- In Vodun (Voodoo), Lemba is a loa worshipped in Brazil and Haiti.
The Lemba or Lembaa are a tribe of people in southern Africa. Although they speak Bantu languages similar to their neighbours, they have specific religious practices similar to those in Judaism, and a tradition of being a migrant people with clues pointing to an origin in the Middle East or North Africa.
They have restrictions on intermarriage with non-Lemba, with it being particularly difficult for male non-Lemba to become part of the tribe. The presence of a disproportionate number of particular polymorphisms on the Y chromosome known as the Cohen modal haplotype suggests an ancestral link to the Kohanim or priests, a distinct subsection of Jews. Also they have a large percent of genes often found in non-arab semites. To mention in one of the Lemba clans 52% percent of the members had the Cohen modal haplotype.
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Last updated: 09-12-2005 02:39:13