loose talk and announcements Dr. Ballard in the second half of the show,

Candelo's Corner:loose talk and announcements  tonight on the Corner we welcome Dr. Ballard in the second half of the show,  .   Eoghan Ballard is developing plans and curriculi for several short term introductory classes starting with a four week course on Congo religious history surveying of the major events in Kongo history and religious history in Africa. From there, the classes will examine how Kongo religions were transplanted to the New World by slaves and how they evolved into the variety of distinctly different but related Kongo inspired religions such as Umbanda, Palo, Pokemania and Kumina, and Haitian Vodou which is as much if not more Kongo than it is West African. While this course, and Dr. Ballard’s longer Kongo Religious History Course that will follow, deal with the history of these religions rather than the more frequently offered “DIY” course others offer, they are no less interesting and in some ways more important for the serious practitioner of any of these religions. Too many initiates know precious little about the religion they follow and its variants. They tend to know even less about the antecedents which helped create and mold them. In practical terms that means they seldom understand the forces that created their belief system and the reasons why much of what they do is done as they have been taught. This course, apart from offering information that may provide such insights, will also provide information that can serve to bring a greater appreciation and understanding to the practioner of the rich and varied strands of the living tradition of Kongo religious practice which has enriched all of the Americas in sometimes surprising ways. For those people who may be looking with interest at any one of a number of Faiths,