Bwiti

See also: bwiti

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Proper noun

Bwiti

1. (religion) A syncretistic religion and spiritual discipline practised in Gabon and Cameroon.
   • 2007, Margaret P. Battin, Erik Luna, Arthur G. Lipman, Paul M. Gahlinger, Douglas E. Rollins, Jeanette C. Roberts, Troy L. Booher, Drugs and Justice: Seeking a Consistent, Coherent, Comprehensive View, page 194:

     Bwiti has not yet appeared in the United States and thus has not made a request for a religious exemption for its consumption of iboga. Clearly, Bwiti would satisfy criteria for a bona fide religion in the context of drug use (or “nondrug” use).

   • 2009, Marlene Dobkin de Rios, The Psychedelic Journey of Marlene Dobkin de Rios‎^[1], page 85:

     Under the influence of iboga, the Bwiti initiates are able to communicate directly with an assembly of dead ones—a chain of ancestors.

   • 2010, Stephen Gray, Returning to Sacred World: A Spiritual Toolkit for the Emerging Reality‎^[2], page 297:

     In West Africa, iboga is most often used as a sacrament of initiation in the Bwiti religion. Bwiti is a widely accepted and officially recognized religion in Gabon and in recent decades has spread to several neighboring countries.

   • 2013, Des Tramacchi, “6: Entheogenic dance ecstasis: cross-cultural contexts”, in Graham St John, editor, Rave Culture and Religion, page 132:

     Bwiti is a new religious movement found among the Fang and Metsogo peoples of Gabon in equatorial West Africa. This ecstatic, syncretic cult, influenced by the Bieri ancestral cult and Christian evangelism, has been characterized as a reformative movement and as a dynamic form of resistance and response to colonialism (Fernandez 1982). The polymorphous Bwiti religion is spread throughout Fang territory, but chapels are relatively autonomous, and there is little organization beyond that found at the level of individual villages (Fernandez 1972).

Translations

an animistic religion of Gabon and Cameroon

• Portuguese: bwiti m, buiti m

Noun

Bwiti (plural Bwiti)

1. (religion, Bwiti) An ancestor, especially one appearing in a drug-induced vision to an initiate of the Bwiti religion.
   • 2007, Christina Pratt, “Bwiti”, in An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, Volume One: A-M, page 75:

     To enter the Bwiti religion initiates must see Bwiti, the Ancestors. The only way to see Bwiti is in the altered state of consciousness induced by Iboga, the sacred plant entheogen utilized by Bwiti followers.

   • 2009, Marlene Dobkin de Rios, The Psychedelic Journey of Marlene Dobkin de Rios‎^[3], page 85:

     The initiate falls to the ground in a stupor after drinking the iboga brew. The Bwiti then is supposed to reveal itself under diverse and macabre forms.