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 Our Beautiful Aphrekan Culture
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS AND THE PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY-LIVING IN
AFRICA. By Christopher I. Ejizu
Traditional Africans share the basic instinct of
gregariousness with the rest of human-kind. Families and members of kin-groups
from minimal to maximal lineages, generally live together and form community.
Africans share life intensely in common. There are communal farmland, economic
trees, streams, barns, and markets. There are also communal shrines, squares,
masquerades, ritual objects and festivals for recreational activity, social,
economic and religious purposes. Members of the same kindred or clan could
distinguish themselves by their proficiency in a particular trade, skill or
profession. Some traditional African communities or even entire language group
may be experts in rain-making, wood carving, practice of traditional medicine,
or black-smithing. For example, the Lovedu of South Africa, the Ibibio of
south-east Nigeria and the Awka in Igboland are widely reputed for their skills
in rain-making, wood-carving and black-smithing respectively. These and similar
features characterise the communal life of both agrarian and normadic groups of
traditional Africa. Closeness to nature, the experience of life in terribly
hazardous environment, and the crucial need for security and better performance
in means of livelihood are some relevant factors that combine to deepen the
natural impulse for gregariousness and sense of community among different
African peoples. For traditional Africans, community is much more than
simply a social grouping of people bound together by reasons of natural origin
and/or deep common interests and values. It is both a society as well as a unity
of the visible and invisible worlds; the world of the physically living on the
one hand, and the world of the ancestors, divinities and souls of children yet
to be born to individual kin-groups. In a wider sense, African traditional
community comprehends the totality of the world of African experience including
the physical environment, as well as all spirit beings acknowledged by a given
group. The network of relationships among human beings are
remarkably extended and deep. In fact, the words 'family', 'brother', or
'sister', etc. define far more for Africans than what they mean today for the
average European or North American. The family for the traditional African,
usually includes one's direct parents, grand and great grand parents, brothers,
sisters, uncles, and aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. And normally, a child
would refer to any of his uncles or aunts as his father or mother, his nephews
and nieces as his/her brothers and sisters. People generally do not ask a child
his/her personal name. Rather, a child is identified as 'a child of so and so
parents'. The extended family system is the model. The molecular family pattern
is alien and believed to be inimical to the traditional value of community.
Actually, it is only in recent times that the latter system began to surface
mainly in urban towns as a result of external influences in the Continent. The
extended family structure is held up to people as model, one in which parents,
grand-parents, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces live together and are cared for
by their children grand-children and other relatives in mutual love and respect.
The invisible members, especially ancestors and
spiritual beings are powerful and by far superior to human beings. Their reality
and presence in the community are duly acknowledged and honoured among various
traditional African groups. Neglect could spell disaster for human beings and
the community. The invisible beings are represented by different kinds of
symbols like carved objects, shrines and sacred altars. They may also be
recalled in personal names given to children, especially in cases where
particular ancestors or spirit beings are held to have reincarnated in
individual children. The presence of the ancestors is particularly felt in
traditional African community. They are believed to be benevolent and powerful
representatives of the community in the 'mbakuv' (spirit land). Their
symbols and shrines are common features among most traditional West African
groups. This includes carved ancestral stool among the Akan of Ghana and
'okpensi' among the traditional Igbo. There are also the shrines of the
'Muzimu' (ancestors) among the Baganda of Uganda. The reality and
presence of spiritual members are equally acknowledged through several taboos
found in many African communities. For example, women within the child-bearing
age are bound to observe several prohibitions among the traditional Igbo. Such
women run a serious danger of becoming childless if they flout such taboos,
since it could result in scaring away souls of unborn babies that are believed
to hover around homesteads and families wanting to incarnate in wombs of
potential mothers. Most traditional African groups, including the
traditional Yoruba of Nigeria and the Dogon of Mali, have intriguing sacred
stories or myths that tell how the world, human beings and important
institutions came into being. Such sacred stories generally also underscore the
involvement of ancestors and mythical beings in the life and affairs of the
community of the physically living. They also try to explain the significance of
different rituals for human beings and their important life-interests.
The central myth of the priestly caste group of Nri
in Igbo heartland, for example, relates that it was the Supreme Being,
Chukwu that gave Nri people their traditional home community. More
significantly, it was Chukwu that constituted them into a special
priestly class, set them apart from the rest of the traditional Igbo people with
a definite duty to serve as ritual specialists. The original covenant was
between Chukwu and Eri, the archetypal ancestor of Nri people.
Eri and his wife, Namaku had accepted a near-impossible feat to
sacrifice their only son and only daughter to Chukwu in order to obtain
food. Yam, the prince of Igbo agricultural crops had sprouted from the grave of
the son and cocoyam from the grave of the daughter. As a reward for their
obedience, Chukwu bestowed on Eri the special privilege of being
the traditional high priest with the exclusive right to cleanse all forms of
abomination, especially those connected with the yam crop among the Igbo.
