Slave Services typically began with European hymns and long prayers. Preachers gave sermons. The services mixed African rhythms, singing, and beliefs with evangelical Christianity. In the spirituals they sang, there were double meanings of religious salvation and freedom from slavery. During the service the emotional fervor gradually mounted and ended in ritual spirit possession. One of their rituals that lasted over a period of several weeks was “mourning”, a ritual that symbolized death and rebirth and involved fasting, lying on a dirt floor, and other physical deprivations.[7] Through out history many different religions have been made and some changed but even though they are all different they were also very similar in ways.
