S. WOLF, Wintireligie als legitieme Heilsweg voor Christelijke Afrosurinamers (Amstelveen: 1993) 6, Milton A. George's translation.)
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The Pantheons
There are four (4) Pantheons or groups. 1. The Eart pantheon with the Earth gods or Gron Winti. 2. The Water Pantheon with Water spirits (gods) or Watra Winti. 3. The Forest Pantheon with the Forest Spirits (gods) or Busi Gado's. 4. The Sky Pantheon with the Sky Gods or the Tapu Winti.
The Earth Pantheon
The Winti of the Earth pantheon are called. Goron(=ground, earth) gado's (gods).
The Goron Gadu's are:
- Aisa.
Also called Mama Aisa, Wanaisa or Soko Mama. She is the mother of gods. The mother of Africa(Mama fu Nengre Kondre). She is Mother Earth, The head of the Winti of the Earth.
- LokoHe is the husband of Aisa. Lives in a Loko Tree.
- Leba
- Fodu
- Luangu
- Goron-Ingi
The Forest Pantheon
Included in the forest pantheon of the Winti religion are Ampuku (also known as Apuku) which are anthropomorphic forest, or bush, spirit. Ampuku are said to resemble tall black men. An Ampuku can possess people (both men and women) and can also pass itself off as another spirit.[1] Ampuku can also be water spirits, and are known in such cases as Watra Ampuku.[2]
References
- ^ Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (1979). Nieuwe West-Indische gids. 53–55. Nijhoff. pp. 14.
- ^ Wim Hoogbergen (2008). Out of Slavery: A Surinamese Roots History. LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster. pp. 215. ISBN 3825881121.
External links
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