Chukwu gave Eri the Ofo symbol so that he would be able to
speak to Chukwu through the medium of the symbol. Otonsi became
the ancestral symbol of authority, while the Alo signify the ritual
authority of the high priest. What this myth accomplishes is to define and
legitimate for the people both the divine origin of the closely knit community
of the Nri, as well as the source of the special right and privileges which the
group enjoyed among the Igbo and their neighbouring language groups. In the case
of the traditional Yoruba, Oduduwa, believed to be the founding ancestor
of Ife was said to have been the first king of Oyo kingdom in Yorubaland who
became divinised after his death. The powerful mythical ancestor was credited
with the establishment of the great Yoruba empire. And virtually every
traditional Yoruba community tries to trace its connection with the mythical
hero. Similarly among the Baganda, every community tries to connect with the
Kibuka (mythical war hero) and the Mukasa (mythical ancestral
spirit associated with rivers and seas). These are believed to be powerful
Balubaale (national heroes and leaders who became deified after death)
whose presence and influence continue to be strongly felt and recognised in
virtually every community of the Baganda. Traditional Africans, like their counterparts in
other parts of the world, are acutely aware of the distinction between the
physically living (men and women of flesh and blood who constitute the actual
visible community), and ancestral spirits and other supersensible beings who
belong to the invisible order. It would be wrong therefore, to conclude from the
fore-going explanation of the myth, that the people were incapable of rational
thinking, but possessed what Levy Bruhl referred to as 'primitive mentality'
which was characterised by mystical participation. The idea and structure of human society for
traditional Africans, are essentially part of a world-view that is fundamentally
holistic, sacred and highly integrated. Human community, therefore, has its full
meaning and significance within the transcendental centre of ultimate meaning.
Hence, the belief in ancestors and the supernatural order, in addition to its
inherent religious import, provides traditional African groups a useful
over-arching system that helps people organise reality and impose divine
authority and sanction to their life.
III. Promotion Of Community-Living Among
AfricansIt is an essential article of belief in African
traditional religions that a fundamental delicate balance and equilibrium exist
in the universe, between the visible world and the invisible one. The Creator,
Olodumare among the Yoruba or Chukwu among the Igbo, created
everything that exists and set everything in its place. Traditional Africans
basically view the universe as comprising basically two realms; the visible and
the invisible realms. They grasp the cosmos as a three-tiered structure,
consisting of the heaven above, the physical world and the world beneath. Each
of these is inhabited by different categories of beings. The Creator and a host
of spirit beings, including archdivinities inhabit the heaven above, other
divinities, ancestors, and myriads of unnamed spirits dwell in the world
beneath, while human beings occupy the physical earth. Human beings may be less
powerful, but their world is the centre and the focus of attention. It belongs
to human beings as sensible beings to maintain the delicate balance in the
universe. This is what assures the happiness and prosperity of individuals and
the community. Harmonious living is clearly a pivotal value. African
traditional religions, which have been rightly referred to as the womb of the
people's culture, plays a key role in the realisation of this all-important
value among every traditional African group. Religion is central in inculcating
in the promotion and realisation of harmonious inter-relationship among
individuals and the community. In the traditional African background, religion
is a most important aspect of life. It pervades and permeates all aspects of
life and infuses the social, economic, political dimensions African with meaning
and significance. But there are some more striking avenues through which the
traditional religion helps the community to realise the community ideal of
harmonious living. They include transmission of certain key religious ideas and
beliefs, initiation practices, ritual activities, sacred symbol forms and vital
public institutions. We shall discuss these in some detail.
i. Belief In The Ancestors:The belief in
ancestors is an important element of African traditional religions. The belief
occupies an important place in the understanding of the role of the traditional
religion in inculcating the ideal of harmonious living among African peoples.
One needs however, to know the content of the belief to be better able to
appreciate how it helps the people to realise the community ideal of harmonious
living. The ancestors, or the living-dead, as John Mbiti
refers to them, are believed to be disembodied spirits of people who lived
upright lives here on earth, died 'good' and natural death, that is at ripe old
age, and received the acknowledged funerary rites. They could be men or women.
But more over often than not, male ancestors are prominent since patrilineage is
the dominant system of family and social integration in most traditional African
societies. For matrilineal groups like the Ashanti of Ghana and the Ndembu of
Zambia, both male and female ancestors are duly acknowledged. With the
completion of prescribed funeral rites, a deceased person is believed to
transform into an ancestor. The funeral rites in this case, serve as some kind
of 'rites du passage'. The disembodied spirit joins the esteemed ranks of fully
achieved ancestors in the spirit world. Among the Akan of Ghana, as part of the coronation
ceremony of a new king, the candidate carves a traditional stool for himself
which he uses as personal stool while he is alive. When he dies, he is placed on
the stool and bathed before his burial. The stool is then blackened and kept at
the shrine of his ancestral spirit. Each lineage has a chapel of blackened
stools which is the shrine of its ancestors. The Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Thonga,
and Shona among other South African peoples have their respective ancestral
symbols and shrines. The Igbo of South-east Nigeria have their Okpensi
and Ofo as well as sacred altars for the ancestors. Traditional Africans hold the ancestors as the
closest link the physically living have with the spirit world. "The living-dead
are bilingual; they speak the language of men, with whom they lived until
'recently', and they speak the language of the spirits and of God ...They are
the 'spirits' with which African peoples are most concerned: it is through the
living-dead that the spirit world becomes personal to men. They are still part
of their human families, and people have personal memories of them". (J.S Mbiti,
1990; 82). Africans believe that the ancestors are essentially benevolent
spirits. They return to their human families from time to time and share meals
with them, however, symbolically. They know and have interest in what is going
on in their families. For African peoples, the belief and ideas about
ancestors to form an essential part of the effort to inculcate, mobilise and
promote the community ideal of harmonious living in society. As benevolent
spiritual guardians of their respective families and communities, ancestors are
believed to reincarnate in new-born babies in the community. A child is named
after the ancestor that is believed to have reincarnated in the life of that
child. Special attention and favours are bestowed to such a child as a mark of
respect to the ancestor. Family elders make regular offerings of gifts, food and
drinks to the ancestors. The Igbo male elder does not normally eat or drink
without first offering some portion on the ground, or at the shrine or symbol of
the ancestors. The Mende of Sierra Leone avail of the staple food item of rice,
and water for their offering to ancestral spirits. Among the Akan, the lineage
head offers food and drinks to the ancestors at appropriate times. The
Adae rites which take place every twenty-one days and the annual
Odwera festival are high points of the Akan worship of ancestral spirits.
