I found the following article of the internet. If focuses on Ghana but could pobably apply to most African countries:

REVIVAL OF ANCIENT TRADITIONS

Impact of Christianity on Ancient Traditions and African Indigenous Religion.

The one aspect, which is common in all the indigenous religions in Sub-Sahara Africa, is that Africans have a religion and believe in Supreme God- the Creator, the all Knowing, the Ever present and all Powerful. They acknowledge the Divine Presence in their daily lives. However each country may have different names and appellations for God.

The Akan name for God is Onayme Onyankopon-Oboade- the Creator Father-Mother God- Onyame Obatanpa. An Akan proverb, Obi nkyere abofra nyame, meaning no body teaches a child about God. It is the child’s biological knowledge.

Africa has her own culture and beliefs that is deeply depicted in its very strong extended family traditions. Culture is part of the African indigenous Religion. The African life is wrapped in religion. The whole community faithfully carries out all rites and rituals connected with rites of passage such as birth, puberty, marriage, death and life after death. The ceremonies bind and form religious values which govern the family and society.

In my paper I will discuss the impact of colonization and Christianity on the ancient traditions and the African Indigenous religion, language, libation, and message of horns, drumming and music. The paper is also based on Akan in Ghana who make up about 65% of the people in Ghana. According to the early missionaries and anthropologists Africans were without religion and did not know God so their mission was to convert what they considered were “heathens” and turn the mind to Christians. The Africans had to be rescued and be put on to the western culture. As a result of this the beautiful art forms were regarded as idols, some sacred shrines were demolished and the beautiful art and crafts were burnt to ashes.

Conversion

The Ghanaian converted Christians were forbidden to attend any functions involving any rituals because they considered idols. Also Ghanian names were considered pagan so to be enrolled in school a child had to adopt a more religious name which had to be from the Bible.
African languages were considered inferior and forbidden in social events. The colonial languages became the status official languages. Educated Christians also had to wear Western clothing. In other words, the African was stripped of his/her identity, culture, and traditions. The degradation of the African resulted in some main factors which affected our ancient tradition.”

Many years after Africans gained their independence Africans have magnitude inferiority complex about our language. A few east African countries have developed Swahili as the “lingua Franco” however, the rest of the African countries believe that the language of their former colonial masters the English, Portuguese, and French are the only civilized Secretary Gennative language is hardly spoken one would think that they have no language. In Ghana there are about forty-six different languages and few of them are officially learned in school. No matter how well children do in school if there English is not good they are considered uneducated.

Inferiority Complex

There are many reasons why people refuse to teach their children their native language. They think that the native tongue might confuse them, however children learn languages easily. The real motive behind that excuse is the inferiority complex, the colonial mentality. Everything African is inferior and everything western is good. The question to them is “what can our native language do to get us international jobs?” They fail to realize that many people speak the native tongue and English such as the Secretary General of the UN, he speaks perfect Akan and English. I have been with the UN now for more than three decades. My family and I have lived all over African and the US and speak both languages fluently.

Youth and Positive Image

As elders we have to help the African youth to be proud of whom they are and should portray their culture and traditions everywhere they go especially to the outside world. People still look down on Africa and the perception should be changed.
There are many countries in African and yet at the UN there is not one African (sub-Saharan) official language. At this time the official language in Ghana is English.

The Apeadu Peace Center

The Apeadu Peace Center in Aburi, Ghana may be an answer to the urgent cry for the revival of the ancient traditions. The center is a home for youth around the world, which come from diverse traditions to share their visions of peace. As the world’s youth learn to respect and honor differences, we will become bonded in a common culture peace, which commits us all to love humanity. Let us invest in the Youth our future, the next generation.

Some of the goals for the Apeadu Peace Center are:

1.Promote cultural appreciation and knowledge of our cultures and facilitate cultural exchange so there may be widespread respect and understanding.
2.Create a culture of peace that weaves into all traditions.
3.The elders both local and international would be invited to share the wisdom of the ages

Suggested Subjects

1.The message of drums, horns, dance, drumming, music, symbols, and arts.
2.Proverbs- the Philosophy of the Akan
3.The Rites of Passage, Nobility Rites- Puberty rites, the ushering of girls into womanhood.
4.Story Telling
5.The Chiefs and Queen Mothers- the custodian of culture would be invited to find ways and means of preserving the valuable legacy of our fore-father- a great service not only to our youth but to humanity.

In conclusion I end with a quotation from Opoku’s West African Traditional Religion: “The persistence traditional religious ideas, though in a modified form, shows that it offers abiding and satisfying spiritual values. Especially in the crucial moments of life- birth, puberty, marriage and death, as well as human welfare and destiny, it provides satisfying answers which science may not be able to provide. African traditional religion also provides our societies with moral values, which undrgird the relationships between people in the community and between then and the environment, spiritual and physical. African traditional religion has also been the source of inspiration ofre which Africa is known, and included in theses are art, music, social institutions, politically systems and the ancient civilization. We must study West African traditional religion in order to discover its abiding values in a world whose moral and intellectual inadequacies are self-evident, and to apprehend the truth which it represents.

Sources of Information:

Atrophy C.A. - Twi Mmebusem – Twi proverbs