Spiritual Dialogue with the Bantu (piet-korse-spiritual-dialogue

Spiritual Dialogue with the Bantu
Second and revised edition.
Piet Korse
Mill Hill Missionary
May 2015
Johannahoeve 2,
6861 Oosterbeek.
The Netherlands
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The cover shows a so-called possessed Mng woman who has been introduced into a local
healing ritual called jebola. The treatment may last a full year. The picture has been taken in
the town of Basnkusu (RDC).
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CONTENTS
Contents
1
Foreword
5
Introduction, spiritual dialogue.
6
Chapter I
10
The signs of the times
Chapter II Gospel Spirituality
A. My own experience
B. African Stories
a. Myths
b. Fables
1. The leper
2. The hyena
3. Mr. Fruitbat
4. Mr. Hare
C. Judicial Stories
D. Proverbs
E. Riddles
F. Talking drum.
G. Lullabies
15
15
18
18
20
20
22
24
25
26
28
33
36
38
Chapter III. The Ancestors
1. Daily Blessing.
2. Before a journey
3. Other Blessings
4. Marriage
5. Ancestral Shrines
6. Umbilical cord
7. Naming children
8. Fishing and hunting
9. Nightly attack
10. Cemetery.
11. Preparation for death
12. Death
13. Wakes
14. Death and burial
15. Burial
16. Baby’s death
17. Do this in memory of me.
18. Collecting someone’s spirit.
Conclusion:
41
41
42
42
43
44
44
46
46
48
48
49
49
50
50
51
51
52
54
55
Chapter IV. Tree and rock spirits.
1. Kazímbá ku ngírá
2. Méerú
3. Kátígo
58
58
59
60
Chapter V. Bad Spirits
61
3
A. Origin of the bad spirits.
1. Story of the wáítítí
2. Burial of the dead dog.
B. Healing rituals after attack from evil spirit.
61
63
66
67
Chapter VI.
71
Supreme Being
Chapter VII.
Gospel and Magic
Witchcraft
Chapter VIII. Inculturation
74
74
77
Chapter IX Globalisation
86
Chapter X. Resurrection Spirituality
1. Bamúzíngííza
2. Girl Múdo
3. Mama rundú
4. The rock and the children.
92
92
94
95
97
Chapter XI
Patriarchy
A. Respect for authority
B. Authority with its responsibilities
C. Social status of a man
D. A woman’s social status
99
99
100
101
103
Chapter XII Ritual Sexual Abstinence
A. Traditional Abstinence
B. Obligatory celibacy in Africa
C. Stories and proverbs
D. Conclusions
108
108
109
111
116
Chapter XIII Homosexuality in Uganda
Recent developments
118
119
Chapter XIV Shaman
A. Ways of becoming a shaman
B. Working-methods
126
127
129
Conclusion
Index
Bibliography
131
133
136
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Foreword
In November 2006, I published my autobiography which describes my years in Congo and in
Uganda. In writing it, I discovered how many frustrations I have been facing in the course of
the years. According to Eckhart Tolle, this is not something to wonder about, because, in his
opinion, life is frustrating since it pushes us out of the form we were born with. The
frustrations drive us to search for who we are. In the course of this search we usually become
wiser. Mr. Tolle says: ‘The flower of consciousness needs the mud of life.’ That’s why the
elderly are supposed to be wise men. The Mng in Congo say: ‘The ears do not extend
beyond the head’ (328PK). Children never exceed their parents in wisdom. The elderly on
their part need to communicate their insights so that the next generation may profit from
them.
In the autobiography, I wanted to show the richness of Bantu culture and its invitation to
Christians to find in it traces of God’s Spirit. In becoming acquainted with African culture, we
may even be able to understand more clearly Christ’s message to us. I’d like to describe the
beauty of the Bantu culture and the invitation it gives us to see God’s hand at work on the
African continent.
I spent most of my missionary life in Congo (1963-1989) among the Mng people in the
Equator Province and in Uganda among the Básogá, in the eastern part of that country (19942003). In both countries, I had the privilege to found and to manage a Cultural Research
Centre that focussed on the local languages, rituals, symbols and traditional stories. The
research work opened my eyes to the pearl hidden in a field (Mt. 13, 44) Jesus speaks about:
the Sacred, the Divine, i.e. God’s spirit at work in unexpected places. It is that pearl I want to
present to you in this book.
The proverbs referred to are to be found in my own collection of ‘Proverbes Mng de
Basnkusu’ (indicated by a number plus PK) or in the proverbs of the Cultural Research
Centre (of the Básogá) in Jinja. Many thanks indeed to Father Richard Kayaga for allowing
me to use the documents of the CRC in this publication.
Since Bantu languages are tonal, I write local words like Lmng and Lúsogá in italics with
their tonal setting, the vowel with the accent carrying the high tone.
This second edition includes four additional chapters: The Signs of the Times (I), Ritual
sexual Abstinence (XII), Homosexuality in Uganda (XIII) and the Shaman (XIV)
May 2015
Piet Korse MHM,
Johannahoeve 2, 6861 WJ Oosterbeek
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Introduction:
Spiritual dialogue:
As a missionary, I am an ‘apostle’ meaning one who is sent. But sent to do what? What is my
task as a missionary?
In the gospels Jesus says to his apostles: ‘Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe
all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time’
(Matt.19-20). The apostolate of Word and sacrament seems to have been there from the
beginning of the church.
In my forty years of apostolate I meet chronologically three different inspirations:
1. Planting the church in faraway regions. It is a temporary assignment. The church is here to
be understood as the hierarchical church. Once a church has local priests, brothers, sisters and
bishops, that church can be considered as having been planted. Once the church has been
planted, the missionary is supposed to withdraw and move on.
2. Establishing the kingdom of God, a kingdom of peace and justice. This is a beautiful but
hazardous task on a continent which is struggling to liberate itself from colonial servitude and
which is threatened by an aggressive Western culture and by home-grown dictators who are
out to grab as much power and money as quickly as possible and who, therefore, are loath to
relinquish power.
3. Entering a sincere dialogue with people of other cultures and religions. This demands a
radical change of attitude on the part of the missionary who opens himself respectfully to
whatever God’s spirit proclaims in other faiths in order to promote in this way, here and now,
the kingdom of God.
Establishing the kingdom of God asks for a dedication to eradicate wars, illnesses, injustices,
poverty and ignorance. To reach that goal we are asked to strive actively for peace, respect,
understanding, justice and human dignity for all. An excellent gateway to that kingdom is
dialogue. But one can only enter into dialogue when one is convinced that the other person
has as much to give as one can give oneself. To many a Christian and to many missionaries
this may sound like ‘cursing in church’.
But Jesus himself was open to God’s presence in other religions or cultures. Did he not
exclaim from time to time in evident surprise: ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I
found faith like this’ (Mt. 8, 10)? And he did not hesitate to add: ‘And I tell you that many
will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast
in the kingdom of heaven; but the subjects of the kingdom will be turned out into the dark,
where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth’ (Mt. 8, 11). Jesus entered into a dialogue
with Samaritans (John 4, 5-42), prostitutes, tax collectors, children (Mt.19, 13-15), the
disabled (John 5, 3-14), the sick and with strangers (Mt. 7, 25-30; Mt. 8, 5-13). He seemed to
have a preference for those on the periphery, for those whom others seemed bent on avoiding.
The dialogue I am referring to is not about doctrines, dogmas or tenets of faith but about life,
about one’s outlook on life. For the missionary, the most important first step is opening up his
mind to the movements of God’s Spirit in other cultures, especially in religions and social
fabrics, as the prophet Isaiah said: ‘You will be suckled on the milk of nations’(Is. 60, 16).
Only if and when the missionary has this mind-set, can he start on his own course of
discovery of the presence of God in the culture of the people to whom he has been sent. Once
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the missionary has made this discovery, he is then able to point out to the local people his
own insights and thank God for his/her presence among them. Only then can he engage
himself in the following step: invite people to search together for the holy ground on which
they dwell. Together with people from other religious backgrounds he can reflect on the
following questions: What does it take to be a good human being? What does it take to be a
good member of society?
We as Christians should go beyond doctrinal positions and reflect about who Jesus was and
how he envisaged the kingdom of heaven. I was often struck in Congo when people wanted to
praise someone, they would say: ‘He or she is ‘bonto móngó’: a real human being. This
statement would indeed be a good starting point for a common reflection, for a dialogue. For
each one of us what does this saying mean: to be a real human person, a good human being
both in one’s family and in society at large? The stories, fables, proverbs, riddles, the
teachings of the ancestors, of the prophets and of Jesus and his followers can help us to focus
together on that question: how does God want us to be, how does God want me to be and act
here and now in these given circumstances? These questions can form a good basis for
reflection and help us to engage in dialogue.
This starting point will draw us away from futile discussions about doctrinal opinions and
statements which were made in former centuries and which were formulated by movements
and sentiments which we fail to understand fully today. That’s why our so-called dialogues do
not get us anywhere. Real dialogue starts often by interaction and by the mutual observation
and questioning our own and our partners’ behaviour. In dialogue we should not be intolerant
of dogma, but our dialogue should not solely be governed by doctrinal considerations which,
in the course of centuries, have often been regarded as being holier and more sacred than
Jesus and God Himself.
When we in Europe talk about Interfaith Dialogue, we refer mostly to the relationship
between Muslims and ourselves. There is a lot of mistrust on both sides of the fault line. Bad
politics, wars, roadside bombings, attacks and loss of life contribute to a hardening of
positions on both sides. The first Interfaith Dialogue in Africa, however, should be between
Christianity and the African Traditional Religion. If we limit the dialogue to the one between
the Churches and the Mosque, we forget that the African Muslim is first and foremost an
African, just as the African Christian is first and foremost an African. Limiting the dialogue
on the African continent to the one between the Bible and the Quran is one bridge too far. We
should realise that lots of Africans are extremely practical people who do not put all their eggs
in the same basket. It is not uncommon to see that, in the same family, one of the sons is a
Catholic catechist, another protestant pastor and a third a Muslim teacher. All three sons come
together in perfect harmony, because they are Africans before being something else. Their
African religious heritage is for them more important that their other religious associations.
That is why I am in the following pages referring to the dialogue between the Christian
churches and in particular the Roman Catholic Church on the one hand and the traditional
religion of the Bantu on the other. Which position, which attitude would a Jesus-like person
adopt when faced with the African search for ways of being a good human person?
Respectful listening would, in my opinion, be a first requirement. Because the leaders in the
African churches, both local and missionary, are convinced that they are sent to proclaim Christ’s
message (I Cor. 1,17: ‘For Christ did not send me out to baptise, but to proclaim the gospel), they
are not so ready to sit down and listen. What it comes down to is that we, who consider ourselves
God’s messengers, do in fact not look and listen how God has been at work and still is in African
cultures: in their society, in their families, in their communities and in their traditions. Though
deaf to the values of our audience, we continue to talk and to proclaim irrespective of whether
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people listen or understand us or not. When our audience does not grasp what we are saying, we
shed our guilt feelings by comparing ourselves to the prophetic voice shouting in the desert (Is.
40, 3; Mark 1, 3). In this way we reassure ourselves that we are doing the right thing whilst
condemning our audience of being incapable of understanding the Word of God.
Sometimes other people’s search for the core message of Jesus is unfairly condemned in the
following terms: ‘When we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage
and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer’s. And when we
behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with
the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson’s.’ (Cardinal
Dias at the 2008 Lambeth Conference)
Once we have opened ourselves to the values of the local culture, it will become clear to us
that the dialogue with African Traditional Religion does not pull us away from Jesus. Because
it is the same Spirit that has inspired both the African genius and Jesus (I Cor. 12, 4-11), it is
the African culture that will bring us face to face with Jesus’ teachings and even make us
understand his ideals and his life even better.
African seminarians in Jinja asked me once why I bothered to do research in African culture;
in other words, why I was wasting my time on stuff that was archaic, old-fashioned, of the
past, with no meaning for present-day and modern persons. Obviously they did not realise
they were still rooted in their own culture though not observing all its rituals. Moreover, why
were they following Bible classes, unearthing things of past ages, of a time when their
ancestors were facing the same basic questions and to which they too were trying to find
answers underlining the dignity of the human person? Is it not all important for the Bantu to
sense deep down that to be truly Christian and to be truly African are not opposed to each
other? Do they at present get the feeling that to be a true Christian means to be truly human?
The following is for me an important question: Why are we, religious leaders in Africa and
elsewhere, who are intent upon finding the presence of God in the Bible, not aware of the fact
that God’s spirit was and is speaking not only through the Jewish ancestors but also through
our own ancestors, i.e. through our own culture ? (I Cor. 14, 21: “I will speak to this people in
foreign languages, and by means of the lips of people who are alien) African seminarians
easily follow the attitude of their European ‘initiators’ who, by word and example, show a
globalisation, i.e. the globalisation of Western culture, the all pervasive ‘civilisation’ in the
actual world with its mobile phones, television, computers, laptops, internet connections,
sms’s, and Ipads. Does our life on earth reflect traces of the divine and miraculous or do we
live our life as though nothing is a miracle? Seemingly, it does not matter what e.g. the
internet message is as long as we drown the inner voice through which God tries to
communicate to us.
In taking dialogue seriously, each missionary or pastoral agent must possess the basic
conviction that God’s Spirit animates also his interlocutor and his culture which has been and
still is geared toward establishing peace and justice like his own. A dialogue is the mutual
attitude of being open to the ‘Wind that blows wherever it pleases’ (John 3, 8). Moreover, we
should bear in mind that ‘a human being is not made righteous through works of the law and
or any other way but through faith in Jesus Christ’ (Gal.2,16), this applying not only to Jewish
Law but also to Church Law.
This openness to God’s Spirit is a precondition to taking seriously the truth and the beauty of
other religions. On the other hand by our openness to others, we will generate understanding
for who we are and for the way we think and feel. The religious leader full of certainties can
only repeat himself. The one with an open mind has a far more exhilarating life; he is open to
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new insights, new visions, open to the signs of the times, open to the Spirit that still ‘hovers
over the chaos’ (Genesis 1,2). Our well-known Dutch comedian Toon Hermans once wrote:
‘If one does not have the courage to be vulnerable and receptive, to have patience and to
listen, one never meets another person; one meets only oneself.’
By receiving the gift of the Spirit at his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus put his heavenly father
and his fellow human beings central in his life. He clung onto tradition; however, the welfare
and happiness of man prevailed over the Law. ‘And why do you’, he answered, ‘break away
from the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?’ (Mt. 15, 3) For Jesus tradition
was sacred only if it furthered the cause of love, justice and righteousness. He proclaimed a
golden rule: ‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of
the Law and the Prophets.’ (Mt. 7, 12)
It is not always easy to discern the movement of the Spirit in the present times. That’s why
the leaders of the Catholic Church see themselves first and foremost as custodians of a sacred
tradition. They regard it their God-given task to keep intact Sacred Scripture and tradition in
the way it has been understood for centuries. They repeat over and over again what has been
said by their predecessors, whether the meaning of the words has changed in the course of the
centuries or not.
Pope Francis on the contrary exhorts us not to cling to ecclesial usages which are not
connected to the core of the gospel. He says: ‘These may be beautiful but less apt to transmit
the gospel. We should not fear to reform them’ (nr 43 ‘Evangelii Gaudium’). In nr 47 the
Pope says: ‘The church is called to be the open house of the Father. Access to the sacraments
should not be closed off for one reason or other. The Eucharist is not a prize allocated to the
perfect but a healing remedy and food for the weak.’ ‘The church is not like the customs: she
is the house of the Father where a place is reserved for each human being who is struggling.’
In nr 49 Pope Francis says: ‘I do not like a church which wants to be the centre and thus
becomes the prisoner of a tangle of regulations and procedures.’
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Chapter I
The signs of the times
It is Pope John XXIII who left the well-trodden path by asking us, like Jesus did (Mt. 16,3) to
look for the signs of the times. He implied that God’s Spirit is not only speaking through
Scripture and Tradition, but is speaking also through what people sense, feel and think to be
right and just. For Jesus this kind of reading was of paramount importance: ‘You know how
to read the face of the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times’ (Mt. 16, 3).
The words of Pope John XXIII gave people great hope for the future: a new era of the Spirit
would commence, since they became convinced that in the future the people of God too
would be consulted. What people had been praying for, namely that God’s Spirit would renew
the face of the earth, was about to take place. God’s Spirit would again hover over the earth
and inspire both leaders and ordinary people; yes, whole nations would exult and praise God
for the new encouragement after times of war, tension, standoffs and iron curtains.
However, the ecclesiastical custodians of tradition became scared of losing control; they felt
that tradition would perish by the opening of spiritual floodgates which had been closed for
centuries. Church leaders did not know what to do with the discoveries made by science; they
retreated into the bulwarks of their sacred traditions repeating the so-called infallible
statements and leaving other people, i.e. the rest of mankind, out in the cold. This goes to
show how difficult it is to keep new wine in old wineskins (Mt. 9, 17). The prohibition of
modern means of birth control in the encyclical ‘Humanae vitae’ was the last straw that broke
ordinary people’s backs. It dashed their belief and hope that they too could claim a share in
God’s Spirit.
Einstein rightly said: ‘Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind’.