Furthermore, ancestors are generally held to be the custodians of the land on
which their children live. They are guardians of family affairs, customs,
traditions and ethical norms. Offence in these matters is ultimately an offence
against the forefathers who in that capacity act as invisible police of the
families and communities (E.Ikenga-Metuh 1987; 149). Ancestors are thought to
mete quick and severe punishment on people who disregard the hallowed traditions
of the community, or infringe taboos and norms of acceptable behaviour in
society. Africans therefore, try to strictly observe such taboos and norms,
thereby ensuring peace and harmony in their relationship with one another , with
ancestors and other supernatural beings. From early childhood through adolscence to full
adulthood, the traditional African is formed to hold tenanciously to the belief
in the ancestors, to reverence them as powerful and benevolent members of the
community, although not in a physical but rather mystical sense. Ancestors are
held up as models to be copied in the effort to strictly adhere, preserve and
transmit the traditions and norms of the community. The African is
psychologically, fully equipped and motivated to promote the delicate balance
and equilibrium believed to exist in the universe through ensuring harmony in
his relationship with the invisible world and among members of the community.
ii. Initiation Rituals: Rites marking the
transition of individuals and groups from one significant stage of life to
another abound in traditional African societies. Similar rites are also found in
several parts of the world outside Africa. But, as Ikenga-Metuh rightly points
out, rites of passage tend to reach their maximal expression in small-scale,
relatively stable societies like those of Africa, that are cyclically-oriented
in their pattern of time-reckoning, societies where change is bound up with
biological and meteorological rhythms and reoccurrences rather than with
technological innovations (E.Ikenga-Metuh 1987;197). Initiation rites have
far-reaching implications for the life of individuals and the community at
large. They involve different aspects of life including the psychological,
social, economic and political. The religious dimension is clearly important as
traditional African groups rely on the supernatural power and divine authority
of ancestors and other spiritual patrons to validate their worthwhile activities
and to ensure the lasting success of their initiation events. There are several rites of initiation for boys as
well as for girls into adult status. These rites like the Ima Muo among
the traditional Igbo, the Egungun of the Yourba, Poro for young
boys and its counterpart Sande for young girls in Liberia generally mark
their transition of young adolescent boys and girls from 'social puberty' to
full adult status with all the attendant roles and responsibilities. The Luguru
of Tanzania refer to their initiation of young males as 'ng'hula', a word
that in fact means growth and maturity. It begins with the
seclusion of the candidates in camp under the supervision of a specialist male
elder known as 'kisepi'. During the period which lasts between two and
four weeks, the period long enough to brew the beer to be used for the rites,
the candidates are fed on a rich diet of chickens. They learn to share
everything in common and they are exposed to the 'treasured secrets', including
the historical landmarks, myths and symbols of their community. At the end of the training in camp, the candidates
are prepared for the climax ritual. This comprises series of ritual
dramatisations in a thick forest. The candidates are lead through a ritual dance
in which awe-inspiring masks feature. The tree that is used by the community to
brew local beer is uprooted and cut into short lengths, mixed with other
materials and tied into a bundle with cloth for the boys to carry. The
grandfathers of the candidates assemble in the forest and instruct the initiates
on the norms of acceptable behaviour of the community. Extracts of the
instruction may read like this; "Now you are big. Never be rude to anyone older
than yourself, especially, not your mother, father, father's brother, and
mother's sister. If you do this your mother and father will die, and you will be
poor ... and no one will care for you. This is a very evil thing.. You are big
now! Do not do these things, to us Luguru they are taboos. Never lie with young
girls. If you do you will die". ( E.Ikenga-Metuh 1987;207). The instructions given to the candidates are
comprehensive, covering all aspects of life of the community. The initiates are
taken back to the seclusion camp. On the final day of their stay there, a large
crowd from the community gather in front of the camp and welcome with loud songs
and dancing the candidates now ready for their graduation. The initiates are
blind-folded. They are led into the open square through the bush with their
heads totally covered. Male elders encircle the candidates forming a fence with
pieces of cloth around the initiates. Some rituals are further performed
including lowering the candidates individually into a stool. The candidates are
anointed with castor oil by their respective fathers' sisters and then are
sprinkled with sorghum seed. The ceremonies conclude with the graduates carried
shoulder high. They sway to the sound of the drums. Prior to the introduction of Western-type schools,
initiation rituals provided a most effective avenue for socialisation and
transmission of keybeliefs, ideas and values of the community to successive
generations. Against the background of the oral culture of traditional African
groups, people relied on such oral media as speech-forms, dramatic performances,
and ritual symbolic forms to communicate their important ideas, beliefs and
values to members of the community. The awe and mystery that often characterised
the initiation ceremonies proof particularly favourable for the successful
communication of the accumulated wisdom of the people, including the ideal of
harmonious co-existence in the community. In the case of the 'ng'hula'
for example, the deep and mysterious communion of the candidates and
