Jola people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (500,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau | |
| Languages | |
|
Jola, Kriol |
|
| Religion | |
| African traditional religion (Jola religion), Christianity, Islam |
The Jola (Diola, in French transliteration) are an ethnic group found in Senegal (where they predominate in the region of Casamance), the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. There are great numbers on the Atlantic coast between the southern banks of the Gambia River, the Casamance region of Senegal and the northern part of Guinea-Bissau. They migrated from southern Egypt into the Senegambia region around 13th - 14th century to where they brought palm seed, cotton and rice with them. In the 1880s the Jolas were engaged in palm wine tapping in Bathurst. By the end of 19th century some Jola had moved to producing groundnuts as a cash crop and during the second world war had expanded greatly. They also reared livestock and produced other crops including sweet potatoes, yams and watermelon. The Jola language is distinct from the Dioula language of the Dioula (Dyoula) Mande people of the Gambia, Upper Niger and the Kong highlands of Burkina Faso.
The Jola speak a variety of Jola dialects which may not, at times, be mutually intelligible, including:
The Jolas were the last ethnic group in the Senegambian region to accept Islam. Even though some accepted Islam after the Soninke-Marabout war, they honour the traditional use of palm wine in their rituals. They have one God that they associate with the natural phenomena like sky, rain, and the year, Emit or Ata Emit, literally, "To Whom Belongs The Universe" or "The Master-Owner Of The Universe". They have charms and sacred precincts that they honour and with which they communicate (but do not worship). The Jola people believe that spirits called Bakin or Eneerti (Mandinka Jalang) can protect their families, their villages, and their rice fields; and can even protect them from conversion to Islam and Christianity.
Before the influence of Islam and Christianity in their ways of beliefs, all Jolas placed great respect in the proper observation of funeral ceremony, and still today some do, for they are of the belief that it enables the dead person’s soul to go to its final destination to join his or her ancestors. It was and still is strongly accepted by those Jolas who still practice their ancestral religion that without performing these funeral sacred rites, the soul is prevented from entering the presence of the creator (Ata Amit), and the ancestors. Jolas believed strongly in living a good humanistic life in this world. They believe that if one lives a bad life in this world, when the person dies the soul of the dead person is punished to become an exile spirit with no bed to lie on. In the Jola Cassa subgroup this exile spirit is called a Holowa. This exile spirit becomes a roaming spirit with no respect from the other spirits.
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Wikipedia