The great steps made by social and biblical sciences are seemingly ignored by the different
churches. Do I go too far by saying that the leaders of the churches are apparently blinded by
the fear of the unknown? This would be a curious position for churches which claim to know
the truth!
a. Position of women: A concrete example of this fear is the position of women in the
Catholic Church which continues to remain as it was in the past notwithstanding the
spectacular evolution of the social standing of women in politics, in the corporate world, in
associations and in the family. The custodians of ecclesiastical tradition hold onto past
structures where a woman was exalted only in so far as she was a mother of preferably many
children or a virgin in a religious congregation. Here too the spirit of the times is ignored. In
African society women are to be found among the traditional healers. Some are specialists in
treating sick children and so-called possessed women. Women are in charge of public markets
where they form the great majority among the market vendors. Yes, they control the mainly
informal economy.
b. Obligatory celibacy: Another example of the dread of the unknown is a possible break
with obligatory celibacy for priests. After Vatican II thousands of priests were forced to leave
their ministry because they desired to live a married life. They were often the most engaged
shepherds of their flocks. They were inexorably shown the door. No pity, no empathy with
those dedicated pastors, the rule of law having preference. Another sign of the times was
disregarded.
c. Presence of God: The neglect of the pervasive presence of God’s Spirit in other religions,
more specifically in the African Traditional Religion (ATR). Can we, Christians in the west,
in the east and south, be open to the values, the spirituality, the symbols and rituals, in short to
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the beauty of e.g. the Bantu culture? Are we ready to sit down and listen to it? This sitting
down seems to me very important. When sitting down we are more or less at the same height
as our listener; we are not towering over him nor are we looking down on him. We are face to
face, eyeball to eyeball with each other. If Jesus had not sat down during his sermon on the
mount (Mt. 5, 1), would his sermon have been the same?
Religious symbols and rituals are sacred means that touch the heart but are proper to each
people. They cannot be imposed on other peoples without losing their sense and without
sometimes insulting the outsiders. If we continue to insist on imposing our Western religious
symbolism on Bantu Africa, are we doing justice to their God-given culture? The same holds
good for Hinduism and so on.
You may wonder what happens to Jesus’ commandment of going out and teaching all nations.
Do I still leave space and time for the proclamation of the good news? The good news, in my
opinion, is that the Spirit continues to speak through all traditions, cultures and movements.
‘I’, He says, ‘am going to start something new. It has started already. Do you not perceive it?’
(Isaiah 43, 19) We, in the churches, have for so many years been preaching without listening;
should we not, for the time being, just sit down and listen to and look at what is going on
around us? Moreover, how can we give answers if we don’t know the questions? And are we
ready to be touched as Jesus let himself be touched in the river Jordan (Mark 1,9), by a
woman with a haemorrhage (Mark 5, 24-34) and by a woman anointing him (Mark 14, 3-9)?
Have we ever listened to or reflected on God’s presence in people of other cultures?
d. Dialogue and democracy: It is clearly a sign of the times that people insist that their
points of view, their opinions and preferences are heard and taken into account. A lone ruler is
called a dictator. This person rules over his subjects singlehanded. He is convinced that he
knows it all or he wants to hide things so that he can lay his hands on the treasury without
being asked any questions. In general people insist that dialogue should find an ever greater
place in ecclesiastical, ecumenical, social and economic areas.
More and more we all resist a lone leadership. We all want to be consulted. In one way or
other we are in favour of democracy. However, there still are plenty of dictators on our planet
both in civil society as well as in churches and other organisations. The Catholic Church has
often warmly recommended the rule of the people by the people. But she is loath to apply this
rule to herself, pretending that the present form of ecclesiastical organisation was instituted
by divine decree. However, Jesus himself asked his followers to be servants rather than rulers.
In Matthew 20, 25-27 Jesus tells his disciples: “You know that among the pagans the rulers
lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among
you. No, anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who
wants to be first among you must be your slave.’
We in the churches have often lost sight of this directive. With the rulers of this world we
often share an unwillingness to consult others. We are convinced that we know it all. We find
this attitude among catechists, parish priests, bishops and Popes. For a change, Pope Francis
recently opted for a worldwide forum by inviting people to reflect on what is good and better
for Christian families. The Dutch Bishops’ Conference did not even bother to invite people’s
views on the matter. Why would they? They give the impression that they did not see the need
to consult their ‘faithful’, since they themselves had all the answers already!
The Mng in Congo on the contrary share Jesus’ mind-set in the following proverbs:
 ‘ The cuckoo says she is the only one to know the time.’ The African cuckoo starts
‘talking’ just before sunrise. Every day the bird announces the dawn of the day. But so
do other birds like the rooster. The cuckoo has no right to think that she is the only one
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to understand that the day is dawning. So no one should think that he is the only
expert.
 ‘The Podica bird says it’s the only one that can sing.’ The bird in question can sing
nicely. But so can many other birds.
 ‘The bntl vine says she only can carry the basket.’ People use all kinds of vines
and ropes in order to carry a basket on their backs. So that particular vine should not
pretend to be the only one capable of carrying a basket. I too should not pretend to be
the only one capable to do a certain job.
I hope and pray that we all engage in a serious dialogue wherever we are. ‘The most brilliant
monologue cannot beat the simplest dialogue’, someone wrote on a billboard in Groesbeek,
Holland. It is only through dialogue that the kingdom of God will be established, not through
pastoral letters that show off an attitude of presumed omniscience and spiritual superiority.
‘Even for the western rational mind it should be clear that dialogue is cheaper than war: no
expensive weaponry, no great infrastructural expenditures or demolition, and no dead or
physically and/or mentally maimed victims. Still more importantly, dialogue does not leave
some victors and others losers. Dialogue’s objective is not victory but reconciliation and
renewed relationships.. The ‘terrorists’ should be brought back home where they belong’
(Tjeu Haumann in Vechten of Verzoenen pp. 106-107)).
e. Reconciliation: Africans are said to have a short memory for hate. The Básogá say of
themselves that their anger is like groundnut sauce: it rises and it comes down again (813
CRC Jinja). Renewed relationships are for them more important than retributive justice. They
are ready to forgive and forget in order to maintain and renew their relationships. Mandela has
shown us the way after becoming President of South Africa. Mandela worked to reassure
South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow
Nation. Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including
Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Schoombie, and the lawyer Percy Yutar; emphasising
personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he announced that "courageous people do not fear
forgiving, for the sake of peace." He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the
previously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby
World Cup. After the Springboks won a celebrated final over New Zealand, Mandela
presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner. Mandela was wearing a
Springbok shirt with Pienaar's own number 6 on the back. This gesture was widely seen as a
major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later put it:
"Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans."
Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate
crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, appointing
Desmond Tutu as its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the Commission granted
individual amnesties in exchange for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era.
Dedicated in February 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture, bombings,
and assassinations, before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki
appealed to have parts of the report suppressed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful.
Mandela praised the Commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from the
past to concentrate on the present and the future".
This reconciliation prevented the collapse of South African’s civil society and the country
itself.
Reconciliation is needed today between the different Christian Churches, between the
churches and Islam, between the churches and the Traditional African Religion, reconciliation
with Hinduism, with traditional healers and visionaries. The wounds of the past need to be
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healed. Festering wounds may lead to gangrene. Suspicion, distrust, disdain, disregard,
disrespect and enmity need to be replaced by appreciation. Jesus gave us the example by not
excluding anybody from approaching him. He had a natural inclination towards people living
in the margin of society, towards people who were looked down upon by their fellow human
beings. He saw in everybody the image of his heavenly father.
Reconciliation is needed in every one of us: reconciliation with our past, reconciliation with
our relatives, with our former friends and colleagues and with our leaders. Reconciliation is
an ongoing task we need to face. We ourselves should take the first step and not wait for the
other to take the initiative.
f. Another sign of the times is the lack or the care of the environment.
The great London smog of 1952 showed the increasing degree of air pollution threatening
even human life and the whole of nature. Besides, the increased use of chemicals in
agriculture and industry resulted in pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides and
disinfectants and turned out to be a direct threat to the natural habitat for wildlife. At a certain
time frogs and fish had completely disappeared from the traditional Dutch ditches which we
find between the meadows and fields. The orange agent herbicides-defoliants used during the
Vietnam war (1964-1971) were a total disregard of the holiness of mother nature.
The significant rise of breast cancer and later of other kinds of cancer made people reflect on
the possible causes of these diseases.
People invented new terms to describe the manmade changes in nature. Since then we talk
about acid rain, greenhouse effect, air pollution, global warming, plastic soup, sustainable
development.
During the cold war, especially during the years 1978-1983, people protested vehemently
against nuclear weapons being installed in Europe. The slogans employed were: ‘No nukes’,
‘nukes out’, ‘ban the bomb’, ‘ban nuclear weapons.’ During those years religious were, in
some countries, prominent protesters against the bomb.
People organised themselves in organisations such as Greenpeace and Worldwide Fund for
Nature in order to highlight the destruction and havoc caused by our western way of living.
Greenpeace was started by Quakers, pacifists, journalists and hippies. They fought and fight
against toxic chemicals, deforestation, commercial whaling and radioactive waste dumping at
sea. The said organisation has been a force for change. Well-known are their ships the
Rainbow warrior I, II and III and the Artic Sunrise.
Why are we, Christians and our churches, quasi absent from the organisations striving after
sustainable development? Is it the biblical concept that we, humans, are the lords of creation
and therefore can do as we like? In the book of Genesis it is said the God confided to man the
earth, the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky and all the animals creeping on the earth and all
the green plants (Gen. 1, 26-30). Man as the owner gave names to the cattle, the wild animals
and the birds (Gen. 2,19-20), because it is only the owner who has the right to name the
animals, fish and birds. The Bible implies that God Himself gave us a free hand to go ahead
with our development.
I get the impression that we as owners thought we did not need to account for the way we
treat our possessions. It were the so-called ‘pagans’ who pointed out to us the integrity and
sanctity of nature. It was only much later that the churches told their members that we are not
the real owners but only the stewards of the environment. As stewards we cannot do with
nature as we like. We have to respect nature. We ourselves are part of that nature. We need to
take care of the environment including the animals, fish and birds, trees and plants, all the
waterways and seas. We as missionaries we have the chance to make people aware of the
sacredness and the integrity of creation. Noah with his ark teaches us that we should treasure
every species of birds, fish, animals, insects, plants and trees (Genesis 6, 19-20).
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It struck me in the past that, when a missionary would take over a parish, he would often cut
down the trees which his predecessors had planted around the presbytery and then plant new
ones. I know that each person has the natural inclination to leave his own footprint. But are
we entitled to destroy mother nature just to boost our own ego?
For the last couple of years I take from time to time a big bag and gather all the plastic
objects, tins and bottles which people have thrown away along some of the municipal roads in
Oosterbeek. Would it be beneath your dignity to do likewise wherever you find yourself?
g. Historic perspective: After this short introduction on the value of dialogue, I would like to
point out that the Christian church leader is part of a tradition which dates back to the old
Jewish society, where the leading figures were priests, prophets or biblical scholars. Each of
them had a specific task: Priests, who were exclusively male, occupied themselves with
prayer and liturgy. Prophets were people driven to honour God’s name and/or human rights.
Prophets stood up for the ordinary Tom, Dick and Harry. They announced social and religious
abuses. Prophets did not mince their words when naming abuses committed by Jewish
leaders. Scribes (biblical scholars) : these gentlemen insisted that the Law of Moses be
observed to the letter. In the gospel they are named Pharisees and Sadducees.
This very patriarchal Jewish society continues to exist in the church. Jesus did not see himself
as a priest or a biblical scholar but as a prophet. Did he not tell the people of his village:
‘Listen, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country’ (Luke, 4, 24)? And the two disciples
on the way to Emmaus, did they not tell their lone companion: ‘You must be the only person
staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last
few days?’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’, they answered, ‘who
proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did’ (Luke 24, 18-19).
Should a church leader, whether he/she be a missionary or a local pastor, when following the
road Jesus opened for us, not first and foremost be a prophet? How is it that in the past and
even at present the missionary typically is a priest. There were also many brothers, nuns and
lay volunteers. Originally they were there to assist the priest in his pastoral endeavour. These
days in the African and Asian formation houses of the Missionaries of Africa, the Holy Cross
Missionaries, the Comboni Missionaries and the Mill Hill Missionaries, young people are
formed and educated in order to become priests. Have we lost track of what Jesus was all
about? Is the celibate priest the best instrument to advance dialogue between religions,
between races, between sexes and between ages? Are our religious Congregations really
convinced that a celibate life is the most appropriate state of life for the exclusively male
African and Asian candidates to advance the dialogue? If they are not convinced, why do they
follow blindly the old and well-trodden track?
Moreover, belonging to a Western congregation, the group as well as the individuals may lose
appreciation of the daily realities faced by those they are called to serve. The distinct status as
clerics may easily turn into a superiority syndrome damaging or even disabling them to
enhance or advance dialogue between people. Moreover, the ubiquitous Western style of
education in an enclosed community may well turn itself into a self-defeating system.
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Chapter II
Gospel spirituality
A. My own experience
In the following pages, I like to show the evolution of my own perception of the task of a
missionary and how I had the privilege to perceive God’s spirit at work in the Bantu culture. I
felt the invitation to open up to the presence of God among the Africans in Congo and in
Uganda. At the same time I doubt whether we, Christians in the West, are open enough to see
God’s presence in African cultures and to appreciate God’s Spirit at work long before we
missionaries set foot in Africa.
As noted in the foreword, I worked, among the Mng, in the diocese of Basnkusu in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and among the Básogá, in the diocese of Jinja in Uganda.
Both peoples are Bantu, separated in time and in space by several centuries and more than
2000 km. The description of the following stories and experiences serves to illustrate that the
search for the Kingdom of God is ongoing both inside and outside the Christian Churches.
These experiences opened my eyes to a culture quite different from my own but at the same
time noble and remarkable in itself.
The Básogá in Uganda say: ‘Two fools know more than one genius’ (30 CRC, Jinja). If one
wants to make headway in life, one should not do things on one’s own, but instead collaborate
with others. Two cultures are better than just one. As they say in English: ‘Two heads are
better than one’.
The wisdom of two religions is greater than that of a single one. One religion can inspire the
other. The mysticism of the one can open one’s eyes to what is found elsewhere in another
form. Do not say: ‘I know it all.’ Another proverb from Uganda says: ‘The one, who does not
want to be taught, walks around with excrements on his calves’ (542 CRC, Jinja). In a region
with lots of pit latrines or where people relieve themselves on top of fallen tree trunks, it is
understandable that unhygienic accidents occur. But if you are known to ignore advice,
people will be loath to point out to you that something is amiss. As they say in Congo: ‘A
single finger won’t remove a louse from the head’ (849PK). For that job one needs two
fingers. So always be open to advice, be ready to listen to some else’s opinion. In our present
case of two or more cultures, religions, spiritualities, the one is able to inspire the other. In my
own experience, the study of African Traditional Religion has made me reflect more and
better on the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. In the process Jesus has become for me
more of prophet proclaiming what we call compassion, mercy, commiseration, pity, sympathy
or empathy as his basic mission in life. He has become a more loving and lovable person, one
who is close to people, close to me. Jesus is keen to repeat prophet Hosea’s saying (Hos. 6,6):
‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’ (Matt.12,7). If we turn away from the riches of other
religions, Jesus might rebuke us too saying: ‘We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t
dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t be mourners’ (Matt.11, 17).
This same compassion we find also in some African proverbs: ‘He who has a dog does not
throw away a bone’ (191 CRC Jinja). ‘Pity can lead to prostitution’ (326 CRC Jinja). A child
is like a knife; if it cuts you, do not throw it away’ (707 P.K.). ‘The one who does not realise
the cold in the grave, refuses the dead a bark cloth’ (229 CRC Jinja).
a. The time is June 1964. I am doing pastoral work in a parish called Waka, situated in the
diocese of Basnkusu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the past months I have learnt
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a bit of the local language and I am ready to go on supply to one of the outstations of the large
parish.
On a Saturday afternoon I go to a village called Wála-Monje. I intend to stay with the
catechist, spend the night there and celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday morning. That Saturday
evening when all is dark, I have a chat with the catechist. In the course of our conversation I
put a personal question to the catechist and ask him: ‘Tata Raphael, may I ask you a
question?’ He answers: ‘Of course, you may ask me a question. Please, go ahead!’ I say:
‘Tata Raphael, you are a committed Christian and even a wonderful catechist. But here in
your home I have noticed the presence of four unmarried daughters, each of them having one
or more children. How do you square their behaviour with yourself as a Christian father and a
catechist?’
Tata Raphael looks at me with a broad and beautiful smile. The numerous wrinkles in his face
beam an abundant joy. He says: ‘Isn’t that wonderful? How good God is in blessing me with
so many grandchildren!’ I am amazed at his response. His world and his faith are evidently
not the same as mine. His outlook on life is definitely very different. I had expected him to
apologise by saying for instance that even a good father cannot keep an eye on all his
daughters all the time. No, this man praises the Lord for every grandchild. He feels himself a
real grandfather, who is proud and happy for all his grandchildren. They are a gift from God
Himself.
His Christian faith does not prevent or restrain him from being a real grandpa. This is my first
realisation of what we later call inculturation; he is a committed Christian but with an African
flavour!
b. Early in the morning, women are the first to rise and prepare breakfast from the leftovers of
the previous evening. Then they set out for their fields, to plant, to weed and to harvest
cassava or bananas for the evening meal. They gather firewood and carry it all home on their
backs. They go out to collect water, prepare the meal and wash the children before retiring.
Every day is an awfully busy and tiring day.
The men, however, sit around all day ‘to watch over the goats’. In the afternoon they come
together round a pot of banana beer, palm wine or to drink a bottle of local gin.
