African ceremonies

 

Birth and initiation

 

First steps : in traditional african societies, the passage from one stage of life, to the next is marked with important rituals and ceremonies. Fromp the moment of birth, an African is connected to family, to community and toi ancestors. The arrival of a child, is often seen as a reintroduction of the spirit of an honoured ancestors back into the world. The first breath of the life, , however is not always, drawn without complication. The fon people of Benin, believe that some babies may refuse to be born. Just before birth, the eldest of a set of twins, is said to peek out of the womb to survey the outside world. If it determines, that the world is unsafe it returns to the womb, to report to its sibling, the twins may then refuse their delivery. The fon who experience high infant mortality use this explanation of a stillbirth to soften the blow of loosing a child. To ensure survival during their most fragile years many Africans babies are protected by talismans. Whether they consist of a leather pouch filled with blessings or a collection of special beads these talismans connect the child, to the ancestral powers as well the spirits of nature.

Among the nomadie Woddabe of Niger, firstborn children are sometimes cared for by womens who are not their mothers. The nomads consider firstborn children so sacred that a mother may not trust herself to nurse her child instead others mothers will suckle the child for the first few day of life, furthermore a mother and father are not permitted to speacks theirs firstborn name throughout its life because woddabe believe that the spirit of death cannot see a child without a name

For many Africans the process of naming a bay is often, too risky to be done at birth, when a child’s life is still precarious. Babies are often names only when it is evident they will survive.

The wooddabe give all their children a nickname, seven days after birth and formally name then when they are twelve. The temporary name bestowed at birth is often associated with the condition of the baby arrival. For example Bango a woddabe boy, was named after the word bangol which means long migration, he was born during an especially challenging journey, throught the desert,

The krobo in Ghana follow a similar custom, naming their children in relation to their position in the birth sequence family, the day of the week on which they were born? And any notably physical characteristics. Afi dede a krobo name means friday firstborn girl, dede gaga mean firstborn girl tall.

In African pastoralists societies , such as the surma of Ethiopia, and the dinka of southern sudan, a boy is named at puberty when he receives his namesake ox. He is named after the color of markings of this favorite animal. This naming creates a simple and effective bond between the boy and the natural world a vital link to the animals that are key to the survival of all nomadics pastoralists.

Childhood

 

African communities consist of single families, extended families, and lineages, all of which  create a broad base of support for children. Kindship terms such as uncle or auntie are often used for a wide range of people – not only a parent’s siblings. It is often these uncles and aunties who give the children a sound emotional foundation. Responsibility for raising a child is often shares between mother and grandmother or among a man’s several wives.

The emphasis is on providing loving support for all the community’s children. Among wodaabe mothers, communal support of children, extends also the literal sharing of them: a mother with several offspring will often give a barren women a child to call her own.

African children are instilled with an independent spirit at an early age. In nearly all of the cultures in our book, children play independently from dawn until late in the night, watching over each other and imitating their older siblings. Even with all their freedom, however, children are given responsibilities. A maasai girl assists her mother in collecting sausage plants to make honey beer. A himba boy will be given a small number of goats to look after for his family. In Massailand a boy learns about herding animals by collecting different colored stones which represents goats or cattle. He herds these stones in and out of miniatures kralls on the ground taking the animals to pastures and protecting them from predators. This game has been passed down for generations linking the boy to the survival strategies of his community. A baoule proverbs states “you don’t have show the sky to a child it learns by observing and from other children “

 

Initiation

 

In African societies, there comes  a time when child moves to the next stage of life and assumes more adult responsibilities. This periode of initiation provides the individual with instruction about what is expected in the next phase of life. It allows a child to develop with a sense of direction and meaning. There are many differences in initiation rites across the African continent, but the result is the same, a relatively innocent youth undergoes a series of ritual and emerges a man or woman, physically and mentally prepared for his or her new role.

