Gullah culture seems to emphasize
elements shared by Africans from different
areas. The Gullahs' ancestors were, after
all, coming from many different tribes, or
ethnic groups, in Africa. Those from the
Rice Coast, the largest group, included the
Wolof, Mandinka, Fula, Baga, Susu,
Limba, Temne, Mende, Vai, Kissi, Kpelle,
etc.—but there were also slaves brought
from the Gold Coast, Calabar, Congo, and
Angola. The Gullah slaves adopted beliefs
and practices that were familiar to Africans
from these widely separated regions. In
most cases, therefore, we cannot say that
a particular Gullah custom is from a particular African tribe; but we can often point more generally to West Africa, the Western Sudan, the Rice Coast, etc. And Gullah traditions are not, of course, all purely African. The Gullah slaves borrowed practices from their white masters, but they always gave these an African spirit. The Gullah became Christians, for instance, but their style of worship reflected their African heritage. In slavery days they developed a ceremony called "ring shout" in which participants danced in a ritual fashion in a circle amidst the rhythmical pounding of sticks and then, at the culminating moment, experienced possession by the Holy Spirit while shouting expressions of praise and thanksgiving.