If there is a court case, they gather under the biggest tree and follow the arguments of the
accuser and the defendant. The courts are almost exclusively frequented by men, though
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everybody is welcome to sit down and listen. It is the oral tradition coming to life. Everybody
already knows the ins and outs of the case being brought, because ‘there are no secrets where
the bananas grow.’ But the judges follow the arguments and know that the spider is caught in
its own web. They listen attentively and catch the culprit according to his or her own
inconsistencies. The judges retire to a place of their own and decide on the verdict. The
judgement, however, is pronounced in such a way that the quarrelling parties can bury their
hatchet and are able to live together again. Village life has to continue!
By their daily conversations men know far more proverbs than their slaving wives. Since it is
the idle and drunken men that invent most proverbs, these sayings are sometimes not very
kind to women. Practically all Bantu societies are exclusively patriarchal, where male
domination is the rule.
However, the Mng in Congo have a custom which allows women to stay at home on
Wednesdays. Traditionally women would enjoy a free day after three days’ work. Nowadays
women do not frequent their fields on Sundays and Wednesdays. Tradition has it that, if they
do go to their gardens on a Wednesday, they risk meeting angry ancestral spirits. Sickness and
misery would follow. Similarly no one will plant or sow at full moon and neither do you sow
or plant in the afternoon. Your effort will come to nothing. Please, sow before noon!
In my opinion, it is a beautiful custom to allow women to rest twice a week so that they can
pay attention to their home, to their little children and have time for social contacts. Would
Jesus not have rejoiced in this traditional show of compassion with the hard working mothers?
Does this custom allowing these women to rest twice a week not fall within the range of
gospel values?
My tongue in cheek observation that, ‘while the women work hard to nourish their families,
the men sit around to watch over the goats’, requires some further comment. One should not
be fooled by the apparent idleness of men. Sometimes men are out all night fishing. No
wonder that they ‘sit around’ during the day so as to ready themselves for another night on the
waters struggling not only with their fishing gear but also with hordes of mosquitoes. Other
men specialise in climbing palm trees. Like real acrobats, they do so with the help of a loose
vine looped behind their back or with the help of a large bamboo pole. They risk their lives so
as to harvest palm wine or to cut big bunches of palm nuts. These nuts are used by their
spouses for making palm oil. By selling the nuts or the palm oil people boost their household
income.
I am sorry to say that drunkenness is a common vice among men. Do they intoxicate
themselves in order to forget their misery and worries? Needless to say that their nearly daily
binges do not help to solve but rather increase their domestic problems.
c. The ‘Belgian’ Congo becomes independent on June 30, 1960, in what proved to be a
painful delivery. Lumúmba, an active politician, after having spent some time in Egypt and
Moscow, gives an inflammatory speech in the presence of King Bauduin. This speech pours
oil on the flames. All over the country soldiers start mutinying. Lumúmba is anti-Western and
has communist sympathies, so the story goes. In fact, he is far ahead of his time. The cruel
colonial past marked by the infamous ‘Red Rubber’ campaigns and the forced war effort in
the form of hard labour on roads and plantations finally produce their bitter fruits. Many
Belgians have to flee for their dear lives. Anyone who is white is in for it and is treated with
contempt. Missionaries are sometimes meted out the same treatment. Why missionaries also
are targeted, I, as a young missionary, do not know. I’ll know later by getting a feel of the
wounds inflicted by the colonisation.
People’s reactions to the liberation of the white rule damage sometimes their own interest. For
instance, palm trees planted along the roads are doing people a good service, because they
17
provide palm nuts and shade for the traveller. But Mister Ifεl, the first mayor of Basnkusu,
orders people to cut the trees down. The palm trees remind people of the forced labour during
the Second World War, the so-called ‘effort de guerre’. Another example: it takes years
before people dare to sleep in and not to rise long before daybreak. Colonial pressure to work
early had thoroughly conditioned people’s behaviour.
Within a year, on January 17, 1961 Lumúmba reaps the bitter harvest of his inflammatory
speech. He pays with his life for his attitude and politics in the mineral-rich province of
Katánga.
The ‘Christian’ capitalists have taken their revenge and tried hard to make sure that their
monetary interests were safe. We, Europeans, were too deaf to hear in Lumumba’s anger the
echo of the cries of the Congolese people during the brutal and humiliating colonisation of
their country. Was this colonial attitude not the antithesis of the gospel value of respect and
compassion?
B. African Stories.
All African peoples possess a wealth of fables and other traditional stories which are
constantly retold in order to uphold long cherished values. These stories have been handed
down orally from one generation to the next. People did not have things written down. They
didn’t need to write them down. Through story telling and through other memory training like
proverbs and riddles they developed a remarkable memory in such a way that they did not
need the art of writing.
Those stories give us a good impression of what is dear and important to people personally
and to their society. It is in myths, fables, in other kinds of stories and in proverbs that we find
God’s Spirit speaking to us. The stories have often something mysterious about them. The
famous Einstein told us: ‘The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is
the source of all true art and science’. Africa has plenty of the mysterious! Eckhart Tolle says
rightly that ‘stories are doorways to the sacred, to the divine.’ They take us out of our worries,
our preoccupations and let us be still and lead us to wonder. They are the narrow gate (Mt.
7,13-14) that leads us to life, new life, because our daily weariness can easily grind us to a
halt. The story opens a new door.
1. Myths:
The two Bantu myths, which I know well, narrate the origin of man and of the respective
tribe. They are awesome stories. Miracles happen all over.
--For the Bágandá and the Básogá in Uganda their ancestor Kintú roams around on earth
accompanied by his cow. There is no food yet. Kintú eats the dung of his cow and drinks its
urine. Kintú falls in love with the daughter of a heavenly being who is called Igúlú (sky,
heaven). Kintú has to show and prove that he will be a worthy son-in-law by performing
nearly impossible tasks. He succeeds miraculously and obtains his wife Námbí. Igúlú tells
them to go back to earth and not to return again. But on the way Námbí remembers that she
has forgotten her chicken feed. She scorns her father’s advice and goes back home where her
brother Death insists on accompanying her. Death later starts killing a number of the young
couple’s children. Námbí implores another brother of hers to come and collect Death.
Whenever he tries to lay hands on his brother Death, the latter disappears into the ground. His
brother tries hard to dig him out and get hold of him. But it is all in vain. Death has come to
stay. It’s by digging the soil that man tries to obtain life and ward off death.
-- The Mng in Congo have their Lianja epic.
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Bokelé (egg), a boy, is born miraculously. It happens that the wives of Waí (peace) are all
pregnant, but the pregnancy of one of them never ends. So an old woman takes an egg out of
the womb of this wife, and a handsome boy, Bokelé, is hatched. Because the world is in
darkness, Bokelé, with the assistance of a hawk, a turtle and wasps, steals the sun from those
who control it and brings it back to his community. From that same land of the sun, he brings
Bolúmbú, his wife. Lonkundó, their son, dies twice and is restored to life. His father teaches
him how to build traps. But he snares Ilankaka, a beautiful shining woman. He marries her,
and her unborn child, Itondé, leaves her womb at night fully grown to get food. He manages
to catch a bird. Itondé is renamed Ilele. He meets Mbómbé, wrestles with her, the first of her
suitors to defeat her, and he marries her. An ogre kills him, and Mbómbé resurrects him. He is
later killed in another fight.
Mbómbé is pregnant. The signs in nature are frightening: the water in the medicinal horn turns
into blood. Cords of string lie twisting on the ground like wounded snakes. Monkeys shout on
top of their voices behind the home. Elephants stroll into the compound. Women undo their
hair dress and throw themselves on the ground and weep all day long. Mbómbé’s woes begin.
She pants like sheep hunted down by ferocious dogs. Then she gives birth to animals,
caterpillars, birds, other numerous insects and all kinds of people. But her throes are not over
yet. She hears a voice from within saying that slaves block his way. ‘Mother, show me
another way!’ She says: ‘I have no other way. Just come via that way! The voice answers:
‘No, I will not come that way. I am coming with my sister. Rub some red ochre on your
shinbone.’ Mbómbé complies with the request. The tibia swells and becomes like a gnarl on a
tree. Mbómbé is scared to death. Everybody flees in panic. Then the shinbone bursts open and
an adult man comes out and stands up straight, amazingly beautiful. He jumps into the air and
stands on the ridge of the roof, holding a spear and a shield, ready to defend his people and to
revenge the killing of his father. Then appears a gorgeous woman, dazzling like the sun and
she, Nsóngó, follows her brother onto the crest of the roof. Lianja sets out to avenge the death
of his father and kills Indombe, a python, that transforms itself into a spirit. The twins go to a
river, separating themselves from the animals. Indombe had cursed plants so that they did not
grow. Lianja lifts the curse. He settles people in their respective communities. He then climbs
into a tree and, with his sister on his hips and his mother on his shoulders, he vanishes into the
sky.
Observations on these two myths:
a. Kintú survives thanks to his cow and the cow continues to live thanks to the good care of
Kintú. Here we find a symbiosis of man and his cow, the interdependency of mankind and the
rest of creation.
b. Human beings are part of creation; that’s where they find both life and death.
c. The ancestors are great people. We owe our existence to them. Their appearance on earth is
accompanied by a number of miraculous events. They are not born the normal way. Some are
born out of the head of the mother, some out of her chest or her shinbone. Their greatness can
be seen right from the start of their very existence. We see the same trend of thought in the
Bible: at the creation of Adam (Gen. 2,7) and Eve (Gen. 2, 21-23), at the birth of Isaac (Gen.
18, 9-15), at the birth of Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25, 22-26), Moses (Ex. 2, 1-4), Samuel (1 Sam.
1, 1-20), Samson (Judges 13, 1-24), John the Baptist (Luke 1,7-25) and Jesus (Luke 1, 26-38;
2, 1-20).
d) Human life does not come about easily. The whole of life is a struggle.
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e. In order to stay alive, we have to work hard by tilling the soil. Only then we can for the
time being ward off death for ourselves and our offspring.
f. In patriarchal societies the woman is regarded not only as the giver of life and the ideal
company for man but also as the cause of death.
g. In order to obtain a wife, a man needs to show courage, wisdom and a willingness to work
hard.
h. Death is a given. We cannot rid ourselves of it neither for ourselves nor for our children.
2. Fables: African peoples possess plenty of fables. Each region has its favourite collections:
among the Mng in Congo one finds many stories about the tortoise called úlu and about the
small duiker antelope, the mbólókó. In Uganda, the Básogá have a collection about the hare,
wákáyimá.
These three animals are very vulnerable, because the tortoise is extremely slow and
consequently it cannot run away from an aggressor. The small duiker antelope and the hare
are vulnerable in the sense that they can only defend themselves by fleeing danger.
The vulnerability of these three animals has provided them with the gift of astuteness. This
gift is their means of survival as the saying goes: ‘If the lion’s skin cannot, the fox’s shall.’
When fables are told, they are not read out from a book or from a piece of paper. No, they are
recited to attract the attention of the audience. Short songs and refrains are an integral part of
the story telling and invite audience participation. Everybody present participates in that way
in telling the story.
When I would preside at the Sunday’s liturgy in Balíngá in Congo and I would find a fable in
line with the theme of the gospel story, I would drop the first and/or second reading and
instead a parishioner would narrate that fable. Everyone in church would sit up, all ears so as
not to miss the fable. A couple of weeks later, people would still remember the fable in
question and they would still know the theme of the Sunday celebration, which certainly
would not have been the case if the usual readings had been read. So, from the pastoral point
of view, the recitation of a fable used to be a success. The only sticking point was the bishop’s
attitude when he was informed about my ‘antics’. After much ado, he agreed that a fable
could be used as part of the sermon, because the often incomprehensible first/second reading
had to be maintained. Let it be noted that the sermon in church comes alive when structured
along the lines of the local story telling, interspersed with short songs sung by everybody.
Indeed, God spoke to us through the Jewish ancestors. But God’s spirit inspired also the
African ancestors to produce many lovely and fascinating stories. I find it a great pity that
hardly any use is made of them in the liturgy and in catechetics. Are we as pastors not wasting
God’s Spirit as she made herself known in human creativity, ingenuity and wisdom? The best
and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the
heart.
To give you an inkling of the art of the African story telling and its giftedness, please, taste
the following three East-African stories:
1. The leper:
A newlywed couple has the ardent desire to have children. And indeed after a few months the
wife realises that she is pregnant. Their respective families are overjoyed. When her time
comes, she gives birth to a beautiful and healthy daughter. On the day of her birth, the father
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of the child plants a tree next to the home and puts a calabash in the top of that young tree
saying: ‘The man who later wants to marry my daughter, will have to climb this tree and
bring this calabash down and hand it over personally to me.’
As the years pass, the daughter grows up and becomes an adult. The tree like all trees in the
tropics grows day and night, day after day, for all those months and years. Its branches
stretch towards the heavens.
Young men start frequenting the house and one by one they present themselves to the father
and ask for the hand of his gorgeous daughter. To each candidate the father repeats his
demand: ‘If you want to marry my daughter, climb this tree and bring me the calabash
perched in the top of the tree.’ Some of the young men have a try; they climb the tree but
when they are halfway, they anxiously look down and their knees start jumping up and down.
Quickly they descend and return home red with shame. One young man, a real daredevil,
climbs still higher than all the others did, but fear catches up on him too; he loses his grip,
slips down and falls to his death. For a long time not a single young man dares to come
forward.
Then one day, a leper presents himself to daughter’s father and asks for her hand. The father
seeing the state of the young man feels a sudden rage rising in his chest but just manages to
control himself. Instinctively he wants to chase the wretch, but, on account of his promise, he
invites the young man to have a try. The father and everybody else know quite well that
without decent fingers and toes the poor man is going to lose grip and crash to the ground.
So, the leper starts his climb. Very slowly indeed he makes headway into the branches. He
advances higher and higher. The father of the girl and the many bystanders hold their breath.
Halfway the tree the leper looks down, and sees the beautiful girl watching him. Her sight
encourages him to go on and on, higher and higher, until he reaches the highest branch. He
stretches himself as far as he can, grips the top branch, holds his breath and pulls the branch
towards him. Carefully his hand reaches for the calabash. The leper then holds the calabash
in both his hands so as to welcome it. He then rolls it into a cloth which he has brought along
and ties the calabash on his back. Very slowly and carefully he descends until finally he
reaches the ground. Holding the old calabash again in both hands he presents it to the father
of the daughter, saying: ‘My dear father-in-law, here is your calabash, may I now ask…’ The
raging father cuts him short and fulminates against the poor leper, saying: ‘You, dirty leper;
you, cheeky fellow, you, good-for-nothing. Get out of here! Who do you think you are? I will
not be your dear father-in-law! You wretch, go home! You won’t get my daughter. Get out!’
The leper does not reply. He goes home straightaway. But the next day, he is back and holds a
goat’s skin in his hand. Before sitting down on the veranda of the kitchen, he spreads the skin
and sits on top of it. He starts singing. The children of the whole neighbourhood gather
around him to listen to his amusing songs and stories. This goes on, day after day, month
after month.
One day, when the leper has finished singing and telling his stories, he stands up and leaves
for home. But he forgets his goatskin. A moment later, the mother of the daughter notices the
skin and asks her daughter to go immediately after the leper and hand him his skin. She says,
‘He has just left; you will catch up with him.’ The daughter takes the skin and runs after him
crying at the top of her voice, ‘Leper, leper, here is your skin! Leper, leper, here is your skin.’
But the leper does not seem to hear her and just walks on and on. The girl continues to follow
him. Very soon the leper arrives at a big and beautiful house. He enters and is received with
great honour. The daughter follows the leper and she also enters the house and is well
received in a big hall where the leper is busy taking off his disguise. To her astonishment he is
not a leper at all. He proves to be a very attractive young prince, a good enough reason for
the girl to stay! And they live happily for ever after!
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The values found in this story:
a. One needs to keep one’s promises. An honest man’s word is as good as his bond. In
Uganda they say: ‘A promise is a debt.’
b. Keep always trying; never say die, keep fighting against all odds.
c. A poor man has to use his wits to succeed and to survive. ‘Misery made me wise’
(1089.PK). Ingenuity is the weapon of the poor and of the disadvantaged.
d. Have patience. Do not get worked up by a rebuff or a refusal. One day you will be lucky.
Don’t despair. The Congolese are convinced that ‘Nzambe alalaka te’:God does not sleep.
e. A young man should do his best to obtain a wife even at great cost. A bachelor is looked
down upon, because he has to beg for food. The Mng say: ‘It is the cough of the
bachelor that attracts the attention of the owner of the house’ (1856.PK). The bachelor,
who finds his neighbour eating, will cough in order to be invited in and have a bite.
f. A young girl needs the consent of her parents to marry. Traditionally the parents arrange the
marriage.
g. Singing songs and story telling are of great value to the education and the amusement of
children.
h. Never alienate or look down on a poor person. He may save you the day you need him.
i. Return an object found to the rightful owner.
2. The hyena.
A hyena resides near the village. This animal is very rapacious and aggressive. Sometimes it
steals a goat, sometimes a sheep or even a calf. As the days pass, the animal becomes bolder
and bolder. People start saying, ‘It will not take long before the hyena attacks our children.
This animal has to be stopped!’
A few days later the chief calls his people together and says, ‘Tomorrow the hunt is on, the
hunt for the hyena.’ The following day, all the village people present themselves: some with a
spear, others with bow and arrows, and others again with clubs and hunting nets; another
person holds a small goat which has to serve as bait. The chief leads the group in silence
towards the opening in a rock where the hyena has often been sighted. They put up the nets in
front of the opening. On the inside they put the small goat and then prick it with an arrow in
the hope that the bleating of the animal will attract the hyena. But no hyena comes out of the
rock. Then the hunters notice that the hyena’s fresh tracks move away from the rock.