In all initiation ceremonies a select group of elders who are knowledgeable in tradition take charge of the sequence of rituals events. Deciding when and where initiation rites will take place is a profound and sacred activity. In Massai society the elders monitor initiation rituals in a ceremonial cycle of approximately 25 years. The exact local and time for major initiations is determined by a massai laibon, a diviner who consults an oracle to discover the most auspicious time for the ceremonies, to take place. The initiates are then drawn together for their generation’s passage to the next stage of life.

Novices undergo their initiation either communally or individually. Even if they experience their initiation alone they remain a part of group or generation ogf age mates undergoing an identical ordeal. A young hamar man in Ethiopia undergoes a ritual called jumping of the bull. Wherein he must leap over the backs of between twenty and forty bulls, to prove his manhood. Once all of the initiates have emerged successfully from their tests their generation is given a formal name by which they will be known, for the rest of their lives.

 

Transformation

 

Every initiation ceremony involves a ritual isolation, of the male and female novices, separating them from the community to prepare them to their transformation. To begin their compulsory period of training they enter a sacred place often a forest or a specially built ritual house; it is there that initiates lose their childhood, identities and gain their adult selves. Krobo girls are sequestered; in a ritual house for three weeks to learn what will be expected of them as wives and mothers. Massaiwarriors move out their community and into a ritual enclosure, where they live for a period of up two years. Basari initiates, go into a sacred forest and lose their ability to speak and care for themselves.

Ritual isolation operates on a mental and emotional level as well as a physical one. It is a time for the initiate to turn inward and connect with the spirit of his culture, the forces of the nature, and the ancestors that will guide him throughout his life.

During this time initiates must neither communicate with the outside, world nor share the secret knowledge they are gaining. To do so would invite punishments from the gods. Once inside their sacred place the novices go through powerful transformation rituals. It is often not possible to see the rituals that occurs in the sacred forest but we were told that the initiates lose their sense of personal identity, and enter a liminal state where they are neither themselves nor yet a new person. Their new identity must be forged during this period so that they are ready for the next stages in their lives.

During their eunoto ceremony Massai warriors go to a sacred chalkbanks where they paint their bodies or symbolic patterns. Disguised by these white chalk design the warriors return to their coumpound where they believe that their mother will no recognize them since they have metaphorically moved into the stage of life. At the end of their initiation the warriors undergo another physical change their beautiful long hair is cut and their beads and colourful shields are replaced by more sober clothing. Observing the transformation the massai say “we replace the spear of warriorhood with the weapon of wisdom”.

 

Ritual guardians

 

In most cultures each initiates is given a ritual guardian, to protect and ensure his well being. Among the krobo of Ghanaritual mother guide young girls into womanhood. These women are not the actual mothers of the girls but serve as mentors to their initiates. The rituals mothers are empowered to teach the girls to become mothers in their own right. Another interesting group are the guardians of the taneka male initiates of Benin. Known as Kumpara these guardian accompany their charges during an eight-month initiation period. Together they roam the countryside, making appeareances in local market where the Kumpara untertain villagers with erotics dances to raise money for the initiates food. The social role of the Kumpara in addition to protecting the initiates is a subversive one. They are lawfully able to break taboos and are sanctioned by society to act outrageously. This highly skilled entertainers serve an outlet for the socially unspeakable but they are also dedicated to caring for the initiates until their initiation is complete.

 

According to AFRICAN CEREMONIES by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher

Climatic encounters

 

After having been isolated for a period of instruction the initiates undergo a climatic encounter or ordeal that marks the climax of their initiation and the beginning of a new phase in their lives.

Male initiations often involve confrontation in the form of a test of bravery. To prove their courage Massai warriors hunt lions armed only with a spear. Each bassari initiate must combat a fierce masked spirit that has come from the sacred forest to confront him. The initiate is not expected to win the battle, but must simply do his best. Survival is a victory a sign that the initiate will be brave enough to face life. Each bassari initiate must combat a fierce masked spirit that has come from the sacred forest to confront him, the initiate is not expected to win the battle, but must simply di his best survival is a victory a sign that the initiate will be brave enough to face life.

