a ƭat Roog

A ƭat Roog, the way of the Divine, is the traditional religion of the Serer of Senegambia. It centres on Roog, the supreme deity, and on the pangool, ancestral spirits who intercede between the living and the divine and receive libations.

The Serer hold that the souls of the righteous enter Jaaniw and may be reborn, and they recognise neither heaven nor hell. Every family keeps a totem that is both guardian and taboo, for example the antelope for the Joof.

The Serer and the Jola were among the last peoples of the region to accept Islam or Christianity. In the Kingdom of Sine the old faith held out against marabout armies in the 1800s, and after defeats at Naodorou and Ngaye many Serer killed themselves rather than be conquered.