Africism is the term coined by Aloysius M. Lugira to refer to the system of African religious beliefs, ritual practices, and thought concerning the Supreme Being, suprahuman beings, human beings, and the universe. Africism is the autochthonous religion and philosophy of Africa. It is autochthonous because, from time immemorial and independently from developments in other cultures, it intrinsically pertains to Africa.

Alafin of Oyo is the title given to the supreme political ruler of the Yoruba. During the height of the Yoruba kingdom in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Alafin once ruled an  empire that stretched from the Niger Delta to Togo, reflecting his military-political reach within Western Africa. The Alafin of Oyo, like many African leaders, is considered legendary and sacred, and there are many regulations and rituals that go with his position. The Alafin is a divine person who must live apart from ordinary people who in the past were not allowed to see his face or to speak to him directly because he was a god. He was never seen eating or drinking in public. In fact, he did not die. The Alafin passed from one village to another village, but death was not a part of his existence. In this way, the people are protected in their daily lives, and the stability of the nation is directly related to the stability of the Alafin of Oyo.

An Akan term meaning “resting place,” Adae is the most important festival of the Akan. Connected to the meaning of the term, it is a day of rest for the living and the ancestors, and, as such, work, including funerals, is forbidden. As the paramount ancestral custom, it involves the invocation, propitiation, and veneration of ancestral spirits. These are special days on which the ahene (traditional rulers; singular = ohene) enter the Nkonnwafieso (stool house), the place where the spirits of enstooled ancestors rest, and pour libation and offer food and drink on behalf of their people. Every 5 years, the Asantehene (paramount ruler of the Asante) hosts Adae Kese (big Adae), a 2-week period of celebration during which all those enstooled within the Asante nation unite in Kumasi (the capital of Asante) and reaffirm their allegiance to the Asantehene and the Sika Dwa (Golden Stool), the spiritual seat of the Asante nation.

Akhetaten is the name of the city built by the king Akhenaten when he abandoned the capital city of Waset in a theological and political dispute with the leaders of the Great Temple of Amen. Akhenaten, who had been named Amenhotep IV after his father Amenhotep III, began practicing a religion that elevated the deity, Aten, to the highest position in the Egyptian pantheon. This action created deep divisions within the spiritual leadership in the main worship center of Amen, Waset. Because the entire history of the 18th dynasty until the time of Amenhotep IV had been based on the great power and energy bestowed on the people by their devotion to Amen, the action by the young king was unforgivable and challenged the authority of his lineage, as well as his support among the masses who believed in the triad of Amen, Mut, and Khonsu.