supernatural beings, symbolically represented by the thick forest that provides
the theatre for the initiation, the community ideal is impressed in the minds of
the young initiates. Masquerades and several ancestral symbols feature
prominently in traditional African initiations. Such is the case for example,
with initiation into the Poro for young men and even Sande for
young girls in Liberia, as well as the Ima Muo for young adolescent men
among the Igbo. Roy Sieber was able to arrive at the conclusion following his
study of the Poro that the masquerades are symbols of the spiritual
forces that validate the acts and the precepts of the elders. They serve as the
visible expression of a spiritual force or authority that validates the basic
beliefs of a society, and reinforce acceptable social modes of conduct and
symbolise the spiritual authority that eradicates social evils (N.S. Booths (ed)
1977; 146-7).
iii. Dominant Ritual Symbols: Traditional
Africans also preserve and express the ideal of harmonious community-living
through their dominant ritual symbols. In an effort to ensure that this and
other important value relating to their survival, is well preserved and
successfully transmitted to successive generations, in the absence of developed
literary culture, traditional Africans avail of different kinds of oral means
and media to encode and communicate their important cultural values over and
over again. Repetition is, no doubt, a typical feature of oral cultures around
the world. Traditional Africans rely on speech-forms such as myths, proverbs,
wise sayings and songs, as well as art-forms like sculpture, dance, ritual
objects, etc to preserve and impress their key beliefs, ideas and values in the
minds of successive generations of society. Dominant ritual objects are
particularly relevant because of their tremendous potential as effective means
of communication in the oral cultural background and their prominence in the
socio-cultural and religious dynamics of life of traditional Africans. They
encapsulate and express for traditional African groups vital information
relating to their different areas of awareness; the intuitive, physical,
aesthetic, social and normative. The Golden Stool which is the dominant symbol of the
Akan, preserves vital information regarding the Asantehene (traditional
king) and the kingdom itself; its culture and religion. The Ofo ritual
object features prominently in traditional Igbo life and culture. It is the
dominant symbol object that expresses for the traditional Igbo people important
ideas, beliefs and values concerning their religious, social and political life.
Ofo has several types and a wide range of functions. There are Personal
Ofo which is owned by individual persons, Titular Ofo which is
kept by titled male elders, Institutional Ofo kept by officials like
traditional priests and Professional Ofo is used by practitioners like
diviners. The Lineage Ofo is certainly the most
prominent kind of Ofo among the traditional Igbo. It is kept by the male
head at every level of the Igbo social-political structure; the family, kindred,
village, clan (minor, major, and maximal lineage levels). The lineage Ofo
is of great importance among the traditional Igbo. It is at times, referred to
as 'the soul of the lineage'. It is believed to represent the unity of the
particular group as well as the ancestors who are thought to be the guarantors
of the unity. It is normally inherited and kept by whoever is the eldest
surviving male member of the lineage, or as the case may be, the eldest son of
the family that has the primacy of honour in the community. It goes by such
names as Ofo-Okpala, Ofo-mbichiriama and Ofo-Umunna depending on
the area of Igboland. The lineage Ofo has far-reaching implications
for the socio-political and religious life of the traditional Igbo. The people
are dominantly patrilineal in their pattern of family integration and social
organisation. They live in less centralised groups. They therefore, made serious
use of lineage Ofo to reinforce the basic structure of leadership and
endorse important traditional values. Ofo is primarily the medium of communication
with spirits, including the ancestors and divinities. It is known as the 'ear of
the spirits (Ofo bu nti ndi Muo). As a key religious symbol, it is used
in ritual sacrifices, in prayer, for cleansing taboos and abominations, as well
as for a wide variety of rites. Its socio-ethical functions include its use for
attesting to the truth, for affirming one's innocence, in settlement of
disputes, for covenant-making, oath-taking, and decision-making. Igbo male
elders usually begin their day by offering prayers to the ancestors and other
spirit beings for the health of members of his family, good fortune and general
progress in life. They do this with the help of the lineage Ofo which
they hold in their right hand while pronouncing the prayer and benediction. Most
times, when traditional Igbo male elders of a particular community gather to
discuss a serious matter affecting the community, each of them brings with him
his lineage Ofo to the venue of the meeting (often in the community
square or market-place). At the end of their deliberation, the spokesman would
normally recap the agreement reached. The assembled elders would then seal their
decision by striking their respective lineage Ofo on the ground while
invoking divine sanction of ancestral spirits on any person or member of the
community who would defy or disobey their decision. Ofo may be of different kinds and uses, but it
is invariably connected to the ancestors and spiritual beings from whom it is
believed to obtain its power and efficacy. Most male members of the traditional
Igbo community could acquire and keep one kind of Ofo or another. The
constant use of this powerful ritual symbol in prayer, sacrifice and a wide
variety of rituals, its recurrence in social and political life of the people,
including maintenance of law and order, make it easily the most effective
instrument for mobilising and strengthening community consciousness among the
traditional Igbo people. The power of the ritual object resides not itself as
such, but in the supernatural beings to which the object primarily refers.