In the meantime, the hyena in the bush has heard the bleating of the goat and comes running
towards the goat. But then it smells the hunters. It stops in its tracks, shrieks and bolts. The
people hear the noise of the hyena and give chase to the animal. The hyena easily outruns
them all. Out of breath it reaches a garden where a woman is working. The hyena addresses
the lady and says: ‘Madame, a large group of men is pursuing me. For one reason or another
they want to kill me. Please, allow me to hide underneath the heap of branches in the corner
of your garden; otherwise I am done for.’ The woman has pity on the poor animal, she lifts
the heap of branches and the hyena slips underneath.
The woman continues to weed. Soon after, she hears a horde of people coming her way. The
people stop and ask her: ‘Madame, did you by any chance see a hyena?’ The woman answers,
‘A hyena?’ No, I haven’t seen any for years!’ The men do not believe her. They say, ‘But we
see fresh tracks of a hyena leading right up to here. The animal must be here.’ The woman
shakes her head and says: ‘Here, there is no hyena. It must have gone elsewhere.’ The men
become angry, but they do not dare to enter the woman’s garden without her permission and
finally they go back home.
Once the men are gone, the hyena comes out of its hiding and asks the woman, ‘Say, my dear
lady, have you got something for me to eat?’ ‘No, mister hyena,’ she answers, ‘I have no food
with me. I have come here to work. I do not live here. My kitchen is at home’.
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Alas! The hyena answers: ‘If you really do not have any food for me, I’ll kill and eat you!’ He
makes threatening advances towards the woman. As the woman gets disturbed and scared,
she cries in anguish, ‘You must be kidding! I just saved your life from those aggressive
hunters. They would have killed you alive! And now you threaten to kill me! Come off it.’ But
the hyena cries out, ‘I am starving to death. Whether I die pierced by a spear or of starvation,
what’s the difference?’ The hyena leaves the woman no time to object but jumps at her and
kills her!
Explanation:
a. The hyena threatens the village. All the inhabitants are invited to partake in the hunt.
Everybody is supposed to do so in one way or other. The present need of communal
wellbeing supersedes the urgency of any individual’s occupation. The ‘ubuntu’ is at work
here: When the community fares well, the individual thrives.
The woman in the garden, however, hides the evil animal and consciously aborts the
communal hunting expedition. She refuses to participate in putting an end to the killing in the
community. She puts herself apart from the community. She refuses to protect the village. Her
reward is death! The wellbeing of the community takes precedence over the will of the
individual.
b. The villagers have to close ranks against outsiders. A lie or a false witness to the advantage
of the community in that case is recommended and even expected. It’s a white lie. The
outsider should not qualify such a dishonest member of the community as being a liar or a
cheat. That is what is expected from him. This attitude may disgust the well-meaning outsider
falling victim to such a false witness. However, the community has the obligation to protect
its members. A thief or even a murderer will not easily be denounced.
c. The story of the hyena and the woman in the garden shows that a visitor should be
protected and feel safe with his host, like formerly in Europe when a person who sought
sanctuary at the altar, could not be arrested. However, if a host does not trust his visitor, he
should not receive him in the first place. ‘He that makes himself a sheep shall be eaten by the
wolf.’ We should assist each other, but if you are naïve, people walk right over you. It is very
laudable to receive guests but your first obligation concerns yourself and your family.
d. All the main actors in the story look for life. The woman looks for life for herself and her
family by working hard in the garden. The village people go out hunting to protect their lives
and those of their children. The hyena flees and hides itself because it fears for its life. The
difference between the woman and the hyena is that the woman has pity, risks her own life
and finally loses it. As followers of Jesus, we are not only called to look for life but also to
give life! Jesus took consciously the risk of giving life to those who otherwise would miss the
boat. Jesus is like the woman and the woman like Jesus: in constant search for life but also
ready to give life.
e. This woman reminds me also of Jesus because he protected the prostitute, he praised the
Good Samaritan and helped the Roman Centurion. In the eyes of many Jesus connived with
the enemy. The discontented community cried out: ‘Crucify him, crucify him.’ The woman’s
name is Jesus! Her heart too is filled with commiseration. However, when your pity
endangers the community, you may have to pay for it dearly. It may cost you your life.
f. Nature has endowed women with a lot of compassion; this is their greatness but it may also
lead to their downfall. Virtues and vices are sides of the same coin.
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g. If you’re in dire straights, open your mouth and express your needs as did the hyena.
People will in that case come to your rescue. (Even the coq imprisoned in the basket won’t fail
to crow (2379PK).
3. Mr. Fruitbat
Once upon a time the dry season was fierce and lengthy. The sun scorched the villages; the
crops in the fields withered away; the wells and the streams dried up. A great famine befell
the whole region. People suffered, the animals suffered and even the birds suffered through
lack of water.
One day people came together to discuss what they could do to save themselves from this
situation. They decided to dig a well. The next day already the work started. When people had
been digging the well for a few days, they asked themselves, ‘How is it that we do not see Mr.
Fruitbat coming to give us a helping hand? Do he and his wife not sleep in our houses,
produce their young and feed them on breast milk?’ So they sent a delegation to Mr. Fruitbat
to ask him for an explanation. When people found Mr. Fruitbat, they asked him, ‘Friend, we
are digging a well, but we haven’t seen you yet. Where are you going to drink?’ Mr. Fruitbat
replied: ‘Since I am an animal, I do not drink together with people. Don’t you see what I look
like?’ The delegation took the message. When people had finished digging the well, they
engaged a guard to protect the water.
The animals also sat down together and they too decided to dig a well where they could drink.
As the digging got under way, some animals asked: ‘But where is Mr. Fruitbat?’ The animals
sent Mr. Monkey to go and see Mr. Fruitbat and ask him why he did not turn up for the work.
Upon hearing that question Mr. Fruitbat flew into a rage and replied: ‘Why should I go and
dig with you? You are a stupid fellow! Don’t you see my wings? I am not one of you; I am a
bird, man!’ Mr. Monkey returned to the well and reported the Fruitbat’s answer. The
animals continued digging the well until the well was finished. They put a fence around it and
appointed Mr. Lion as the guard.
The birds found out that whenever they approached the animals’ well to have a drink, they
were chased away with stones. So they too sat down together and decided to have their own
well. The next day they started digging. Some of them asked, ‘But where is Mr. Fruitbat? Why
hasn’t he come to help digging the well?’ The birds sent Mr. Pigeon to call Mr. Fruitbat but
Mr. Fruitbat refused to come, saying, ‘I have never been a bird though I have wings. I
produce young ones but I do not lay eggs. Therefore you should not include me among the
birds which have a bad smell any way.’ Mr. Pigeon went back with the message. The birds
completed their well, fenced it in and put Mr. Turkey to guard it.
Some time later, mister Fruitbat fell seriously ill and sent his wife to the healer for medicine.
The wife reached the healer and he gave her some medicine telling her that the medicine had
to be taken with water. When the woman brought the medicine with the prescription, her
husband instructed her to go and look for water, but wherever she went, she was refused
water and chased away back to her abode. When she told her husband, they took off and went
into hiding. That’s why even today, bats come out only at night to look for food and water.
Conclusions:
a. This story talks about lazy people. Such people will always find excuses to support their
laziness, but whenever there is something to be had, they are there to claim their share!
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b. Every member of the village should participate in protecting and supporting the
community. He should realise that ‘I am, because we are’. The community will only survive
when each member realises that he has a vested interest in a strong community. An individual
will only survive when the community protects him.
c. This story reminds us of the suffering not only among men but also among the birds and
animals. This is an old ecological awareness! For the Bantu, animals and birds are important!
It should also be noted that the Bantu notice and feel compassion for suffering creatures. It’s
thanks to the presence of the Bantu that the tropical forests in Africa have survived until
today.
4. Mr. Hare takes the King’s Daughter.
Once upon a time, there was a king who had a gorgeous daughter, whom every man admired
and wished to marry. When the king saw that his daughter had matured and was ready to
marry, he set up a test: ‘whoever wants to take my daughter has to drink a pot of boiling
water that has just left the fireplace.’
Many men presented themselves and tried the test, but some of them could not even lift up the
pot and bring the water to their mouths. Others feared the hot water and quickly put down the
pot. The girl remained single, everybody admiring her with the eyes only. Nobody passed the
king’s test.
Mr. Hare heard of it, and came to the king’s palace and told the king: ‘I want to marry your
daughter.’ The king answered: ‘If you pass the test, you will have my daughter.’ Mr. Hare
said: ‘Master, I shall do my level best, but I request you to allow me to bring along all my
clansmen, friends and village mates.’ The King had no objection and they fixed the day of the
test.
When the day came round, the king invited all his people to watch Mr. Hare take the test.
When people had arrived, the king sent for the pot of boiling water. They brought it and gave
it to Mr. Hare to drink. Before he would drink, Mr. Hare first walked around with it, showing
it to everybody present. He began addressing himself to the king and said: ‘Master, I give you
respect; wherever you fall, I shall fall too. This is the water which I am going to drink and
then marry your daughter.’
He then addressed himself to each person present at the venue. He continued doing so from
morning till evening when the sun was setting. In the meantime, the water had cooled down.
Mr. Hare then stood in front of the king and drank all the water in the pot. People jumped for
sheer joy.
Then the king performed the marriage ceremony. That is how Mr. Hare took the king’s
daughter.
Lesson:
a. Do not let just anybody marry your daughter. Put your conditions in order to see whether
your future son-in-law has the necessary wisdom and courage to raise a family.
b. In life one needs intelligence and reflection to succeed.
c. If you are not strong, be at least smart! It is not forbidden to outsmart others in your
struggle for survival. The hare, the small antelope and the tortoise are our living models.
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If you are not strong, use your intelligence!
C. Judicial stories.
The Bantu have their own way of judging right and wrong, of preventing small wrangles
becoming big ones and easing tensions in their communities. A local chief assisted by a
number of elders come together whenever a member of the community feels wronged and
feels that right should prevail. The wronged person presents a complaint to the tribunal and
waits for the day when he and the presumed wrong-doer will be called to present their cases.
The community is trained in distinguishing right from wrong by the narration of judicial
stories in which wrangles are presented and solved. They resemble sometimes the judgment
of Solomon.
a. A man had three wives. One morning, the man went hunting; he lost his way in the forest
and died.
At night, the first wife dreamt that her husband had died. She informed her companions of
her dream.
The second wife said: ‘I possess the footprint of our husband. I won’t mistake the path
which he took.’
The third wife said: ‘I have a potion to raise people from the dead. If we find him, I’ll
bring him back to life. He will live’
All three wives set out to look for their husband. The wife with the footprint went in front.
They walked quickly and found their dead husband. The wife with the potion approached
and poured the liquid into his mouth.
The husband sneezed twice and woke up, fully alive. His wives took him along and went
back home. On the way, the husband killed a wild pig.
The women then started an argument about the meat. The first wife said: ‘I take the game
because I am the one who had the dream in the first place and it was I who informed you
about our husband’s death.’ The second wife said: ‘Indeed, you had the dream. But would
you have found our husband, if I had not used the footprint to trace him? I have the right
to take the wild pig.’
The one with the potion said: ‘You two are just talking nonsense. You, dreamer, had only
a dream! You with the footprint only traced the man and found him dead. Would you
actually have a husband, if I had not raised him from the dead? I am the real owner of the
pig!’
Who, do you think, is the real owner of the pig? Who has the right to the meat?
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The verdict: In the dispute among these three women, namely the one with the dream, the
one with the footprint, and the one with the potion, we, the elders, agree with the one with
the potion. She raised her husband from the dead. There are plenty of people in this world
who have dreams. There are plenty of people who trace others, but nobody can raise
someone from the dead. Her companions did their bit. They contributed to having their
husband back, but giving life back to a dead person is something extraordinary. The pig is
hers!
Lessons:
1. In a polygamous household, there are often disputes. A good husband should show
impartiality in his favours towards all his spouses. Partiality can arise regarding sharing
the number of nights with each of them, regarding clothing or food, clearing the forest for
fields and the construction of a decent kitchen for each of them. The proverb says:
Bokungú, kafólá ‘itáfe; lolango, kafól’êtéma: Bokungú tree, spread your branches; love,
spread yourself over various hearts (537PK). A polygamist should love all his wives in the
same way as parents should love their children without partiality.
2. In a situation where different persons have contributed to a successful enterprise, one
needs to decide which person was the most important to determine the outcome. That
person can claim ownership. In his capacity of being the owner, he can let the others take
a share, but only in as far he decides!
3. In the story the husband does not take an active role to solve the dispute of his wives.
He fears being partial and inciting the emotions of his wives. The story does not say who
decided to solve the quarrel. But elders, usually outsiders, are called in to settle the matter.
An elder.
b. A man wanted to make a garden in the forest. He cut down the undergrowth as people
usually do when they wish to make a field. But then he grew tired and abandoned the
project.
Some time later, someone else saw that small trees and shrubs had grown back where the
first man had abandoned his work and he decided to cut down the small and the tall trees.
When sometime later the sun had dried the felled trees and their foliage, he set fire to it
all. He did not quite finish burning the field, because he too became fed up and abandoned
the job.
When a third person saw after sometime that the proposed garden started turning into bush
and forest again, he finished the job by burning the rest of the felled trees. He raked the
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whole plot and even took out the tree stumps. He then sowed all kind of vegetables. When
the vegetables matured, the owner took good care of them and sold part of the harvest.
But then the one, who originally had started the garden, showed up and said: ‘My friend,
how come you sell my vegetables?’ Then the one who had sowed them, answered: ‘I
won’t give you any of my vegetables. They are mine. You abandoned this field without
sowing anything. These products are mine.’
The two of them were still arguing, when the second guy, who had felled the trees, turned
up and said: ‘You are both talking a lot of rubbish. I am the owner of the vegetables. I am
the one who felled the huge trees. If it weren’t for me, you would not have been able to
sow any of these vegetables.’
The three of them got into quite a row with lots of shouting. Three elders happened to pass
that way and asked what the argument was all about. Each farmer explained his point of
view. The elders listened to the arguments and then retired to a separate place to
deliberate. Then they joined the three farmers to give them their verdict. They said: ‘The
real owner of the vegetables is the one who started the garden. Without him, the other two
would never have had the idea of working there. He is the real owner. The vegetables are
his.’
N.B. The first farmer will be a happy man. But he needs to be wise also and compensate the
other two for the work done by giving them part of the harvest, but only in as far as he deems
right. After all he is the real owner.
The principle which the elders applied to this question also holds good in case of a fight. It is
the person who dealt the first blow who is judged most guilty. The Mng say: ‘Bobé
l’ǒangola’ : the evil is with the one who started it (411PK).
c. One day the root said: ‘The owner of the name ‘tree’, that’s me, because I form the trunk,
the bark, the sap and all the branches.’
The trunk stood up and said: ‘The tree, that’s me, because I am big and tall and people
use me for all kind of purposes.’
The sap, however, said: ‘It’s only me who can be called tree. You all are nothing, because
it’s me who feeds. If it weren’t for me, you would not even be there!’
Then the bark presented itself and said: ‘The true tree, that’s me! I cover the wood, the
sap, the roots and I protect the leaves. Without me there’s no tree.
The leaves then came forward; and one leaf said in name of all of them: ‘The tree that’s
me! You all are breathing through me; I cover you against the sun; I make you all look
beautiful. If it weren’t for me, the name tree would not be there.
Which of these five has the right to be called tree?
The verdict is as follows: A person does not lack an origin. Even if he becomes a king,
his roots and origin lie with his father and mother, even though they may be desperately
poor and miserable. The same with a tree: even when it becomes big, even when it has
bark, leaves and fruits, the root is their master! The root is like the mother of the tree.
Without roots, the tree won’t stand upright. In the dispute of the root, trunk, sap and
leaves, the root is the owner of the name ‘tree’. The life of the tree comes from the root.
The others are like its children.
D.
Proverbs:
Permit me to highlight another aspect in our discussion of the respect or disregard of local
culture by the churches with particular reference to the use of local fables and proverbs in the
liturgy and in the proclamation of the Word.
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I mentioned the great amount of proverbs each African people possesses. Numbers range
from three to five thousand proverbs.
The Bantu use lots of proverbs in their conversations. A proverb is a short and powerful
saying containing truth or wisdom. It is used to explain a given situation. People use proverbs
also to underline or explain their arguments, to play with words and outwit others. They have
also a game which involves one person citing a proverb and another person citing a proverb
saying the contrary. In local tribunals judges usually pass their sentence by means of an
appropriate proverb, referring always to it as coming from the ancestors. Embittered people
sometimes use proverbs to insult, to attack or demean others. This habit is strongly
disapproved of by the community. Proverbs are a precious gift to strengthen and to unify the
life of a community and not to destroy it.
Proverbs should be cited well i.e. an individual is not free to change the wording of a proverb
as he likes. If a people occupy a large area, as the Mng in Congo do, where their territory
stretches for more than one thousand kilometres, one does, however, find local differences.
Proverbs are precious tools for the pastoral agent. When one uses local proverbs in a sermon,
people cock their ears. Proverbs do not present abstract theories. They are sayings taken from
daily life or the clue or a conclusion of a fable or another lively story. When one explains
one’s point of view by means of a local proverb, people affirm the saying by nodding in
agreement. They now know what one is talking about. The speaker usually recites the first
part of the proverb whilst the audience is automatically invited to recite the second part. The
audience becomes part of the conversation; it becomes part of the sermon!