For adolescent African girls, circumcision, is one of the greatest challenges in their lives, a massai initiates undergoes this ancient ritual at puberty when she fisrt menstruates the circumcision validates her passage into adulthood and prepares her for marriages and for motherhood, female circumcision is a highly controversial subject. From the Massai point of view circumsicion made a girl becoming a woman an legitimises her marriage and children. In the view of the western world the ritual seems a cruel form of mutilation. We understand that is important for the massai to maintain this age old rite of passage into womanhood but we would hope that the ritual could be modified so that it reflected the gentle and nurthuring nature of the massai people. The krobo for example who do not practise female circumcision scarify the back of the initiate’s hand with a delicate tattoo of fine blue marks to indicate that she has undergone the training of initiation and has passed into womanhood. The tattoo serves as a proud symbol of maturity.

 

Emerging as an adult

 

Once the ordeal or climatic encounter has been overcome, the initiates emerges into the world reborn into a new role in life. As if coming out of a cocoon, a krobo girl puts on her most beautiful ornamentation to signify her new status. Now eligible for marriage each girls wears a wealth of cloth and inherited beads. In full regalia, the initiates parade before the village and their families attracting potential suitors. Massai boys who have bravely endured circumcision, wear headdresses of colourful birds symbolizing their successful passage through the test. The Taneka initiate has his circumcised penis wrapped carefully in green leaves for display to the community a clear indication of his entry into motherhood.

Initiations ceremonies are social transformations whereby a society produces an adult who is prepared to take greater responsabilityand privilegies. In isolation initiates have the time and space that allows for reflexion contemplation and resolution. The process facilitates their graduation into the next part of their lifes and creates a strong sense of personal and communal identity.

 

according to Carol Beckwith and Angela >Fisher

African childhood

 

Across Africa a child is not only a member of an ancestral bloddline but also a future custodian of the culture of its people. From the outset, many differents ceremonies, are performed wich despite cultural differences express the same central theme, heralding the entry of a human being into the fist stage of life, and establishing the child as the newest addition to a particular lineage.

Because infant mortality remains high in Africa, many cultures are extremely superstitious during the first few years of child’s, life and carry out, rituals to offer it protection from danger. The Himba of Namibia, never leave, a baby on its own, or even put it down, lest the child be stolen, away by some, malevolent spirit. The Woddabe, of Niger do not name children, before their twelfth birthdays so that they cannot be identified by the spirit of death. Massai babies, however are named soon after birth and a ritual shaving of the heads of both mother and child serves to bond the pair before a name, is officially given by the village elders. The Kassena of Ghana, seek the help of their soothsayers to divine the name of a child before it is born, and to choose a personal deity that will protect the infant troughout its childhood. Despite this precaution, deaths occurs , and there are prescribed rituals for deceased children, and their surviving families. The fon people of Benin, commemorate the death of a twin child, (twin births being very common in that society) by carving a doll that is carried around by the mother and treated as through it were the embodiement of the dead twin.

In all African societies, childhood is time for learning responsibilities, ans skills that enable children to contribute to the community. Under the instruction of their mothers, small girls help with domestic chores , boy often look after goats and sheep. Early training in work, however is balanced with adequate time for children to develop creativity through imaginative play. This can be observed in the lively behavior of Surma children, from Ethiopia, who find expression through body painting and the imitation, of animals in their games. African childhood has also traditionnaly been a time for encouraging children to take an active part in tribal ceremonies, their first steps on a journey that encompasses all the realms of human experience.

 

Kassena baby from Ghana is ritually bathed with water from calabash following kassena practices surrounding birth, the infant’s mother will have consulted the village soothsayer to learn not only the personality of her unborn child but also the clothing and jewelry that must be acquired to prepare for his or her entry into the world. Most importantly the diviner will have told the expectant mother wich wei should be selected to act as the focus for worship and sacrifice throughout the child’s life. The wei which can be anything from a tree to a stone is regarded by the kassena as the child’s spiritual advocate and greatest protection during its early life.