iv. Important Traditional Institutions: Traditional African peoples also possess important sacred institutions with
significant religious dimension that equally further the community ideal. They
include sacred kingship institution, public shrines and sacred groves,
divination and masquerades. Each one of them generally implies important
religious beliefs, supernatural power and authority, and serves as a vital
channel for inculcating and promoting the ideal of harmonious living in society
by the people. For traditional groups that have sacred kings, such kings are not
simply political heads, they are more importantly sacred personages. They posess
spiritual and mystical powers which enable them to confer benefits on their
people. In most cases, they are regarded as descendants or incarnations of
divine beings, a mythical ancestor, or divinity. Such is the OOni of Ife
among the Yoruba, the Asantehene of the Ashanti kingdom and the Queen of
the Lovedu in South Africa. The traditional Ashanti Empire of Ghana is a
combination of localised lineages that form a political community. Each lineage
head possesses his own blackened stool representing the lineage ancestors and to
which the lineage head pours libations. The Asantehene presides over the
Ashanti nation with his own royal stool believed to symbolise the ancestral
spirits. The person of the Asantehene is sacred and he primarily fills a
sacred role as the 'one who sits upon the stool of the ancestors'. He is hedged
round with a number of taboos. In addition to his political role, he is the link
between the living and the dead. He presides over important ritual sacrifices at
the Adae and Odwera ceremonies. Thus, the Ashanti king is regarded
as the first-born of the kingdom. He is the leader of the living and their
representative before the ancestors, as well as the vicar of the ancestors among
the living. Public shrines and masquerades are some other
important sacred institutions which contribute significantly in promoting the
sense of community. Shrines are often located in large public squares. They
serve multi purposes for traditional Africans. The shrines are specifically for
religious worship. The adjoining open space is for meetings, economic
transaction, for staging of festivals and other public performances.
Symbolically, shrines and adjoining public squares signify for traditional
Africans the mystical meeting-point or communion of the invisible world of
spiritual beings and the visible world of human members of the community. People
usually take turns in keeping them clean. Such places are surrounded by all
kinds of prohibitions and taboos. As sacred place, they inspire awe and elicit
reverence because of what they stand for. Masquerades are highly symbolic public institution
and performance among traditional African groups. There are mainly two types; a
class belonging to youths and adolescent children that serve largely for
purposes of entertainment, and the serious masks belonging to different senior
age grades. African masquerades are generally public performance troupes that
evoke a wide variety of significant ideas and values concerning the social,
occupational, political and religious aspects of life of traditional peoples.
The Egu Orumamu of the Igala in Middle-belt area of Nigeria belongs to
and is performed by individual village groups twice a year, at the beginning and
end of the farming season. The Chiwara masquerade of the Bambara are for
purposes of ritual purification of villages of social ills in order to ensure
success in agriculture. The Do masquerade of Western Ghana like the
Gelede of the Yoruba is for fighting witchcraft in society. The
Mgba/Abia Dike and Ikpirikpe Ogu troupes among the Igbo belong to
the senior age grades, men of valour on whom it devolves to defend the community
in the event of attack and war. Masquerades are rich in their meaning-content.
Onyeneke refers to them as "the Dead Among the Living", while Kalu suggests the
title of "Gods As Police Men". Masquerades, no doubt relate to several important
areas of life of the peoples of Africa. Masks usually identify and represent the
respective social units; villages or age sets in the community. They associated
closely with the occupational pursuits of the people, as well as their
socio-political structure. Primarily, masquerades are thought of by Africans as
powerful sacred symbols. They represent lineage ancestors and serve as the
visible expression of the spiritual force and authority believed to validate the
basic beliefs and values of society. They also serve to reinforce social modes
of conduct and symbolise the spritiual authority that eradicates social evils.
As a sacred symbol with a rich religious significance, they contribute
considerably to bind people together, to sustain and foster the people's sense
of interdependence.