When we cite a passage from the Scriptures, we call it the word of God; when we express the
same truth in an African proverb, how can we shrug our shoulders and act as if the saying is
insignificant?
Let me give you an example: Isaiah 55, 10-11: ‘Yes, as the rain and the snow come down
from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving
growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word from my mouth
does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent
to do’. The prophet consoles his people by saying that God’s promises still stand, that they
will be fulfilled. God will do what he promised to do. There is hope, because the Lord is with
us. Another example: the Book of Genesis says: ‘God spoke: Let there be lights in the
firmament to separate the day from the night… And so it happened.’(Genesis 1, 14-15).
A Mng proverb from Congo says: ‘What rots away is the trunk of a fallen tree, but a word
does not rot away’ (2516PK.) In the humid forests of equatorial Africa, fallen trees fall soon
victim to termites and rot. Even huge trees are reabsorbed into the cycle of life and death. But
the human word is quite different. When we bless or curse, the power of the word persists and
will have its effect. Blessings and curses do not die a natural death. If our human word has
that power, all the more so the word of God: it will persist and have its effect.
The words from Isaiah and from Genesis come to life in the Mng proverb and also the other
way round: the Mng proverb comes to life through the words of the prophet Isaiah and
through the author of the book of Genesis. Are both not to be considered inspired and of an
equal value in the sense that, for a Jew, Isaiah is important and for the Mng it is the proverb
that touches his heart and makes him aware of the fact that Jesus, the Word of God, is there to
stay and will not rot away?
In general, men know more proverbs than women do, because men have the habit of
gathering for a chat and/or a drink. They sit together, drink, talk and listen a lot and in that
way enrich their language. Women have seldom time to sit together; they are at work caring
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for their families. Since most proverbs originated in the mouths of men, they sometimes
denigrate women.
Proverbs contain a great store of wisdom; they provide instructions for every age. They often
show pity with the vulnerable of society such as mothers, children, orphans, the sick, disabled
and even slaves.
People’s conduct is often compared to the behaviour of animals and the other way round so as
to clarify a given situation. By doing so, they presuppose that we know the way animals act
and interact. Bantu are great observers of nature of which we, human beings, are part and
parcel.
Proverbs are often expressed in the negative so as to reinforce their message. I’ll try to
translate them with that in mind. E.g. instead of saying: Live according to your means, the
proverb will say: Do not live beyond your means.
The following proverbs are found with two peoples, i.e. the Mng in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the Básogá in Uganda. I present the following proverbs as an
appetizer, an eye opener or just to give you a taste of their way of life and their way of
expressing themselves:
a. Children and their parents.
1. ‘The banana plantation of a barren woman does not have a child’s grave’ (915CRC Jinja)
Usually a banana plantation lies behind the home. The explanation is:
a. Don’t look for things where they are not to be found.
b. Every advantage has its disadvantage and the other way round.
2. ‘A squirrel never condemns a fallen tree’ (1173PK).
The mass of twisted branches is the ideal hiding place for a squirrel. Nobody should accuse,
condemn or let down his benefactor or relative, because one thrives thanks to their help.
3. ‘A sweet cassava will never become a yam’ (751PK).
A yam is preferred above the ordinary cassava. A disciple will not equal his master. A child
will not outdo its parents.
4. ‘A puppy is not fatter than its mother’ (760PK).
a. Children should recognise the authority of their parents.
b. If a child fares well, people should praise its mother.
5. ‘You and I are relatives. Your gifts, however, go to other people’ (1119PK).
We should first think of our own family and relatives.
6. ‘When the old man is at home, no goat will enter’ (1124PK).
a. The elderly are experts in preventing or solving problems. Even a thief will not come near
the home, when the old man is there.
b. A child feels safe when its parents are around.
7. ‘A man should be as fierce as a dog’ (Básogá).
One needs to protect the interests of one’s family by all means.
8. ‘A child is like a knife; if it cuts you, do not throw it away’ (707PK).
a. Even if a child hurts its parents, these should never show it the door or chase it from their
compound. They may feel sad, but they should never disown their own child.
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b. We can apply this proverb to God whose children we are: God, in his goodness and from
his innate compassion, will never disown us whatever we do, however badly we behave! We
remain his beloved children. So never despair!
9. ‘The mother of your little friend is deaf’ (2476PK).
If a child calls the mother of his friend, it may not receive an answer; maybe she is too busy
and cannot be bothered. But when a child calls its own mother, it gets an answer immediately.
10. ‘A wild pig does not support the squealing of its young’ (2338PK).
A mother is always concerned about the well-being of her child. If she hears her baby cry, she
runs towards the child; she is worried straightaway.
11. ‘Bad teeth provide food for sharp teeth’ (497CRC).
Parents continue even in their old age to look after their children.
12. ‘The pup defecates like its mother’ (347 CRC).
Children behave like their parents.
13. ‘An aggressive cow does not always produce an aggressive calf’ (362CRC).
Children are sometimes different from their parents.
b. Marriage:
14. ‘Marriage means bestowing favours.’ (570CRC).
A woman needs to flatter her husband in order to enjoy a stable and peaceful marriage.
15. ‘A naughty child resembles its mother’ (518 CRC).
A father blames his wife for the bad character of their child.
16. ‘A child is like the excrements of a fish’ (708 PK).
Just like it is difficult to catch the excrements of a fish, likewise it is difficult to beget a child.
This is the experience and the complaint of barren women.
17. ‘You who drink any drink, one day you will drink poison’ (1107 PK).
a. Some men change wives the way they change shirts. They run the risk of waking up with a
really bad woman.
b. Do not trust all people blindly.
18. ‘Having just one wife has the smell of a bachelor’ (2880PK) (964 CRC Vol.II).
A wife often pays visits to her village just to say hello, for burials or to welcome or show a
new baby. At these occasions the husband has to fend for himself like a bachelor. Having
more wives solves that problem.
19. ‘The small sharp eye of the cockerel does not lose sight of the hen’ (440 CRC).
A good husband keeps a close eye on his wife.
20. ‘The hunger of the goat hurts the owner’ (360CRC).
Parents suffer when misfortune hits their child.
c. Divers topics:
21. ‘What the roots devise, the leaves do not fathom’ (384PK).
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We do not know what the future or God has in store for us.
22. ‘The sauce is hot, the meat is tough; I, an old woman without teeth, having a blunt knife,
am in the company of gluttons; what can I do?’ (835PK).
One finds oneself in a stressful and a very difficult situation. One bemoans one’s plight.
23. ‘The cow that walks away from the herd will fall into a ditch’ (395CRC).
United we stand, divided we fall. Always stay within the community. It will protect or save
you.
24. ‘To catch a louse, one needs two fingers’ (849PK)
United we stand, divided we fall. In order to accomplish things in life, we need the help of
others and they, in their turn, need our help. As they say in Uganda: ‘Two fools know more
than one wise person’. Two persons, who assist each other, will make more headway than a
single person just by himself.
25. ‘Only the tortoise that sticks out its neck will make headway’ (Básogá).
a. In order to succeed in life, we need to take risks.
b. To make progress we need to move on!
26. ‘Only a tenacious dog will eat meat’ (1985PK).
A dog is kept for hunting. A wild animal will do all it can to escape the dog. A tenacious dog
will do its very utmost to catch the animal. After the kill, the owner rewards the dog by giving
it a part of the animal. It’s only through perseverance that one succeeds in life.
27. By putting the hunting net on one’s shoulder, one does not catch animals (894PK).
One should use all means at one’s disposal to earn a living. This saying is used to condemn
laziness.
28. ‘Wealth is like the eyes’ dirt: it comes at night’ (572 CRC).
One may be poor for a long time; but one day one will wake up and know how to become
rich.
29. ‘You lack salt to prepare a chicken and you look for salt to prepare a goat!’ (544PK).
a. Do not live beyond your means.
b. Do not provoke wrangles, if you cannot afford a lawyer or if you cannot pay the fine.
30. ‘The sour-sop tree which saved you from famine, do not cut it down in your garden’
(712PK).
Be grateful and do not render a good service by a bad one.
31. ‘The child in your womb insults me’ (696PK).
This is a line taken from a fable. A false accusation is difficult to refute.
32. ‘Complain about the little amount of meat only if you hold it tight.’ (149PK)
Do not complain before you receive a gift or your salary; otherwise, you may not receive
anything at all!
33. A painful belly forgets what it ate (514CRC).
We ourselves are often to blame for our problems.
34. ‘One does not bury a slave without fish-heads’ (287PK).
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Even a slave, who will be buried together with his deceased master, should be fed.
a. Have pity on every human being.
b. Every worker has a right to a reward.
35. ‘The small boingó fish weeps but its tears are invisible, because the water is too deep’
(458PK).
a. Someone is deeply disturbed or has big problems. He is not able to talk about them. The
pain is too sharp.
b. Someone hides his tears; but they are there all the same.
36. ‘Many rats do not close the door’ (352CRC). The little hole frequented by rats and mice is
never closed off because not one of them in particular is responsible for closing it. If no one is
responsible in a family or in an organisation, nothing will happen. Therefore be wise and put
someone in charge.
37. ‘The reward for the donkey is a kick’ (366CRC).
One should reward and not punish those that lend a helping hand.
38. ‘Do not take on board a snake’ (2801PK). When you are rowing and a snake boards your
small canoe, one has only one option and that is to jump overboard! Avoid bad company.
39. ‘I shall die tomorrow’ does not plant a bark cloth tree for himself (545 CRC Vol.II). It’s
better to plan for the future rather than to think of death and stay inactive.
40. Act like the chimp and Lombóto (507PK).
This saying refers to a story:
One day Mr. Lombóto climbs a palm tree with the help of a long bamboo pole. While cutting
the palm nuts, the pole slides out of the tree and falls on the ground. Lombóto is stuck high up
in the palm tree. He calls out for help but there isn’t anybody in that part of the forest. Then a
chimp climbs into the palm tree next to his and sits on a palm branch in such a way that
Lombóto can grasp it and tie it onto a branch in his tree. In this way he can go down. The
chimp has saved his life. Not long afterwards the village organises a communal hunt.
Lombóto also participates and mans one of the nets in order to spear any animal getting
caught. All of a sudden Lombóto sees ‘his’ chimp coming his way. The terrified animal will
run into the net. Lombóto does not hesitate for a moment. He lifts the net and lets the chimp
escape.
In life, we need to help each other. If someone has saved you from a bad plight, you need to
reciprocate.
E. Riddles
Riddles also are a gateway (Mt. 7, 13-14) to life in that they make us wonder. They take us
out of the daily rut of our preoccupations and our worries. Riddles present us questions that
have no bearing on our present anxieties. Moreover riddles sharpen our imagination and our
memory and as such are a precious tool in the hands of parents and teachers. They are
entertaining by giving the children a good laugh. They also foster a sense of competitiveness
when the riddles are presented to a group of children.
Riddles incite children to invent their own riddles. In that way, the children’s playfulness and
imagination are encouraged and excited. Creativity is one of life’s exquisite spices to greater
self-esteem. Fun and laughter allow a child to be a child and allow an adult to be a child
again. Children can teach their parents the value of playfulness, even at tough times. If we,
adults, nurture playfulness, it makes it easy to give up a bit of our dignity, drawing us closer
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to the world of children. Fun, merrymaking and humour make children feel at home with
others and with themselves.
Playfulness forms and fixes the child’s boundaries of the appropriate and inappropriate. In
this it is highly educational. Some riddles have two or more explanations.
The following riddles are taken from the booklet called ‘Ebikoiko eby’Abasoga’, published by
CRC, Jinja, Uganda.
1. What is a fresh thing built on a dry object?
R. a. Meat on bones.
b. A mushroom growing on a dry log.
2. What is a dry thing built on a fresh object?
R. a. A fingernail
b. Animal horns
c. Teeth on the gums.
3. I built my house with the door facing upwards. What is it?
R. A pot.
4. I know it and I say that he does it but I have never seen him doing it. Who is he?
R. A person growing up.
5. I have soldiers who salute together. Who are they?
R. a. The eyelash.
b. Termites.
6. I have a house without entrance. What is it?
R. An egg.
7. My children stay indoors. But when they go out, they are hunted.
Who are they?
R. White ants which are eaten by men and birds as soon as they show up.
8. I have two girls. Each of them fears what the other loves most.
R. A drum and the cooking pot. A drum hates the stick and the fire both of which the pot
loves dearly.
9. I have my soldiers wearing white shirts and red trousers. Who are they?
R. The egrets with red legs and white feathers.
10. I have old people chasing each other. Who are they?
R. The two bicycle wheels.
11. All my wives have turned white. Who are they?
R. The hair on the head.
12. When I leave, my wife is staring at me; when I return, she is still staring at me. What is
she called?
R. The door entrance.
13. In the swamp there are dishes; on the dry land there are also dishes. What are they?
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R. Cow pads.
14. When my wife is walking, her feet do not touch the ground. Who is she?
R. A bicycle.
15. My brother’s wife lights a fire; but the charcoal does not burn.
R. a. The crest of a cock.
b. The reflectors of a bike.
16. I know the fellow you are talking about is around, but I can’t see him.
R. The wind.
17. However much you praise yourself.
R. a. You will never write on water.
b. You can’t throw a needle across the lake.
c. You cannot catch the wind.
d. You cannot see God.
18. I have someone who built his house on a pillar. Who is he?
R. A mushroom.
19. My friend was born wearing knives. Who is he?
R. A pineapple.
20. My wife does not cook without a sauce.
R. One does not defecate without urinating.
21. My friend is in a forest but cannot cry. Who is he?
R. A baby in the mother’s womb does not cry.
22. Its hide is bad, its meat is bad but its soup is excellent. What is it?
R. A sugar cane.
23. The king lives in a fenced palace. Who is he?
R. The tongue.
24. The king has no peaceful laughter. Who is he?
R. A barking dog.
25. Story of a man, a leopard, a goat and cassava leaves. (Mng story)
A man wanted to cross a stream, but his dugout was so small that he fitted in with one item at
a time only. This man had with him three items: a leopard, a goat and cassava leaves.
If he would cross the stream with the leopard first, the goat would go for the leaves. If he
would take the leaves first, the leopard would finish the goat. If he would cross the goat first,
the cassava leaves and the leopard would remain. No problem. But if he would go back, take
the leopard and cross over again, he would have to leave the leopard with the goat on the
other side of the stream. If he would cross with the cassava leaves, he would have to leave the
leopard with the goat on the other side. All impossible situations!
How can this man put his three items across the stream without losing any of them?
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Response: The man should cross first with the goat, leaving the leopard and the cassava
leaves. Then he goes back to collect the leopard. When he has crossed over the leopard, the
man returns with the goat, which he then leaves behind in order to collect the cassava leaves.
He crosses with the leaves and puts them down in the company of the leopard. He then
returns to collect the goat which he then crosses a third time, so that all three items are
together at the other side of the stream.
F. Talking drum or tom-tom.
Talking drums are actually large slit gongs, usually constructed from hollowed-out logs and
are used to send messages over a considerable distance. Since Bantu languages like Lmng
are basically made up of two tones, these talking drums have two tones permitting people to
transmit any message. Since the lokolé has only two tones, the ascending and descending
tones indicated by the sign ^ or , are replaced by high notes. For example tǒká is replaced by
tóká.
The Mng call this drum lokolé. They use this drum to call people together for meetings or
to announce a visitor, the birth of a baby, someone’s death or the approach of an enemy.
In order to make a lokolé, a long slit is cut in the side of a log. Then the log is hollowed out
with home-made chisels through the slit, leaving wooden ledges, on each side of the slit. In
the middle on each side of the slit, two protruding ‘lips’ are left. People call these protrusions
‘breasts’. By hollowing out more on one side than the other, one gets two different tones.
Usually the difference is one note and a half. Big drums have a heavier sound than small ones.
But this does mean that the sound of a big lokolé carries further than that of a small drum.
In order to transmit messages well, the drum is put on top of a high anthill. The drum is
protected from sunshine and rain by means of a small shade made of poles and palm leaves.
At night when all is quiet and the humidity in the forest is high, when people have not yet
retired for the night, the message of the death of an important person is transmitted from
village to village. The owner of the talking drum mounts the anthill and with two simple hard
wooden sticks, he ‘touches’ or ‘beats’ the lokolé. Within half an hour the whole region of
maybe 100 km is informed of the death of the person concerned. The message is in this way
carried across rivers without any person needing to peddle a canoe.
This system of communication is a wonderful sample of human ingenuity. At a time when in
Europe people needed to travel in stage-coaches drawn by horses in order to transmit
messages, the Congolese would simply take the sticks and ‘touch’ the talking drum. With the
arrival of mobile telephones, the use of the lokolé needs to be taught in the villages and in
schools so as not to lose this precious gift of humanity. Among the Bantu in Uganda there is
no wooden tom-tom!
a. Here a couple of examples how a message is transmitted by the lokolé:
In the village of Waka (Congo):
Tókí ndé betéma lúkulúku, áóta ya límoto íkndáká l’ekóló:
‘Our hearts were worried; she has given birth to a girl who walks with a basket on her back.’
It is clear that the new-born is a girl, since normally only girls carry baskets on their back.
People seeing a man carrying a basket will ask him: ‘What’s the matter?’ The husband
prefers, in case of necessity, to take an old bike and put the load on the carrier.
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The tom-tom on top of an anthill.
In Balíngá (Congo):
Bolong’mk ndá lokolo: ‘One copper ring on her leg.’
Since only women used to wear heavy rings on their legs, they announce in this way the birth
of a baby girl.
