Sukuma, Bujora Church, Tanzania, late 20th c.

The Bujora Church was founded in 1952 as a site where Sukuma traditions were used to teach the Catholic liturgy. The former Bishop of Mwanza, Josef Blomjous, selected the town of Kisesa for the experimental church. He sent the Canadian priest, Father David Clement, to learn about Sukuma culture and to teach Catholicism in a style that would be interesting to the Sukuma community. Father Clement, known as "Fumbuka Klementi" in Usukuma, formed a group of elders who called themselves Bana Sesilia (people of Sesilia, the Catholic patron saint of music) to conduct research on Sukuma traditions. They helped Father Clement to experience local culture and wrote many original Sukuma melodies with religious lyrics taken from the Bible. They also performed religious plays which taught large audiences about Christianity. Together the Bana Sesilia and Father Clement successfully integrated Sukuma music and dance into the Catholic ceremony.

Bujora remains an important center for adaptation. Adaptation is the teaching of the Catholic liturgy through indigenous cultural terms. Church services at Bujora include Sukuma music and dance. In addition, the Bujora Church is the first in Usukuma to be built in the shape of a traditional round house. The large, concrete Church is built in the round with a peaked, tin roof designed to resemble a thatched Sukuma dwelling. The Church is painted white with red, blue and black triangles decorating both the interior and exterior. The triangles represent the hoe, an important symbol in Usukuma for farming, which is associated with food and life. It has also been equated to the Catholic trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The choice of the red, black and blue colors is also significant, according to the Bujora Parish Priest, Father Alex Mugonya. Black represents the people of Africa; blue, the color of Lake Victoria; and red, fire and life. Inside the Church, symbols associated with the Sukuma chiefs are used to signify God. The altar is built in the shape of a royal throne, a symbol of the chief's reign and chiefdom. The tabernacle, where the Eucharist or symbolic body of Christ is stored, is designed to resemble a chief's house with a shield and crossed spears on the door. This suggests that Christ of the Christian Church is to be compared to the power and reign of the Sukuma chief. Bujora has also maintained practices of adaptation during religious festivals. In several Catholic parishes in Usukuma, priests attracted the unconverted public during the Feast of Corpus Christi, a Catholic ceremony to celebrate the Eucharist. In the ceremony, flowers are thrown at the "body" of Christ at intervals during a long processional walk. Today, the Feast of Corpus Christi ritual is called Bulabo in Kisukuma, which means "flowers." The ceremony coincides with the beginning of the Sukuma dance season, which takes place from June to August after the harvest of local crops. This mix of Christian religion and traditional ceremony attracted many Sukuma individuals to Catholicism.

Lalibela, Cruciform church of St. George,Ethiopia, late 12th c.

The roofs of the Lalibela churches are level with the ground and are reached by stairs descending into narrow trenches. The churches are connected by tunnels and walkways and stretch across sheer drops. The interior pillars of the churches have been worn smooth by the hands of supplicating worshippers.

The rock-cut churches are simply but beautifully carved with such features as fragile-looking windows, moldings of various shapes and sizes, different forms of crosses, swastikas (an Eastern religious motif) and even Islamic traceries. Several churches also have wall paintings.

Each church has its own resident monk who appears in the doorway in colorful brocade robes. Holding one of the church's elaborate processional crosses, usually made of silver, and sometimes a prayer staff, these monks are quite happy to pose for pictures. Some sport incongruously modern sunglasses with their splendid ensemble.

There are 11 rock-cut churches at Lalibela, the most spectacular of which is Bet Giorgis (St. George's). Located on the western side of the cluster of churches, it is cut 40 feet down and its roof forms the shape of a Greek cross. It was built after Lalibela's death (c.1220) by his widow as a memorial to the saint-king. It is a magnificent culmination of Lalibela's plans to build a New Jerusalem, with its perfect dimensions and geometrical precision.

Unlike some of the other churches, St. George's is plain inside. A curtain shields the Holy of Holies, and in front of it usually stands a priest displaying books and paintings to visitors. In the shadows of one fo the arms of the cruciform church is its tabot, or copy of the Ark of the Covenant. One explorer was allowed to open it and found it empty. No one was able to tell him what happened to its contents.

Our Lady Mary, Apostles, Saints George and Theodore, Ethiopia,15th c.

Artist: Fere Seyon (?)

Great Mosque at Djenne, Djenne, Mali. Orig. 14th c., rebuilt 1909.

The Great Mosque is unusual among West African mosques in that its site was not sacred prior to its establishment — the location was previously occupied by a palace. Other mosques were built on the same locations as conical, mud-brick or stone spires representing the protective spirits of ancestors. Some scholars of Islamic architecture, such as Labelle Prussin, believe that these conical spires were integrated into the design of mosques throughout Mali, and point to the Great Mosque as the most prominent example.

The site has been the location of a mosque since the original building was commissioned by Koi Kunboro in 1240, before Djenné emerged as a major city of the empires of Mali and later Songhai. Amadou Lobbo, who conquered Djenné during the Tukulor War, ordered the original mosque demolished in 1834. He considered the original structure, which had been modified from a palace, to be too lavish. The only portion of the original building that still survives is an enclosure containing the graves of local leaders. A re-creation of the original was completed in 1896 but was subsequently demolished to make way for the current structure.

Construction on the current Great Mosque began in 1906 and was probably completed in 1907 or 1909. The mosque's construction was supervised and guided by the head of Djenné's mason guild, Ismaila Traoré. At the time, Djenné was part of the colony of French West Africa and the French may have offered political and economic support for the construction of both the mosque and a nearby madrasa.

The original mosque presided over one of the most important Islamic learning centers in Africa during the Middle Ages. Thousands of students came to study the Qur'an in Djenné's madrassas.

Electrical wiring and indoor plumbing have been added to many mosques in Mali. In some cases, the original surfaces of a mosque have even been tiled over, destroying its historical appearance and in some cases compromising the building's structural integrity. While the Great Mosque has been equipped with a loudspeaker system, the citizens of Djenné have resisted modernization in favor of the building's historical integrity. Many historical preservationists have praised the community's preservation effort, and interest in this aspect of the building grew in the 1990s.

The Great Mosque was closed to non-Muslims after a fashion photography shoot on the roof and in the interior prayer-hall offended and was considered in violation of a previous agreement with local leaders.

Jami Masjid, Nairobi, Kenya, 1935.

 Jama Masjid, is a reference to the weekly Friday noon congregation prayers of Muslims, Jummah, which are usually done at a mosque, the "congregational mosque" or "jāmi' masjid"

Great Mosque, Dingueraye, Guinea, 1849-83

Basotho, Wall Mural, South Africa, 1992.

Artist: Emah Motlaung