IV. Other Ways Of Enhancing The Community
Ideal The afore-mentioned media do not exhaust the many and
varied oral means through which traditional African peoples try to communicate
and enhance the important value of harmonious community-living. As already
stated, repetition is a characteristic feature of oral cultures, including those
of traditional Africa. People encode and communicate their cherished value of
peaceful interrelationship in prayer, personal and title names, wise sayings, as
well as in the code of conduct. i. Direct Speech-forms; Recorded oral materials,
including prayers, personal and title names of traditional African groups
contain a lot of references to the theme of social harmony. Naming ceremonies
are important events among traditional African groups. In many African
societies, it is the prerogative of lineage elders to give personal names to the
children born to the different families in the kindred. The elders usually try
to convey significant life-experiences of parents, or community as well as their
important aspirations in the names they give to babies during the naming
ceremony. Simiarly at initiation into important title positions, candidates take
title and praise names which refer to important values in the community, or
attributes for which the candidate has become distinguished in society. I will
draw most of my examples here from the traditional Igbo group with which I am
very familiar. The Igbo have for example, such personal names as; Azuka-ego - One's kins are worth much more than
money; Adinigwe/Adigwe - it is better to be many,
Igwemadu/Ndedigwe/Odigwe -the large grouping is better, Oraka -
the community is greater (than the individual), Ohakanma - the community
is ideal, Orakwue - let it be decided by all
Oranefo - the
community speaks well of me,
Somaadina - let me not exist alone,
Umunnawuike - One's relations are a source of strength, and
Umenwanne - the tender feeling of one's
kins.
Apparently the names may seem not to have much to do
with religion. But, they certainly do. The context in which the names are given
is clearly religious. Naming ceremony and initiation always take place within
the context of ritual performances. The giving of a name is usually the climax
and conclusion of the ritual event. Religious beliefs and ideas are implied in
peoples' names among traditional Africans. In fact, the name Somadina is
at once, a prayer to ancestors and spiritual beings ?not to let me exist alone?.
Most traditional African names are meaningful and symbolic. Many of them imply
values that relate to and enhance community consciousness in traditional African
societies. Traditional prayers equally play an important role in
the promotion of the sense of community. Most traditional prayers are intensely
communitarian in content and orientation. Whether offered by the individual
elder in front of his family shrine, or by a priest or other ritual experts in
public shrines, African prayers contain a lot of references to the community.
The elder in most traditional societies begins the day by offering prayer and
supplications for himself, members of the kindred and the entire community. He
would pray to the ancestors, divinities and other spiritual beings for his
health, that of his family, for progress of members of the lineage, both the
young and the old, for peace and harmony, for protection from the attack of evil
forces, sorcerers and witches, and finally for the elimination of his enemies
and evil doers in the community. The transliterated text of a prayer from Anloland of
Ghana recorded by Christian Gaba makes a good illustration; O Avumoada, A wild dog can never lie near a
wolf's den;
You have now finished eating. I offer you an imported drink;
It is gin. Please receive it for all members of the lineage,
Here is the
drink we have brewed ourselves; It is corn beer. Receive this one also.
May
you be as a powerful medicine to protect the entire lineage. May we all be in
good health always, All our children too.
All our customs which are going to
the Europeans,
May they understand them well.
They should take good care
of the black people....
Look! Prayers offered for one's in-laws should not
become ineffective.
No ! Never!
Here is gin; Here also is water.
Help us to succeed when we use your nets;
Your coconut plantation too
must be fruitful,
To provide a means of livelihood for us;
May trouble
be far from us. May poverty be far from us;
May sickness be far from us; May
death be far from us.
Give us plenty of wealth; Give us plenty of children;
Just as we have also given you,
May you too give us even more abundantly
(C. Gaba 1973;
53).
As typical oral (rather than formalised) texts,
African traditional prayers are very contextual. They fiercely reflect the
concrete needs, aspirations, values and relevant life-situation of people making
the intercession. The above prayer of the Anlo traditional elder is a good
example of the African's keen interest and concern for both the needs of
individual and the general well-being of the entire community. The individual's
need for protection, good health and material wealth has its full meaning within
the context of the need of the entire community for overall well-being. Hence,
the Anlo elder does not focus simply on the individual as such. He asks for the
health of the entire lineage (which in this case includes the kindred of his
relations through marriage, his in-laws) , for the well-being of the black
people, for prosperity in the means of livelihood (coconut plantation, success
in fishing) and for a large community with abundance of children.
ii. Normative Standards of Behaviour: The
area of morality is yet another relevant avenue through which traditional
Africans try to form people and reinforce in them the important idea and value
of harmonious community-living. Every social group evolves its distinct ethical
code. Every society has its norms of acceptable behaviour, taboos and
prohibitions. Many traditional African groups have in addition, motivational
features and incentives through which compliance to the norms of approved
behaviour and social ideals are encouraged. There are equally rituals of
purification, as well as punitive measures that try to deter and curb the
tendency to deviate. Religion may be distinct and separate from morality,
as many scholars have rightly argued. For traditional Africans, however, the
line dividing the two is very thin indeed. African traditional religion plays a
crucial role in the ethical dynamics of the different groups. In the traditional
African background, 'gods serve as police men'. African traditional world-views
invariably outline a vision of reality that is, at once ethical in content and
orientation. Human beings and their world are the focal centre of a highly
integrated universe. Hence, traditional African world-views have been described
by some people, as heavily anthropocentric. Human conduct is seen as key in
upholding the delicate balance believed to exist between the visible world and
the invisible one. There are norms and taboos that try to address the
need of the individual human person for security of life and property. For
example, most traditional African groups have stiff penalties for wilful murder
of a person, not an enemy at war, including bringing about the death of a
foetus. Any one guilty of murder, would be required to repair the crime usually
by providing another human being to the family of the person killed, a person
relatively close in age to the deceased. The offender would then be bound to
take his/her own life through public hanging. There are also severe penalties
for wilfully damaging people's crops, economic trees, and animals. The vast majority of norms, taboos and prohibitions
is directed towards protecting the community and promoting peace and harmony.