In Lifumba (Congo):
Tolombo tósúmáká likota, tóká jéékéké lindá linn j’ótómóló óká benanga l’enanga: ‘The
scout who draws along courageous youngsters, who bars the road; he, the eldest of all
villages.’
Here they announce the birth of a warrior who leads others and who is the boss in the whole
region. They announce the birth of a boy.
b. Mng proverbs concerning the talking drum:
- Etúmbε lokolé nd’ôkonjí (1256PK).
‘A disabled person is invited to beat the tom-tom on top of a (slippery) anthill.’
Do not ask someone to perform an impossible task.
- Ífomí lokolé ntáát’εlk, ŏsóát’εlk ísangy’êsakó (1305PK).
‘The one who beats the tom-tom has no problem; but the one who whispered, has an affair.’
One should never incite people. This always gives problems. So, do not put your nose into
other people’s business.
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The lokolé is a simple but ingenious piece of communication.
- Lokol’áfókúme l’kka (1849PK):
‘The tom-tom is not praised by the fallen tree.’
One is not praised for one’s age or for one’s famous father but rather for one’s own acts.
- Lokol’áfótéfélá l’nnε (1850PK):
‘The tom-tom does not sound because of its size.’
There is no relation between wisdom and age. Even a young person can perform great things.
- Lokolé ntátswák’étumba, bosálá ô yǒsómányáká (1852PK) :
‘The tom-tom does not go to war; its work is inciting people to fight.’
The proverb rebukes those who have the habit to incite others.
G. Lullabies
Some African mothers are very talented in singing lullabies. Lullabies are not always fixed
verses of a small or big poem. Some are able to express themselves in a complete epic in
which proverbs and popular sayings find their place.
Lullabies are an important source of information about the feelings of mothers after having
given birth. They sing about how they experience their motherhood and how they worry about
their ever crying babies. The following are some lines from those lullabies. Mothers often
suppose their babies cry on account of their intestinal worms. Enema’s are given all the time.
These enema’s are filled with soap water or with extractions of certain plants.
In my publication called ‘La Grossesse et l’Enfance dans la Société Mng’ in chapter XIX
(pages 117-145) there are plenty of examples of those lullabies. Here some examples to give
you a taste of the contents.
 ‘I did not pinch you. I did not beat you. I did not hurt you. I did not smear any dung on
your face. Why then, my baby, are you crying so much? Is it the worms in your belly
which bother you?’
 ‘My baby, please, stop crying. Your crying makes me shed tears of blood. They are
not tears of water!’
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 ‘We gave you an enema to rid you of your worms, the worms you inherited from your
mother. Baby, your whole belly was full of worms.’
 ‘Why all that crying? Are we not having difficulties enough?’
 ‘Baby, why do you bother your mother all the time?’
 ‘Baby, which crime did I commit?’
 ‘I am dying of misery. Baby, tell me who hit you!’
 ‘Tell me who beat you. Then I will rise up early tomorrow morning so as to fight. A
wrestle in the morning gives a lot of bother (I’ll do that for you!).’
 ‘If I die tonight, I’ll think of the years to come.’
 Time is up, the days are gone. My dear mother, Jesus will come and fetch me.’
 ‘ I am the source in the forest which people avoid in the dry season. In the rainy
season they come to draw my water.’ (When they need me, they know where to find
me) (721PK).
 ‘I am the source in the forest which does not get rain at night.’ (People do not take
notice of me).
 ‘What does not go into the belly lies in the open. What is edible and delicious lies in
an inaccessible place (1307PK).’
 ‘Oh, my baby, I just gave you an enema!’
 ‘If one uses drugs to kill fish in the river, one is wasting the drugs (250PK).’
 ‘In a river the drugs do not attain the fish,’ my friends.
 ‘The jar contains oil, the scallop the strangles, but only our clothes are dirty with oil.’
(Everybody receives a share; only I remain empty-handed).
 ‘My baby, please, be calm. Why do I have to repeat that all the time? Listen, please!’
 ‘If you put fire to an anthill, you are wasting your time.’
 ‘Let us listen how your dad beats the talking drum and your mother the banana’s.’
 ‘Sleep, take my baby along. Sleep, sleep, sleep, take my baby along. The baby does
not sleep at night. It waits for the pot on the fire which its mother keeps going.’
 ‘Until my very death I will not mention the name of the forest runner (the father of the
baby), because he abandoned me without caring for me.’
 ‘Come and rock my baby, but know that only I, its mother, am able to stop his cries.’
 ‘An only child is a disaster, like a thunderstorm without rain.’
 ‘I am a hollow tree which moans and groans (I may fall anytime).’
 ‘I have only friends who cut my sinews.’
 ‘I have got a splinter under the nail of my toe. I stumble and tear my toes. I pass on a
slippery path and a smooth hill. How shall I ever pass?’ (The mother is at her wits’
end. The problems become too big for her).
 ‘One can redeem oneself from debts but not from death (1741PK).’
 ‘I keep on giving birth to babies, but they all disappear into the soil’ (All my babies
die one after the other).
 ‘If I am going to be reborn, I do not want to be born again as a girl, because a
woman’s work is not appreciated.’
 ‘The owl, the nightly watchman, does not attack; it only stretches its claws. (The
mother fears for the life of her child, because by its cries the owl, as people believe,
announces disaster).
Most Mng lullabies do not announce the joy of motherhood. The lullabies reflect on the
difficult life of a mother who needs to take care of her baby and who has to endure the
constant cries of her child. A proverb says: ‘A wild pig does not support the squealing of its
young’ (2338PK).
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Moreover the mother fears the rebukes of others as if she seemingly does not take good care
of her baby. The lullabies don’t rejoice over the motherhood but hope to lull the baby asleep.
One day I went to visit the Swiss Kleger family in Baríngá (RDC). Roland and his wife Ellen
were teaching Bible classes in the Baptist Bible school. Those days they had become parents
of their first baby. When I arrived, they were in despair. Their baby had been crying for a
number of hours. And whatever they did, the crying did not stop. When I arrived and still
stood outside the home, Ellen came rushing outside with her crying baby and dumped the
child in my arms and said: ‘Piet, our baby does not stop crying. We do not know how to stop
it. We are getting crazy. Can you stop the crying?’
I took the child in my arms and started singing a lmng lullaby and sang: ‘Yoolula, yoolula
e’. The crying stopped immediately. Roland came storming out of the house and asked me:
‘How did you manage to stop the crying?’ I answered: ‘I just started singing an African
lullaby. Haven’t people invented lullabies just for that purpose?’
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Chapter III
Ancestors.
In African Traditional Religion, the ancestors play an all important role. They are the givers
of life. They have passed on life from their ancestors. We have all we have and we know all
we know thanks to our ancestors. They have passed on life in all its fullness: physical life,
their wisdom including their family and social skills, their language in all its richness, their
technical know-how of agriculture, construction, canoe making, fishing, hunting, as well as
melting iron ore and forging, communication via the talking drums, singing, dancing and not
to forget local medicine with its psychological insights into the process of healing.
The great point to make here about the ancestors is that they have not disappeared: they are
still with us. African philosophers (John Mbiti) call them ‘the living dead’, because, though
they have died, they are still with us. They are buried near the homes: in front, next or behind
the house. The village people feel protected by the presence of their forebears. During the
day the spirits of the ancestors abide in the forest near the village, near the path leading to the
village well. But at night the ancestors approach the village, roam around the compounds and
the homes of their offspring and possess as it were the bodies of their children and
grandchildren.
It also happens that the dead don’t find peace and continue to trouble the living. Even dogs
feel disturbed by them as narrated on pages 61-62.
Here the considerable number of examples goes to show that the ancestors continue to live
among their offspring and influence the daily life of the clan:
1. Daily Blessing:
Early in the morning, a father among the Mng in Congo will rise from his bed and call his
children. They will go outside. The father stands before his children and pronounces a
blessing over them, wishing them good health: “that they may jump up and down, in other
words be resistant like a piece of rubber (a ball), that they one day may have hens and roosters
(both girls and boys).” He spits on them his saliva, saying, bokako swaa, swaa. He
pronounces the onomatopoeias ‘swaa swaa’ and showers his saliva on his children and rubs
the saliva into their hair. By doing so, it is not just the father who blesses his children but the
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ancestors do too, since at that time of the day they are still in the body and the saliva of the
father. That’s why the parental daily blessing is performed first thing in the morning. After
sunrise the ancestral spirits retire to the forest. But this daily ritual blessings brings the
ancestors back to life. In the past, they handed on life and continue to reinforce it daily. Even
when the children are away on a journey or at a distant school, the father will bless them early
each morning according to the prescribed ritual.
The Básogá in Uganda have the same habit of blessing their children:
‘When the father blesses his children, he takes the lutémbé (necklace) which is made of cowry
shells and the seeds of a wild banana plant. The necklace is normally suspended on a nail near
the bed of the parents. The father or the mother puts the lutémbé around the neck of each
child. Holding the necklace in his hands the father says: “May the spirits of our ancestors
protect you against any illness. May they give you their blessings so that you live a happy
life.”
Then the father gives his children water to drink or sprinkles water over them. He puts the
necklace back in its place. Water purifies from all kinds of evil and brings new life.’
(Traditional religion and clans among the Básogá, published by CRC, Jinja)
2. Before a journey:
When one of the Mng parents goes on a journey or when a child goes away from the home
for some time, the parents will tear off a strip from the father’s or mother’s cloth or shirt; they
will each tie a knot in it and bind it around the wrist of the child. Wherever the child goes, he
will be protected by the ancestors, since the father’s or mother’s sweat is in the cloth around
the wrist of the child. The ancestors smell as it were the family sweat and will accompany and
protect their grandchild. When the child leaves home, it will miss its parents’ care without too
much worry since it feels secure by the protection of the ancestors. In Baríngá Protestant
hospital (Congo), it often happened that the Swiss nurse on duty felt it her evangelical duty to
receive a new patient by first taking a pair of scissors and cutting off the ‘pagan bandages’.
Instead of destroying the so-called diabolical vestiges, she took away the patient’s sense of
security which happened to be an all important condition for the physical and mental recovery
of the sick person.
It is a sad thing when people are ignorant of the values of another culture and feel the urge to
eliminate what they judge to be intrinsically bad. Even if the said custom would have been
bad, did Jesus not teach us to let the wheat and the darnel grow up together until harvest time
(Matt. 13, 24-30)?
3. Other Blessings:
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







Parents will bless their daughter when she leaves her parental home for marriage; they
will bless their children before they set out on a hunting or fishing expedition. The
parents also bless their sick child whilst invoking the help of the ancestors.
When someone becomes seriously sick, the local healer/diviner will put his necklace
around the sick person’s neck. In doing so he pleads with the spirits to come and heal
the sick person.
When a Músogá woman undergoes a lengthy and painful labour, the husband invites
one possessed by the Múkamá or Lubáalé spirit. This person will put his necklace round
the neck of the woman, invoking the spirits, saying: ‘Lubáalé, Múkamá and all our
ancestors, you are the ones who can see what we don’t see. Please, help this
granddaughter of yours to have a quick and painless delivery. She will bring you
something to eat afterwards’.
Before one goes on a journey whilst fearing the dangers on the road, one puts on the
lutémbé necklace, invoking the ancestors, requesting them to accompany and protect
him/her.
Hunters put on the lutémbé momentarily before the hunt in order to obtain good luck
and courage. They do this after having left their hunting tools on top of the grave of a
famous hunter for the night. They do so on the eve of the hunt.
Diviners possessed by the spirits of Námbí, Kalémbé, Lúkoghé, Nábálóngo and
Námbagá put their lutémbé on the seeds which the farmers will sow or plant so as to
bless them and produce high yields.
The child born after all its siblings have died receives a special necklace from the
diviner in order to keep the baby alive (olútémbé lwa Káfukó). The parents keep it in
their bedroom and use it whenever they bless the child.
A diviner blesses the woman possessed by the jebola-spirit, so that the possessed calms
down and becomes herself again (Mng).
The above show that blessings are all important to sustain life. The blessings carry and
transmit the power of the ancestors. They encourage the needy person so that he no longer
feels abandoned by the rest of the world but feels empowered by the protection of the elders
and the ancestors. He is now ready to face the journey, illness, war, the forest or the bush with
all its dangers.
All through the following texts you will find references to traditional blessings. What do we,
church people, do with this great desire for blessings? Is this evident desire not an open
invitation for us to bestow God’s blessings on people?
4. Marriage.
When young people get married but fail to have children, the cause may be the fact that the
parents of the wife bear a grudge against their son-in-law. They may not have received
sufficient dowry for their daughter as they had agreed upon. Or the young couple never comes
and visits them with the appropriate small gifts. The ancestral spirits may hear their
murmurings and complaints, become enraged and close the womb of their daughter. The
medicine man will explain all this to the young couple when they come to consult him about
their lack of offspring. The young couple will contact the parents of the wife and they will
agree on a date to visit them and to ask them for their blessing. The husband makes sure to
carry the necessary dowry with him. He and his wife take along a number of goats and
chickens as well.
Once arrived at his in-laws, the young man presents his gifts with lots of excuses and asks for
a blessing from his in-laws. The young couple is well received and spends the night there.
Early in the morning, the young couple is asked to present itself in the bedroom of the
parents. The young husband and wife will sit on the floor in front of the parents who are
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seated on the edge of their bed. The parents will both pronounce a blessing on the young
couple, inviting the ancestors and spitting saliva on the heads of the young couple. They ask
the ancestors to give them both cocks and chickens, i.e. boys as well as girls. Since this
blessing is given early in the morning when the ancestors are still around in the compound,
the parental blessing carries also the blessing of the ancestors. The mother-in-law then
prepares a chicken which only the young couple may eat together. That same day the young
couple returns home with plenty of chickens and other gifts. It will not take long before the
young spouse becomes pregnant. The blessing of the parents has been effective. The human
word has power since the ancestors add their power to it, as the proverb says: ‘What rots away
is the fallen tree, but the spoken word never rots away’.
5. Ancestral shrines:
It is a general human trait to try to relate to the outer world in a concrete way. Among the
Básogá in Uganda you will find small shrines in quite a number of compounds. That’s where
people remember the ancestors of their tribe, clan or family. There they take food on a regular
basis, light a small fire so as to ‘keep the ancestors warm’ and ask their blessing. Before
starting on his meal, the father of the family will put some food in a small dish and deposit it
in the shrine called eisábó showing the ancestors that he has not forgotten them, asking them
at the same time for their blessing. The Mng of Basnkusu call such a shrine ikukú. The
owner of the shrine has to sleep there from time to time, especially at full moon, so that the
ancestors can pass on their messages to him in his dreams. It is only the first wife who can
join her husband in the ikukú; the other wives should not trespass.
When the owner of a shrine goes on a journey, he will notify the ancestral spirit residing in
his shrine that he intends to be away for some time. When he comes back from the journey,
the first thing he does is to go to the shrine and tell the spirit that he is back from his trip. A
catechist told me that before his child is baptised in church, he will go and inform the
ancestors in the shrine of the intended baptism of their offspring. After the church ceremonies,
he will go back to the shrine and inform them of the happening.
As I said: It is a general human trait to try to relate to the outer world in a concrete way.
Among the Bantu, we see ‘shrines’ next to their homes. We, Christians, do alike by localising
the divine in holy communion or in the scriptures so that we as it were wrap up and
appropriate the divine. This has led to many wrangles in the church and caused divisions and
the birth of many independent churches. Jesus kept referring to the Father and the Spirit. He
did not want to direct people’s attention to himself. In the course of the centuries we have lost
Jesus’ openness to the signs of the times and God’s presence in the whole of creation. No
wonder that many of us feel wrapped up and suffocated. It does not help at all when the
authorities in the churches, desperate to keep control over their flocks, add still more
wrappings in the form of multiple dogma’s. However, God’s spirit and the human mind
cannot be locked up. The umbilical cord only serves its purpose for a limited time and then it
needs to be cut. But the umbilical cord was and is terribly important.
6. Umbilical cord:
When a Mng (Congo) child is born, the grandmother of the baby ties the umbilical cord
with a piece of string or thread near the baby’s belly. Then she cuts the umbilical cord. The
remaining stump of a few centimetres on the baby’s belly is the connection with the ancestors.
It will drop after three or four days. If the baby is born at home, this piece of the umbilical
cord is buried with a ritual; the grandfather or the father digs a hole behind the house.
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Banana trees
First ashes and the leaves, in which food was kept and cooked in the private hut of seclusion,
are put into the hole. On top of the ashes the grandparents deposit the umbilical cord. On top
of that they plant a young banana shoot. As a banana plant grows quickly and produces many
fruits and shoots, they hope that the baby also will grow up rapidly and be fertile in his or her
life.
As the umbilical cord is the symbolic connection with the ancestors, only the grandparents are
allowed one day to eat the bananas from that plant, because they, the grandparents, represent
the forebears. If other people eat from those bananas, they risk contracting Parkinson disease.
Sometimes people bury the umbilical cord at the foot of a big and strong tree, like the
bomposo (Rubiac) tree, hoping that the baby will grow up to be strong as well. Since that
bomposo tree produces lots of caterpillars in the months of July and August, they hope that
the baby also will produce many children. But once the umbilical cord of a baby has been
buried at the foot of a bomposo tree, only the grandparents are allowed to reap its edible
caterpillars. If other people collect and eat the caterpillars, they may contract the Parkinson
disease.
If the mother gives birth away from home, the last piece of the umbilical cord will be dried
above the fire and carefully kept so that one day someone may carry it to the village where it
will be buried in the prescribed way.
