Art
Religion
The People of Songhai were mostly all practicing Muslims, Participating in the regular duties of any practicing Muslim. However their Islamic practices did not impede the traditional beliefs. Many people did not convert to Islam at all and remained wholly traditional. Traditional Songhai life was seen as a continuous passage across dangerous crossroads. To help them in their journey they would go to Diviners (fortune tellers), sohancitarey (sorcerers), sorkotarey (praise-singers to the spirits), and zimatarey (spirit-possession priests).
Language
Songhai is a language of several dialects, but the five that are primarily used have one million speakers. The five main ones are Western Songhai, Central Songhai, Eastern Songhai, Dendi, and Tadaksahak. Some of the languages contain five vowels, but others contain seven-vowel systems.
French was also spoken, though more commonly around Mali, Niger, and Benin.
French was also spoken, though more commonly around Mali, Niger, and Benin.
Food
One of the main food sources of the Songhai was millet, a variety of grain. It can be eaten as a pancake, porridge, or a paste. The paste is usually accompanied with different sauces made with okra, baobab leaf, or peanuts. The sauces can be seasoned with ginger, hot pepper, and onion flour with sesame. Other grains they ate were rice and sorghum. The main occupation of most men was millet and rice farming. They also ate cooked perch and catfish, as well as the meat from water-dwelling birds, tortoises, and crocodiles.
Education
Children were usually taught life skills by their parents, such as farming, fishing, hunting, building huts, cooking, weaving, and sewing. Thousands of children attended formal schooling, but many parents saw it as a loss since it gave them less time to teach their children survival skills.