Communal farmland, economic interests like the market-place, stream, or shrine
are generally surrounded with taboos, including who may or may not enter, and
when and under what circumstances people are permitted or not to enter such
places. Stealing is abhorred. It is in fact, an abomination to steal things
relating to people's vital life-interests and occupation, like yam crop
(Ji) among the sedentary farm cultivating communities of traditional
Igboland, or stealing fish held in a trap laid by someone in a stream or river
among the fishing communities of Ogoni and Kalabari in the Niger Delta area of
Nigeria. There are also special restrictions and norms regulating the behaviour
of people towards public functionaries like lineage heads, the king or queen,
traditional priests, diviners and medicine-practitioners. Such persons are
generally regarded as specially sacred, and representative of the community.
Their residence is equally sacred. So, are instruments of their office.
Traditional Africans believe that spiritual beings,
especially ancestral spirits guarantee and legitimate the ethical code. Igbo
traditional elders visibly demonstrate this by striking their powerful lineage
ritual symbol, Ofo, on the ground to mark the promulgation of a law or a taboo.
And they invoke severe divine sanction on any one who would try to oppose or
disobey a promulgated law or norm of morality. People, no doubt acknowledge the
social basis of ethical norms. Fines may be imposed or material reparation
demanded. But they seriously reinforce the norms with the supernatural authority
and sanction of invisible beings. As such, agents of divinities, including
traditional priests, and more frequently special masks representing individual
deities or ancestral spirits, participate actively in the execution of communal
law and morality in many traditional African societies, They impose sanctions
and take active part in the recovery of fines imposed on defaulters. Serious
criminals are not simply regarded as anti-social persons, they are sorcerers,
witches and wizards. People protect themselves against their nefarious
activities through different kinds of ritual practices including offering ritual
sacrifice, making and wearing of charms and amulets. For most African groups, ostracising an individual or
group that has fragrantly disobeyed the community is thought to be the most
severe punishment that could be meted out to any body. It feels like death for
any one so punished since such a person is regarded as an outcast. He/She would
not be allowed to share in the life of the community. There would be no visits
to the family, no exchange of greetings, no one would sell or buy from members
of the affected family. So severe is the punishment of ostracisation, that every
member of the community highly dreads it, and would do every thing possible to
avoid it. It does, on the other hand show the kind of tremendous power of the
community in traditional African background. In cases of abomination, grave offence or defilement
against the community like murder, incest, etc., the moral pollution has to be
cleansed or expiated by special ritual experts in order to appease spiritual
beings and ancestors who are believed to have been also offended. Until the
expiation is done, the entire community (and not only the individuals directly
involved), stood a real and imminent danger of suffering a disaster. The serious
moral breach has destabilised the fundamental peace, balance and harmony that
should prevail between the visible world of humans and invisible world of
spiritual beings and forces. The affected community could therefore, expect
severe punishment from the supernatural custodians and guarantors of morality.
African traditional religion clearly plays a distinctive role as the ultimate
source of supernatural power and authority that sanction and reinforce public
morality. It is pressed into full service to maintain social order, peace and
harmony. Traditional Africans believe that success in life; including the gift
of off-spring, wealth and prosperity, are all blessings from the gods and
ancestors. They accrue to people who work hard, and who strictly adhere to the
customs, and traditional norms of morality of the community, people who strictly
uphold the community ideal of harmonious living. Only such people could
entertain a real hope of achieving the highly esteemed status of ancestorhood in
the hereafter. V. Conclusion; The Factor Of Radical Change In
Africa Prior to the advent and spread of external forces of
change engendered by colonialism, commerce and Christian and Islamic missionary
campaigns most groups of sub-Saharan Africa lived in stable, largely small-scale
and homogeneous communities. The traditional religion was 'a typical religion of
structure'. It was the sole world-view with which people explained, predicted
and controlled space-time events. It underpinned every facet of life of the
people. It was particularly significant in inculcating and promoting the sense
of community-living and certain key values associated with that. African
traditional religion suffused and gave meaning to life, pervaded and permeated
all its aspects. What one of the pioneer colonial officials, who lived and
worked among the traditional Igbo of Nigeria from 1895 to 1905 witnessed, is
typical of the situation that prevailed throughout sub-Saharan Africa prior to
the total exposure of the Continent to external forces of radical change.