If an African says: I am returning to where my umbilical cord is buried, he’ll go back to his
native village where his ancestors lived and still abide. The contact with the ancestors is
important, because life itself came from them and still comes from them through their
blessings and their constant protection.
N.B. Great importance is given to the small stump of umbilical cord remaining on the baby’s
belly after birth. No ritual importance is given to the rest of the umbilical cord that attached
the baby to the mother and to the afterbirth. These objects are buried by the birth attendants in
a secret place. This secretive action gives women sometimes the reputation of being witches,
doing things, which the rest of mankind is unaware of. However, the Yansi women in Congo
45
bury the placenta at crossroads. They return the ‘double’ of the baby to the ancestral spirits.
At the same time, the women hope that any evil or bewitchment that was attached to the baby
will be carried off by the passers-by.
Afterbirth buried at the crossroads.
7. Naming children:
The ancestors want to be recognised as such by their offspring. One way of recognising and
honouring them is by naming children after them. Sometimes it happens that, when a newborn baby is named, it cries day and night to the exasperation of its parents. When the crying
does not stop, they may go and consult their clairvoyant. In most cases he or she will tell the
parents that one of their ancestors is furious by the fact that the child has not been named after
him (her). When the parents are back at home, they will bestow the name of the angry forbear
on their baby. The crying will stop there and then!
In Búsogá, Uganda, people have a specific system to find out of which ancestor the baby
should carry the name. When their baby does not stop crying, the parents wait till dusk, the
time the chickens go to roost. When the baby is a boy, the parents catch two roosters; when
the baby is a girl, they catch two hens. Each bird receives the name of an ancestor. Both
chickens are thrown onto the roof of the house. Since the birds desire to enter their house for
the night, they will soon descend from the roof. The chicken, which comes down first, carries
the day: his or her name will be bestowed on the baby. That particular ancestor has pushed the
chicken as it were from the roof.
8. Fishing and hunting:
In the village of Málanga in the parish of Waka (Congo) people celebrate the nkémbi ritual
once a year. This happens on a Sunday afternoon at the beginning of the rainy season when
the Lo river has swollen and people hope to catch plenty of fish. A successful catch depends
on the blessings of and the good relationship with the ancestors. The ancestors, reincarnated
in one or several crocodiles, have to be invoked, revered, appeased or placated by, among
others, a sacrifice.
On the eve, on a Saturday evening, the chief walks through the village and announces that the
nkémbi ritual will take place the next day. People know what that means: that night nobody is
allowed to have any sexual contact, otherwise the sacrifice will come to nothing. The men,
who don’t have a bed for themselves, will sleep in a chair.
On Sunday morning someone kills a dog and cuts up the meat into small pieces. It has to be a
local hunting dog which the ancestors will recognise as such. This sort of dog has short brown
hair, a pig curl in its tail and does not bark. It is this type of dog people love to eat on feast
days like Christmas and New Year.
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On Sunday afternoon, the chief accompanied by drummers gets in a dugout. They carry the
dog meat. They move across the river to near the entrance to a small lake. There, at the other
side of the river, the chief takes the meat and addresses the ancestors in the following prayer:
‘You, who have gone before us, we have come to meet you, to give you your dues as a sign
that we haven’t forgotten you. That’s why we have come today. And we pray you to bless us,
your children, to give us plenty of children, good health and plenty of fish. Here is your
meat’. After this prayer, he throws the pieces one by one into the river. After doing so, he
pours out a bottle of local gin, the chief adds: ‘This is your drink. Please, give us your
blessing’.
The most exciting part of the ceremony is when the people in the dugout see with their own
eyes how a crocodile receives and eats the meat. Then they know that their fishing will be
plentiful.
While drumming and singing traditional songs the crew returns to the village, where the joy
of the expedition is expressed in more drumming, singing and dancing by the whole
population.
In the region of the Bongandó people throw ripe bananas and eggs into the river in order to
appease the spirits and to catch plenty of fish. They may also sacrifice a goat and a dog. They
tie these live animals and throw them into the rivers Lúo, Lomako, Lofolí or their tributaries.
One day both the goat and the dog managed to swim ashore without being attacked by a
crocodile. Which crocodile will ever spurn a goat and a dog? Only the crocodile that wants to
eat a human being. Only when the crocodile has been satisfied in that way, people will catch
lots of fish. Some people do appear to be ready to offer one of their little children in order to
obtain the blessing of the ancestors and obtain abundant fish and game! (The Bongandó talk
to us by Jan Hartering, mhm, page 94).
People along the rivers are convinced that the dead, especially the deceased chiefs, change
into crocodiles. These crocodiles protect the village and their fishing against the enemy. But
their protection has one big condition i.e. that the people are on friendly terms with the
ancestors by always respecting their prescriptions and by their regular offerings. A village
chief has the power to send a crocodile to an enemy just like other people send a dog to attack
an intruder. The disadvantage of this custom and belief is that, whenever someone drops into
the river and drowns, a finger is pointed straightaway at the village chief. He will be accused
to have sent his crocodile to eat the innocent person.
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Lots of stories go round concerning crocodiles. They are said to take their victims to
underground caves along the river. It is there that the victims are held for some time before
being eaten by the crocs. It has happened that one of their victims came to his senses and saw
overhead some vague daylight. He enlarged the small hole with his bare hands, crawled out
of the cave and returned to the astonished village.
9. Nightly attack:
One day, a youth worker from Bεk told me the following story:
‘I am a youth worker for the parish of Basnkusu (Congo) but at the same time I am a
member of Mobútu’s youth movement. One day I am sent to a village near Bokákata, nearly
120 kilometres from where I usually live. The village is situated along the river Lulónga.
There I gather the youth and teach them the party’s program, animation songs and dances. I
get acquainted with a good girl. After having stayed there for two days, I am informed and
warned by the girl not to sleep that night but to prepare myself against an attack by a
crocodile.
At nightfall, when the whole region becomes pitch dark, I retire to my little house near the
river. I sit down on the local low bed opposite the small bamboo door and cock my gun. After
two or three hours I become very sleepy but I manage to rouse myself from the slumber. Then
a fierce thunderstorm rises above the forest on the other side of the river. Thunder and flashes
of lightning approach the village at great speed. A mighty wind sweeps down and together
with the thunderbolts shakes the whole earth. I become very scared indeed. Then I hear
another sort of noise outside. With one big knock the door flies open. I don’t hesitate, pull the
trigger and shoot at what appears to be a crocodile. I guess so in the light of the flashes of
lightning. The animal turns around and disappears in the direction of the river. I know I have
won the battle. I lie down and catch some sleep.
Early next morning, I am woken up at daylight by the next door neighbour’s rooster. I go
immediately outside in order to see whether the so-called crocodile has left any traces. And
indeed, the track of a crocodile runs down from the hut right to the edge of the river.
While I look around, I see some smoke spiralling from a house at the end of the village. From
that direction I hear the sound of wailing. Later, I hear that an old man has died that night.’
This story confirms the belief that someone, even before his death, can transform himself into
a crocodile in order to rid himself of an enemy. When the old man metamorphosed himself
and attacked me as a crocodile, he did not survive my bullets. Thanks to the kind girl! She
saved my life.’
10. Cemetery:
Now and again, I go for a walk to the village of Málanga (Congo), the same village as
mentioned under number 8. At night, children are often afraid to pass that small road, because
half way they have to pass the village cemetery. In the dark, they seem to hear there all kind
of noises. They come sometimes in the evening to see me and ask me to accompany them
home so that they don’t need to pass that awful place by themselves.
Because some people do not want to disturb their dead, they often let the bush and the forest
grow unhampered around the graveyard. That’s why there the forest cover becomes very
dense creating an ideal hiding place for animals. One day I get lost in that thick piece of
forest; I try to find my way out and run into a big deer.
People of course become startled near the cemetery when, at night, an animal leaves its hiding
place and in doing so disturbs the silence of the cemetery. In that way, stories about roaming
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spirits are easily born. On the other hand some people do seem to see sometimes beams of
light drifting in between the trees near a cemetery.
11. Preparation for death:
a. For the Mng in Basnkusu a decent afterlife can only be assured by a proper burial. One
needs to be buried in all dignity; otherwise one’s spirit will roam round endlessly and never
enjoy the rest and peace with the ancestors. That’s the reason why some elderly people buy a
few boards for their coffin long before they die. They keep them in their bedroom in order to
make sure that they will be buried properly so that they can join the ancestors.
b. In the village of the Baénga (Congo) I used to visit the sick on a regular basis and take
Communion to them. One of the sick was an old blind man who usually kept to his bed,
which was partly covered with numerous rags. One day I took a blanket to him. I thought he
could do with one in the wet season when temperatures would drop to about twenty degree
Celsius. When I gave him the blanket, he became quasi ecstatic. I wondered why he was so
extremely happy with that simple blanket. Three days later the man died. Only then I
understood: the blind man wanted to die already for a long time. But he was too poor to die,
because he could not afford to buy a blanket for his burial. A decent burial is essential for one
to join the ancestors. Now that he had received a blanket, he could die in peace and join his
forebears! And so he did.
c. In the village of Málanga (Congo) an old couple lived in a real hovel. They were old, did
not have children and both were lepers. The man was very mutilated with only a few small
stumps on his hands. I helped them now and again with some money to buy food, especially
fish since they lived very near the river and fishermen were numerous. I used to take Holy
Communion to them. One day I was surprised to see the man on my doorstep and I asked
what happened. He said: ‘I have come to tell you that this afternoon at three o’clock I will
die’. I could not blame him to want to die, because life did not have much in store for him.
But his wish to die at three o’clock in the afternoon just like Jesus did astounded me. I would
never have come up with the idea to resemble Jesus in that way. However, I said: ‘Why don’t
you wait till tomorrow morning, because I intend to bring you Holy Communion after Mass.’
The man agreed and left for home. The next morning after the Eucharist, I took my bicycle
and took communion to him. It was a ride of only four minutes. He and his wife were waiting
for me, sitting on small stools at the entrance of their home. We all prayed together; both
received communion with much piety. I went back to the parish. When I arrived at the
Mission, people told me they had just heard the tom-tom telling them that the leper in
Málanga had died. I could not believe my ears. But in fact the man had died just after I had
left. What is it in man that he can have such a say over his life and death? At will he joins the
ancestors!
12. Death:
When someone has died, there is a lot of commotion. Relatives mourn their dead with much
wailing. But the first task of the relatives is to make a coffin. Formerly people were buried in
mats, but modernity has set other standards. In the ordinary villages it is not always easy to
find boards to make a coffin. In that case the local carpenter or handyman uses a door or table
of the house. The bottom of the coffin consists only of a limited number of small slats with
plenty of space in between so as to allow the spirit of the deceased to leave the coffin. The
dead are buried within twenty-four hours. During the wake, which takes place during the
night before the burial, relatives, friends, neighbours and acquaintances gather at the home of
the deceased in order to comfort one another: they pray, sing, talk, drink and dance together.
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During the same wake the enquiry into who is to blame for the death continues. Nobody dies
a natural death. The Básogá say: ‘Nobody dies unless bewitched’ (46 CRC). And again: ‘The
one who is not bewitched does not fit into a grave.’
Someone is to be blamed, because someone has killed the deceased by physical or magical
powers. The culprit must often be sought in the family or in the neighbourhood. Especially
the one, who has recently had an argument or fight with the deceased, is suspected. ‘The one,
who eats with you, is the one who kills you’ (2251PK) is the saying. A medicine man or
visionary will be consulted. This person will not pronounce the name of the culprit but will
indicate him or her in a roundabout but clear way. The so-called culprit is charged a fine, his
home is stoned by adults and children alike, and the suspect may even be chased from the
village. People want to know who the culprit is as they say, ‘The snake that has been spotted
will not bite you’ (2174PK). It means that the accused will not easily get another chance of
killing someone as people have become aware of the danger and avoid the person concerned
by not eating or drinking in his or her company and by seeking magical protection.
I just mentioned that the bottom of the casket consists only of a limited number of small slats
with plenty of space in between so as to allow the spirit of the deceased to leave the casket.
The spirit of the dead must be allowed out, must be able to roam around and bestow his/her
blessings on his/her offspring.
13. Wakes:
There is a widespread custom which I encountered in Congo as well as in Uganda. During the
nightly wake before the burial of a deceased, lots of people gather to sing, to drink and to
dance. In the alcoholic drinks or in the coffee they sometimes put an amount of ‘bángi’,
cannabis. At a certain moment in the course of the wake, the participants are allowed or even
asked to disappear with any partner of their choice in the dark bushes to have sex. What is
behind this tradition? Is this a collective effort to overcome death? Death has robbed the
community of a member. Has the community the duty to ensure that life continues? Life and
death go hand in hand.
In these days of the Aids pandemic, such random sexual encounters can be catastrophic!
Since during a wake, alcohol and drug consumption are normal, I do not think condoms are
being used at those occasions. Since the outbreak of Aids, wakes and burials are numerous. If
people hold onto these casual sexual encounters, it is not beyond imagination that this custom
only accelerates the spread of the pandemic. Death brings forth life which causes death again.
Indeed, life and death go hand in hand in an ominous vicious circle. This is a tradition handed
down from the ancestors and as such is kept alive. Traditions are hard to break or to avoid.
People may regard this tradition as sacred, though it may prove to be deadly.
14. Death:
In order to show one’s sincere sorrow, every relative is supposed to contribute financially to
the wake and burial of the deceased. Often the village road is blocked and every passer-by is
obliged to pay a ransom. In Congo, if a woman has died, women go to the river, collect an
amount of whitish clay from the river bank and mix this with their own urine. They go round
the community to smear the faces and the arms of every male with this mixture. In their eyes
any man may have had a sexual encounter with the dead person and needs to grieve about the
loss. If a man dies, boys and young men do the same and smear all the girls and women they
encounter. At that time the hunt is on! A passing outsider may, however, pay a ransom.
Before the burial, the relatives put into the coffin all the blankets which people have handed
in. The gift of a blanket is a sign of commiseration with the deceased and needs to keep him
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or her warm in the next world. The Básogá say: ‘The one who does not realise the cold in the
grave, refuses the dead a bark cloth’ (229CRC).
On the way to the grave, people walk barefooted in procession with their heads bowed and
their hands behind their backs. The male relatives roll up their trousers; the women sometimes
strip their tops. Most often the coffin is carried. Sometimes they allow for modernity and put
the coffin on the carrier of a bike.
In Congo, in and around Basnkusu, children stand at the side of the road to let the procession
pass. If the coffin with the body passes by in a lorry or in a car, the children pick up stones
and gravel and throw those at the vehicle, exclaiming: ‘kεndaka ô sékóo, kεndaka ô sékóo’,
which means: ‘please, go for good, please, go for ever.’ The children plead with the dead
person not to return and haunt them in any way.
15. Burial:
The first time I was called to bless the dead body of Congolese parishioner, it was about
midday. Usually people bury the dead around one or two o’clock in the afternoon. As was
customary in that parish I pronounced the blessing in the porch of the church. Then the
procession moved on to the cemetery. As a pastor I did not find it befitting to stay behind.
Therefore I joined the procession. Two people carried spades with them. Another one held a
vine from the forest. For the occasion I had put on a white cassock. When we arrived at the
local cemetery, I was surprised to see that people started looking for a place to bury their
dead. When they finally agreed on the right spot, they started digging. Whilst I had thought
that the spades, which they carried along, were going to fill up the grave, they were first to be
used to dig the grave! The man with the vine measured the length of the coffin with his vine
and indicated to the diggers the length of the grave. It was the hottest time of the day. Most of
the men and women retired to the shade, sat down and watched the three men in action: the
two diggers and the man with the vine. I did not want to spoil my cassock and stood there
sweating profusely. There appeared to be a lot of gravel in the soil, so the digging took quite
some time. The diggers sweated profusely while the coffin waited nearby like the rest of us. It
dawned on me that the custom of just blessing the body in the porch of the church was done
for a good reason. As my shirt and cassock became soaked with sweat, the diggers made
slowly headway. They did not dig deep and at a certain moment stopped their work. The three
men went into the nearby forest with two machetes. They soon returned with vines which they
crossed over the grave. We, the participants of the burial, approached the grave for the last
ceremonies. The carriers of the coffin approached, took the casket and started lowering the
coffin with the vines taken from the forest. Slowly the coffin went down and then stopped all
of a sudden. The diggers had not wanted to dig the grave bigger than necessary; so that they
had strictly observed the length of the coffin. But inside the grave, the sides did not go down
straight. The coffin could not go down nor up again; it got stuck! We all looked at the diggers.
The diggers looked at each other and then one of them stepped with one foot on the end of the
coffin and gave it a great push. The coffin cracked but it had to be lowered still. Another big
push of the man’s foot split part of the coffin which, through the man’s weight, went down
after all. We all heaved a big sigh. I ended the burial by imploring the blessing of the Lord
over the deceased and over the living, myself included!
16. A baby’s death:
When the Mng in Congo lose a baby, the parents often bury the body underneath their bed.
In doing so, they express their desire for the baby to come back into its mother’s womb.
However, if their next baby dies again, the parents may conclude that that baby did not feel at
home in their place. No use therefore to bury it underneath their bed a second time and beg it
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to come back again. They will bury that baby away from the house. In the grave, they first put
down some banana leaves; then they place the baby on top of those leaves but with its face
facing the soil; and then the parents cover it with other banana leaves saying: ‘Do not return
to us. Go for ever!’ Only then do they fill the grave. The parents may hope to have yet another
baby but not that one again!
