The Golf of Guinea around the 19^th Century witnessed the spread of Protestants, English and American missions headed by Pastors Joseph Merrick, Jackson Fuller and Alfred Saker. This pastor took advantage of the British presence in Equatorial Guinea to evangelize people. Bioko Island was a springboard for the missionaries who excelled in Cameroon and Nigeria.

Catholicism settled in Equatorial Guinea when the Spanish took over their former African territories conceded by the Portuguese at the end of the 18^th Century.

Further Martinez Y San former confessor of Queen Isabella II of Spain, and many other priests arrived Clarence Port (Malabo) around 1856. It is only in 1858, when the captain of frigate Carlos Chacon officially becomes governor of the Island that Catholicism will become the strongest religion in the country. With the arrival of the Jesuits that same year, the protestant missionaries are forced to leave and settled elsewhere in the continent, particularly in Cameroon.

Thus, since the second half of the 19^th century, Catholicism has become the official religion practiced today by over 90% of the population. Two cathedrals were built in Malabo and Bata, while the country is sub divided into diocese and archdiocese.

Sunday masses are more colorful during religious feast days like Easter and Christmas. A huge crowd comes out, characteristic of Equato-Guineans. This attitude is very similar to the rituals performed by Africa-Americans leaving in Harlem and Louisiana. The songs accompanied by drumbeats that are sung during mass recall the gospel songs and dances of Southern America.

The Fangs traditionally pray to their ancestors, the gods of land and sea, that is, all those invisible forces that take hold of man’s life and which demand mystical sacrifices and ceremonies. Nsama is the god of "goodness". The Fangs try to explore the causes of death through the "Ngui" ceremonies, while through the "biere" ritual, clansmen can intercede with the gods passing through the ancestors whose sculls have been preserved.

A new syncretic cult among the Fangs appeared at the beginning of the 20^th century which, having assimilated some Christian doctrines, affirms the Fang identity. It is called "buiiti"or "bwete". Like the Latinos who in the past adored the gods of Lars, the Fangs believe that the dead are not dead.

This explains why the first rituals in a community honor the first ancestor of each lineage. These rituals are performed to request lifetime blessings for all descendants, and these ceremonies are performed on the relics of the parent ancestor, as prescribed by the gods of lares. Each family head custodian of these ancestral relics must submit to them to protect and promote his lineage.

Ancestral cults were performed on various occasions: the birth of a child or death of a family members; during rituals performed for the sick to recover to ward off sterility and obtain fertility for both men and women, during rituals performed before a battle.

This precious bond with the ancestors was not only expressed on special occasions, but in everyday life.

The incantations recited on the eve of a journey or on return from a trip, before drinking or before entering a house, called on the ancestors for protection.

Some Fang fables recount the misfortunes of young men who, lost in other lands, cannot start a family and perform the duties of their fathers because they have lost "Biere" protection. Dispossessed of the skulls of their ancestors by rival clans, they cannot perform the rituals due to Bier.

The recreation of the Bwiti among the Fangs was done in various stages. Firstly, some members of the Fang ethnic group decide to adopt the Bwiti in place of the "Biere", their traditional ancestral cult. It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that the second phase was carried out. This was marked by the appearance of proselytes, the need to reform the liturgy and the assimilation of some catholic notions. The Bwiti center in the Fang land is situated along the estuary bordering Gabon.

The Bwiti cult has spread northwards, reaching Southern Cameroon. Bwiti followers are thus introducing a city-oriented cult in their villages. The missionaries leaving among the Fangs of the Estuary and those in Gabon put in greater efforts to repress the young Bwiti followers than they did for the "Biere". They condemned the Bwiti rituals and proselytes, sending its followers underground.

The dimension of the Bwiti as a secret cult limited to the initiated and its ostracization by the Catholic Church best explain the conditions under which this cult spread among the Fangs in the 29^th century; and the persecution of Bwiti followers is far from being forgotten.