Ancestors
African nations, believed in the existence of a Supreme Being long before the arrival of European missionaries.Africans believed in the
universal God and that he was the only creator of mankind on earth. They therefore referred to Him (creator of mankind).
The provider of rain which Africans depended on for their survival. He was also the protector and defender of of Africans.
It was believed that God used to visit his people and that his arrival was preceded by the sudden cracking of thunder up to the sky. The people would look up in the sky, ululating and dancing while welcoming the arrival of God.

According to cultural standards, ancestors are those people who died at a mature age
or as parents. Ancestors are not on the same level as God, and are not in competition with God. It is believed that every mortal human being is a sinner and that human beings have no right to communicate directly with God, who is holly. Living beings can only send their messages to God via the ancestors since ancestors are immortal beings and are no longer capable of sinning.

Ancestors are intermediaries between (God) and mortal beings. Ancestors deliver people’s prayers, offerings and messages to God. They also deliver God’s blessings and messages to living beings. So, the offerings that are performed to venerate, to appease, to make offerings to the ancestors, to thank God, or to ask for blessings, are a way of maintaining the relationship between living beings and the ancestors to ensure that prayers and offerings are delivered to God and that God’s blessings are received.

But Westerners misunderstood this relationship and referred to the sending of prayers to God via the ancestors as ancestral worshipping.