Wodaabe baby from niger receive their first bath from their grandmother who mixe fragrant leaves in the water to bring good health. The infant’s pale pink skin typical of woodabe newborns will darken within few weeks. Firstborn infants are set apart from other children. Strong taboos prohibit mothers from calling them by name or specaking to them directly. Some mothers even refuse to nurse for the first few days asking other mothers substitute. This code of reserve protects a mother from the pain of the possible loss of their first born in a country where infant mortality is high. Despite this first born infants are reared by adoring grandparents an co-wives an receive a loving emotional foundation

 

Massai babies : the firt and most important moment of childhood rituals is the baby naming ceremony. Following the slaughter of a sacrificial goat the haeds of both mother and baby are shaved to signify their simultaneous entry into a new pahe of life, their shorn hair is placed around a pool of milk in the center of the seat of a stool, as an offering to seal mutual bond. On the venning of the ceremony, the mother leaves her hut with her baby on her back to milk a goat. When she returns she joins the child fathers and thrre elders who have been discussing a choice of name.

They all enter the hut and with the mother holding the child on her knee the elders announce its new name, proclaiming “may that name dwell in you”

 

Himba babies : always the center of attention, himba babies from Namibia, are never left on their own, and are carried everywhere in a hide backsling, or on the hip of their mother, or caretaker. The pastoral himba regard their offspring as a great blessing and even a cattle rich man is not considered truly wealthy until he has many children and grandchildren. Playing safely in her sister’s arms the himba bay at right wears a leather talisman around her neck to dispel the attention of evil spirits. As a measure of protection and beautification, himba bay are adorned with jewelry and smeared with a mixture of red ochre from the earth ans animal fat when they are only a days old.

 

Surma babies : on festive occasion, surma children from Ethiopia decorate their bodies using chalk and earth pigments to create fanciful patterns. The youngsters begin learning the art of bodfy painting at an early age by imitating their parents,. Possessing little in the way of material scul^ture the surma paint themselves, as their prime means of artistic expression.

Imaginations run wild as they turn their own bodies into works of art incorporating the human the face of a cow, and for young girl the mature breasts of their older sister. To reveal their close bond to one another best friend often paint their faces with identical design.

 

Fon people : every year the Fon people of Benin, pay homage to their population of twins, both living and dead. A welcome event the birth of twins signal the arrial of “he who comes divided , all twins being regarded as separate parts of a single being. Twins are considered sacred and are treated more carefully than other children, they are always dressed alike and gifts given to them, must be in duplicate. If one twins dies a small wooden image of the deceased must be carried by the mother and cared for alt all times. All gifts to the survivor, must be duplicated one for the living twin one for the dead. After they have both passed away a pair of statue known as hovi is carved and these are honoured at an annual community twins festival. A fon woman cares for three dolls, one for her father, one for his twin brother and one that she founbd lying in the street and feels obliged to look after. Cooking ans washing for her Hovi she loves them as if they were their own children.

 

Young Krobo girls : imitating ceremonials dress of their olders sisters young Krobo girls from Ghana are initiated into womanhood. Traditionally the girl undergo Dipo initiation during their late teenage year in preparation for marriage. Due to pressures from modern world , however , some parents put all of their daughters through Dipo at the same time, producing a genartion of very young initiates. Ordinarily, Dipo is the dream of Krobo girls who for year eagerly anticipate the time when they will put on their mother’s beads and decorative cloth. In Krobo culture beads are a vital part of female adornment; reflecting social status and often providing protection. A baby receives her first beads at her naming ceremony seven days after birth. She is given two or three beads on a cord which is tied onto her wrist for one week. Later she receives a strand of waist beads that she will wear throughout life and extend or replace as she grows. After marriage her husband may refer to her waist beads as a man’s rosary.

 

Ndebele child from the Gauteng province of south Africa are dressed by their grandmother, in preparation for a family wedding. On her legs girls wear beaded hoops called Golwani. Underneath her matching waist hoops is tied an apron of beaded tassels known as Lighabi, which also worn by both sexes, is more usually found on girls. As the chil grows the Lighabi is replaced by larger versions ans is finally discarded after her initiation into womanhood.

text and photo according to African Ceremonies, Carol Beckwith - Angela Fisher