Religon

The Religion of Kongo =Basic Beliefs=
 * Kongo believe in Nzambi Kalungo, who is the creator and power of source (Kongo's God)
 * Kongo believe in lesser spirits and ancestors that mediate between humanity and the supreme being
 * Kongo believe that evil, disorder, and injustice are the result of such base human motives as greed, envy, or maliciousness

The Kongo believe in a world divided in two, 'this world', and 'the land of the dead', which is divided by a body of water, known as Kalunga. Kongo believe that life is a cycle andd repetitive movement between the two worlds, resembling the path of the sun. As the sun rises and set, the living and the dead exchange day and night. In Kongo's belief, life will never end, it constitutes a cycle between the two worlds. Along with that belief, Kongo believes that the soul does not dwell in the grave after his death but it becomes a ghost in the land of the dead.
 * //Basic Beliefs//**

=History of the Kongo Religion=

The history can be divided into three main periods
 * 1) The emergence of the 'old kingdom' in the 13th Century,
 * 2) The era of the slave trade between 1665 and 1885, and
 * 3) The colonial period that led to the plural societies of the Belgian Congo and Zaire in the 20th Century.

The 'old kingdom' was in the of trade between the coast and the interior, and between the Angolan savanna and the Gabon forests to the north. Nzinga Nkuwu, the king of Kongo was the embodiment of the cosmo world of the Kongo, he had direct links with the forces that affected its prosperity, he controlled the weather, he could summon the dead, and he was able to bless his subjects with a movement of his fingers.

"The Portuguese first arrived in Kongo in 1485, and were regarded as visitors from the land of the dead. Nzinga Nkuwu was baptised in 1491, and while he gave up Christianity two or three years later, his son Afonso, persisted in the faith. During the 16th Century efforts to convert all the Bakongo continued through the work of the Jesuits. From the end of the 'old kingdom' in 1678, to the arrival of the colonial administration, the slave trade and a free sense of trade between Africans and Europeans dominated the costal region and certainly influenced the future developments in Kongo society."
 * //[|Religion History]//**

= = **//Religious Cross//** Symbol In History

The Sun:
The sun is an important symbol in Kongo life, because it is the sign of the cycle of life. Meaning that at the rising and setting of the sun the living and the dead exchange day and night. "The setting of the sun symbolizes man's death and the rising, his rebirth, or the continuity of his life.Rising = beginning, birth, regrowth; maturity, responsibility;Setting = handing on, death, transformation;" The sun is the symbol for the path of the soul.
 * //Symbol//**

**//Sources://**
K. Thornton John. The Kingdom of Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. The Development of an African Social Formation. In: //Cahiers d'études africaines//. Vol. 22 N°87-88. . systèmes étatiques africains. pp. 89-120. = Symeerah Morton =
 * //More On Beliefs//**
 * //More On Religion History//**
 * //Done By://**