"...They are, in the strict and natural sense of the
word, a truly and a deeply religious people, of whom it can be said, as it has
been said of the Hindus, that "they eat religiously, drink religious, bathe
religious, dress religiously, and sin religiously".In a few words, the religion
of these natives, as I have endeavoured to point out, is their existence, and
their existence is their religion". (A.G. Leonard 1968;
409)
The situation has changed radically today. The
experience of colonialism, Christian missionary activity and Islamic religious
campaign have given rise to a radically different socio-political and religious
background in Africa. Colonialism created a new social and political order in
sub-Saharan Africa. It created modern nations by pulling together traditional
groups with diverse language and cultural identities. Countries like Angola,
Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Nigeria and Rwanda came into existence as a result of
the colonial enterprise. Urbanisation has given rise to mega-cities in different
parts of the Continent. Most communities are no longer homogeneous. They are
heterogeneous and plural in virtually every aspect of their life. A wedge has
been driven between the sacred and the so-called secular aspects of life.
While it is true that the traditional religion still
has considerable influence in the life and culture of many African peoples, it
no longer enjoys exclusive dominance and control over the life of the vast
majority of the population. The prevailing social and political order in most
parts of contemporary sub-Saharan Africa resembles more the state of affairs in
European countries. Civil society now prevails. There are civil governments,
civil law, agencies of government responsible for law and order, Western-type
schools for formal education and socialisation. Above all, plurality of
religions is now the existing order in the Continent with Christianity and Islam
being the dominant faiths. The law of diminishing returns have since befallen
African Traditional Religions. Roles in society are now much more specialised
and differentiated unlike what obtained in the traditional background. Life is
parcelled out into specific departments and different needs catered for by
distinct units in the civil society. The prevailing radical social change has far-reaching
implications for the ideal of community-living in contemporary Africa. On the
one hand, the world-view with which people explain and control reality is no
longer the traditional one which is religion-dominated. Certain traditional
African beliefs, customs and practices associated with the idea and promotion of
community-living among many African groups have been outlawed. They were
considered either too cruel, or simply opposed to the aims of colonial
administration and/or Christian missionaries. For example, the old practice of
killing twins by some traditional African groups because such twins were
regarded as taboo and a potential danger to the community, was long stopped.
Polygamy, which has as its major objective to produce many children and thereby
increase the size of the community as much as possible, is in serious decline in
many parts of modern Africa. This is as a result of the combination of several
factors, including Christian missionary preaching against it, better health-care
services, and changing economic circumstances. The traditional belief in
ancestors and other spiritual patrons, as well as the vital role they were
believed to play in fostering community-living, have been serioulsy relativised
in most contemporary societies. Masquerades are not part of the apparatus of
modern state administration. And schools have largely displaced traditional
initiations as the main channel for formal education and socialisation of
youths. Community-living on the other hand, remains a
cherished value among traditional Africans. The dramatic changes in the
socio-political and religious aspects of life bring considerable pressure on the
people's sense of community. With the progressive relativisation of the
traditional religion , the traditional role of the latter in inculcating and
promoting harmony and peaceful co-existence become more and more diminished. The
profound sense of the sacred and feeling of awe which the traditional religion
brought to life in general and different institutions in traditional societies
have become greatly circumscribed. The ability of African Traditional Religions
to promote the community ideal of peaceful and harmonious co-existence in
contemporary African society is in a state of progressive decline. The trend is
much more noticeable in urban cities like Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire), Accra
(Ghana), Nairobi (Kenya) and Yaounde (Cameroon) than in rural towns and
villages. The rate of displacement of the traditional religion by the forces of
radical social change in Africa is generally slower in rural areas than in urban
cities. African societies are visibly in a state
of transition, a stage of betwixt and between, with the attendant anxiety,
tension and confusion being felt at virtually every facet of life of the
people. The destabilisation of the traditional religions have clearly left wide
gaps in the social structure, particularly in the bonds of interpersonal and
inter-group relationships. Fortunately, the forces that precipitate and sustain
radical change in the continent, including Western culture and socio-political
systems, Christianity and Islam, now largely provide new framework and elements
for community-living and harmony in most societies of Africa. REFERENCE WORKS.1. F.A. Arinze, Sacrifice In Ibo
Religion (Ibadan; Oxford University Press, 1970).
2. N.S. Booth (ed.)
African Religions, A Symposium (New York; NOK Publishers, 1977)
3.
C.I. Ejizu, OFO, Igbo Ritual Symbol (Enugu; Fourth Dimension Publishers
Ltd. 1986)
4. A. Ekwunife, Consecration In Igbo Traditional Religion
(Enugu; SNAAP Press, 1990)
5. E.Ikenga-Metuh, God And Man In African
Religion (London; Geoffrey Chapman, 1981)
6. ---- Comparative Studies
Of African Traditional Religions (Onitsha; Imico Publishers, 1987)
7.
J.S. Mbiti, African Religions And Philosophy (London; Heinemann, 1990
ed.)
8 ----------- The Prayers of African Religion (New York; Orbis
Books, 1975)
9. C. Gaba, Scriptures Of An African People; The Sacred
Utterances Of The Anlo (New York; NOK Publishers, 1973)
10. M.A.
Onwuejeogwu, An Igbo Civilisation, Nri Kingdom And Hegemony (London;
Ethnographica, 1981)
11. A.G. Leonard, The Lower Niger And Its Tribes
(London; 1905, Frank Cass, 1968 edition)
12. B. Ray, African Religions,
Symbol, Ritual And Community (New Jersey; Prentice-Hall, 1976)
13. A.
Shorter, African Christian Theology (London; Geoffrey Chapman, 1975).
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