If a pregnant woman dies, the foetus needs to be removed from the womb before she can be
buried, otherwise no other woman in the community will conceive again. The family will
contact a skilful person for the operation. The mother and the baby are buried side by side,
each one in a separate grave. The husband of the deceased is normally regarded as the culprit
and the cause of the death of his wife by not having observed all the taboos accompanying a
pregnancy.
There are two tombs, one for the mother and the other for the unborn baby.
17. Do this in memory of me!
One day I am invited to a village near Jínja (Uganda) to a special ceremony. The eldest son of
the family has invited the whole family. Some members had fallen ill. Other accidents
happened in the same family. One of the family members went to a diviner to look for the
cause of the illnesses and the accidents. The diviner revealed that their deceased father feels
neglected: ‘Nobody at home kept the fire in the shrine. Nobody has been putting apart food or
pouring drink for the deceased, who feels therefore hungry, thirsty and cold. The family has to
show its appreciation and respect for the dead by coming together, sacrificing some animals
and eating together. They call this ceremony ‘okúbwíká’.
In this case it is the diviner who explains the wishes of the deceased father. But in other cases
it is a family member who hears the complaints of the father in a dream. Any family member
may have such a dream.
The head of the clan notifies the whole family that on such and such a day everybody needs to
come to participate in the okúbwíká ritual. Some days before the ritual people clean the graves
and prepare the place so as to be suitable for the ceremony. They also collect bananas which
are put on a rack where they can ripen so as to be ready to be converted into local beer. The
clan members make a bonfire called ‘kísikí’ in front of the house of the deceased where they
pass the night in the open. Sometimes they build an outdoor shelter called ‘ekítíndí’. They
entertain themselves at night with drumming, dancing and drinking till the day of the
ceremony. On the eve, family members, who live far away, join the party and pass the night
together in the same house near the graves of their ancestors. The children, grandchildren and
the great-grandchildren, babies included, all come together; nobody should stay away. The
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family members should abstain from sex so as not to invalidate the ceremony that is to take
place the next morning.
The bonfire
A child of a complaining father brings a billy goat and a cock. When they want to honour
their deceased mother, they bring a nanny goat and a hen. After sunrise one of the elders of
the clan opens the ceremony with the drumming of the ‘omúbálá’ in order to awaken the
ancestral spirits and inform the clan members and the whole village of the start of the
ceremony. The whole clan puts itself in front of the grave of the deceased in question. The
heir first holds the chicken, calls the name of the deceased and informs him of the day’s ritual.
He invokes the names of the other ancestors and of those that are buried there. When the heir
has finished, he hands over the chicken to the presiding son or daughter. He/she holds the
chicken invoking the dead also, asking for pardon of the neglect shown to the dead in
question, imploring peace, prosperity, good health, protection, posterity and other blessings.
After the prayer, the leader chops off the head of the chicken. The bird’s blood drips onto the
grave. The same with the goat: its throat is cut there and then: its blood soaks the soil of the
grave.
The chicken is given to the women to prepare. A Muslim takes care of the goat. The livers of
the goat and of the chicken are given to young boys and girls still too young to have sexual
relationships. No risk is taken that someone, who failed to observe the sexual prohibition,
touches the livers. They stick the livers onto small sticks, which are held in a small fire
outside. When the livers are roasted, the heir cuts up the livers and takes the small pieces to
the grave(s). He lays each piece of liver on the banana leaves, which have been put down next
to each grave. A prayer similar to the one recited before the chicken and the goat were killed,
is said by the heir. The remaining pieces of the livers are shared by those who accompany the
heir in this rite and are consumed there and then. This offering of the livers is called
‘okúghóngá’ meaning to pray and to sacrifice. Then all the clan members, one after the other,
draw beer with a ladle and pour the beer around each grave in the graveyard.
When the food is ready, the family members sit in the open near the deceased’s house and eat
and drink together in a common meal. After the meal, the people offer gifts to the organiser of
the ceremony. These gifts are called ‘emíbánúló’. These gifts are given, because the spouse of
the organiser is not allowed to eat of the food of the ceremony. The food of the ‘emíbánúló’
has to be eaten that very day. The money included in the gifts has to be spent on other food
which has to be eaten that day also.
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I see a great parallel in between Jesus’ wish that his followers come together in his memory
and the wish of an ancestor who invites his children and grandchildren to come together in
order to remember him in the okúbwíká ritual. In doing so, they reinforce their family ties.
Eating together reinforces friendship and reconciliation.
18. Collecting someone’s spirit.
Sometimes a person disappears from the face of the earth. He may get lost in the forest for
good, or may not be seen anymore after a battle or disintegrate beyond recognition on account
of a natural disaster such as a petrol tanker catching fire and burning many people to death.
Since the dear relative cannot be accorded a traditional burial, the spirit of that person needs
to be collected and given the usual burial.
People accompanied by a diviner walk in a kind of procession that is led by a nephew of the
deceased. He holds and plays a drum. They take along a chicken, a bark cloth and a branch of
the olúgháánhí tree. The spirit of the deceased directs them to the place where it is present.
The diviner will notice a certain clump of grass shaking by itself along the path they have
taken. The shaking grass indicates the spot where the spirit of the deceased abides. The
nephew then uproots the grass which is laid out on the bark cloth. The tussock of grass
wrapped in the bark cloth is regarded as the remains of the dead and accorded the usual
respect.
The family walks back home with the captured spirit of the relative.
The branch of the olúgháánhí tree is carried along to ward off any evil spirit. At home a
nephew and a niece fetch water in order to wash the grass as if it concerns the body of the
dead. The grass wrapped up in the bark cloth is accorded a proper burial.
This burial is a wonderful ritual for a twofold reason:
1. It lays to rest the spirit of the deceased. It will stop wandering in the neighbourhood and
will no longer trouble people.
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2. It is part and parcel of the mourning process on account of the disappearance of a dear
one.
Conclusions:
The ancestors are part and parcel of a Muntu’s life. They form part of the community. Though
they lived in the past and died, they are still in their midst in a number of ways. At all the
important events in a person’s life or in the life of the community, the ancestors’ presence is
recognised. A ritual without the invocation of the ancestors does not make sense. In the same
way a Christian ritual without explicitly mentioning the ancestors does not make much sense.
When Christian Bantu come together to celebrate Christ’s life, death and resurrection, they
presuppose that the ancestors are present among them and should in fact be recognised as
such. I wrote under number 5: ‘A catechist told me that before his child is baptised in church,
he goes and informs the ancestors in the shrine of the intended baptism of their offspring.
After the church ceremonies, he goes back to the shrine and informs them of the happening.’
He does so, because during the church ceremonies the ancestors are not mentioned and given
their due respect.
When the Congolese rite of the Eucharist was composed, the authors felt it their duty to start
the ceremony with the invocation of the ancestors. The authorities in Rome were very much
disturbed by the proposed text and withheld their approval for a very long time on account of
it. They did not see the point why the ancestors should figure in the Eucharist. But the
Congolese bishops insisted that the text should stand. That’s why today the ancestors figure in
the litany of the saints which is sung at the beginning of the Congolese rite.
Pastor: Holy Mary.
All: Be with us.
Pastor: You, the mother of God.
All: Be with us.
Pastor: You, all the saints in heaven. All: Be with us.
Pastor: All of you who see God.
All: Be with us
Pastor: And you, our ancestors.
All: Be with us
Pastor: You who served God with a
kind heart:
All: Be with us.
It is a well-known gesture that at meals, especially on great occasions, some food is dropped
and given to the ancestors; some drink is poured onto the ground to respect and implore the
benediction of the ancestors. The father in his home may at the start of the meal seem to be
distraught or clumsy by dropping some food onto the table and then wipe the food off the
table so that it drops onto the ground, but in fact he does it on purpose: he is remembering the
ancestors!
When I was one of the Eucharistic ministers with the Little Sisters of Saint Francis in Jinja for
a period of two years or so, I was so free as to introduce some offering to the ancestors at the
offertory. I would take the cruet with wine, walk to the front of the altar and address myself to
the ancestors, saying: ‘You, our ancestors, you, who went before us, be in our midst. We
haven’t forgotten you. Look, this is your drink. (I then would pour the wine onto the floor).
We ask you to stay in our community, to always protect and bless us.’ After having done so
for a couple of months, I invited the Sisters to take turns and perform the little ritual. They did
so with a lot of devotion and enthusiasm.
It is my conviction that, for the Bantu, a ritual without invocation of the ancestors does not
make sense. A Eucharist without the invocation of the ancestors does not make sense to their
religious feelings. The same holds good for the other sacraments. The reluctant attitude on the
part of the Roman authorities which prevented the realisation of the Congolese rite for years
is for a great part to blame for the Congolese bishops’ unwillingness to proceed with the
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necessary adaptation of the other sacraments. Bishops in other African countries haven’t even
tried to have a truly African as well as Christian liturgy.
It must have been around 1997 that a number of pastoral agents, theologians and
anthropologists gathered at a colloquium in Tamale, in the north of Ghana. Anthony Gittins of
the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago published the presentations of the gathering in a
book called ‘Life and Death Matters. The Practice of Inculturation in Africa’. I happened to
be invited to the colloquium. My presentation was called: ‘Baby Rituals, ritual Baths and
Baptism.’ I put together all the symbolic gestures and practices used by the Mng to
strengthen the fragile life of a baby. I proposed as a possibility to use those or similar
traditional gestures and symbols to constitute an appealing African way of baptising babies
and of receiving them in our faith community (pages 119-133).
As introduction of the colloquium Anthony Gittins asked us the following questions:
- Can African Christians ever really find a home in the Catholic Church?
- Can the church ever get beyond Eurocentrism?
- Can we have a polycentric Church?
- Can we move beyond translation models and look for something new: beyond adaptation to
genuine creativity under the Holy Spirit’s guidance?
- Can we pray a new church into being?
- Can we take local realities as authentic starting points for inculturation?
- Is inculturation possible without dissent or disobedience?
- Is pastoral ministry possible without confrontation with curial or papal authority?
Dr. Gittins added: Inculturation is a process which cannot be rushed, enforced or controlled
by committees. We can compare it to giving birth: it is messy, painful, and somewhat
undignified – but life-bearing!
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Can Africans find a home in the Catholic Church?
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Chapter IV
Tree and rock spirits:
1. Kazímbá ku ngírá:
Special places are reserved to certain spirits that answer people’s prayers. These places can be
found at the foot of a big tree or rock. Such spots in Búsogá are called kazímbá ku ngírá,
meaning building on the road, since such places are found near the road. When one passes
such a spot, one easily sees the traces of the pilgrims having passed there: pieces of cloth or
spear grass hanging from the tree, traces of blood and chicken feathers. Usually there is also a
fireplace where people roast their sacrifices.
Originally, a person facing problems would move all over the place looking for help.
Eventually he/she would rest under a tree or near a rock and request the assistance of the
ancestral spirits, saying: ‘Some people live happily, get children, find work and wealth. But I
continue to suffer and feel helpless. What crime did I commit? I don’t know whether I am
cursed or bewitched. I call upon you all, spirits of this place, to help me to obtain a wife (or
children, or a good job). If my prayer is answered, I promise to bring you a goat and five
chickens.’
One cannot ask for a favour without pledging something. One ties a knot in a tuft of spear
grass (ebísindé), spits on it and ties it to a branch of the big tree or poses it on the rock where
one prayed. Tying a knot in the grass or in a piece of cloth indicates one’s commitment to the
pledge or promise made. The spittle reminds the spirits of the person who made the prayer.
The spittle is like the person leaving his DNA.
Immediately after the prayer and the tying of the knot, one drops some money at the foot of
the tree and goes back home without looking back and without shaking hands with anybody
until one enters the house. If one shakes hands on the road, the good luck obtained from the
spirits, goes to the one whom one greets. Looking back would make one lose the favour one
prayed for.
Once a person has obtained the favour asked for, he returns to the same spot to honour his
pledge. If goats and/or chickens have been promised, these are killed there and then and
roasted. The liver is roasted as usual and left to the spirits as their share. The roasted meat is
handed out to the passers-by. However, each person is allowed to take one piece of meat only,
leaving the rest to other travellers.
Passers-by are served a piece of meat.
People seeing the tufts of grass or pieces of cloth will stop at that spot, pray and make a
promise. In this way the renown of kazímbá ku ngírá will grow with each prayer granted.
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It should be noted that the kazímbá ku ngíra will never harm people. Whoever goes to such a
spot goes there to obtain a blessing and not in order to harm others. In other words, one
cannot curse or bewitch an opponent with the help of the kazímbá ku ngíra.
The prayers said at the kazímbá ku ngíra strongly remind us of old biblical practices like
1Samuël, 9-28. Even today in the Syrian and Armenian churches, people go and pray in
certain monasteries in order to ask God for a favour and make a promise at the same time.
Once their prayer has been granted, they go back to fulfil their pledge. We in the West make
pilgrimages in order to look for physical or spiritual favours from our Lady or other saints.
Catholic and still less Protestant Africans make little or no use of the spiritual legacy from the
Bible or from their own African tradition. No pledges are made, no use made of tying a knot
in a bunch of grass or in a piece of cloth nor is spittle utilised to reinforce prayer. Is it strange
that Christianity is often regarded as the white man’s religion?
2. Méerú.
Another benign spirit in Búsogá is a female spirit in the form of a snake with two heads. This
snake dwells under a big white stone. Méerú is blind in one eye. When one passes the white
stone on the side of its good eye, one obtains good luck. Otherwise, it’s bad luck; one may
even become seriously ill, because Méerú, not seeing the person coming, has the impression
that one wants to disturb her. Moreover, Méerú may be on the lookout for a partner and, by
passing on her blind side, one denies her the possibility of having a good look at the visitor.
Méerú is a providence spirit, because she provides everything: children, wealth, good health
and protection.
The following is a real life story:
Mrs sotá has been married for six years without becoming pregnant. People believe that she
is barren and her husband’s relatives want to force him to divorce her. To avert this situation
Mrs sotá goes to see her grandmother and asks her for advice. Her grandmother tells her to
go and pray to Méerú at Ngyáboná. She advises her to go there with her husband and take
along 16 coffee berries, i.e. 8 for herself and 8 for her husband. On reaching the white stones,
they kneel down in front of the stone in question and make their request. Then each one of
them throws 4 berries to the left side of the stones and 4 to the right to invite the spirits from
all sides to come to their aid. Having thrown the berries, they stand up without touching the
ground.
One leaves a tuft of grass after spitting on it on Méerú’s rock .
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They take each a tuft of spear grass, spit on it and throw it on the rock. Then, they go back
home, without looking back, lest they lose the blessing. Turning round at the end of a ritual
brings bad luck.
Within a month, the woman conceives. On realising this, she informs the priest of Méerú’s
shrine. The priest advises her not to neglect antenatal care. After the delivery, she and her
husband take the baby to present it to the priest. They bring with them a goat. The priest and
his family members lead the couple to the stones. There the priest puts on his bark-cloth,
touches the goat’s back and addresses Méerú, thanking her for the gift of the child. Then, the
men present slaughter the goat. The priest roasts the liver for Méerú; the others roast the
meat. All those present receive a share.
- Every spirit, however important, is accompanied by other spirits. That’s why the couple
throw berries to all directions. In that way, they invoke the spirits’ help and thank them for
their presence.
- In Congo as well as in Uganda, when at the end of the ritual one goes back home, one is not
allowed to look back or turn round so as not to lose the effect of the ritual by exposing oneself
to the evil spirits or the bad luck left behind.
Does this widespread gesture smell too much of superstition to be assimilated into church
rituals? Luke 9, 62 tells us not to look back either: ‘No one who puts his hand to a plough and
looks at the things that are behind is suitable to the kingdom of God’.
Would it be inappropriate to spit on a candle before lighting it in a Christian shrine? What a
person wants to indicate is only that it’s he who lit the candle which continues his prayer even
after he has left the premises.
3. Kátígo:
The Kátígo spirit does not belong to any clan. The number of people possessed by this spirit
increases continually, because quite often a possessed person drops a nice handkerchief with a
good amount of money somewhere on the road. This person does so in order to rid himself of
the Kátígo spirit by handing it on. When a passer-by picks up the handkerchief and takes it
home, he becomes sick and mentally disturbed, until his relatives consult a diviner. This
person will tell that the patient needs the Abáswezí, the local priests, to install the Kátígo spirit
in him. Otherwise the patient may die. When the Abáswezí arrive, they start singing and
drumming so that the patient becomes possessed and starts rolling on the ground. He may
even move on his head with his legs straight up.
Since the Kátígo spirit is one of herdsmen, the installation requires 20 cows, 40 goats, many
chickens and bark-cloths. During the ceremony the patient has to bite into a human bone and
to eat raw goat’s meat. If the patient in doing so vomits, he has to provide another big number
of goats and chickens for the ceremony to start all over. The ceremony is performed in the
home of the patient, but since the spirit is rather violent, some of the rituals are performed in a
swamp where the Abáswezí build a shrine. The clan leader makes the newly possessed sit on a
bark-cloth, and gives him a smoking pipe, a spear, a beer gourd and a long stick which he will
use when taking care of his animals.
After the installation, the possessed person has the gift of discernment. He knows where
people have buried harmful fetishes. Moreover he can practise divination. The diviner should
abstain from goat’s meat.
- In Congo children would come quite often with paper money found on the road to have it
blessed so that they could use it. Obviously they were scared that the money had been
dropped on purpose by witches.
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Chapter V
Bad spirits: emíkyénó (Lúsogá), bεngj’ôbé (Lmng).
It is of the utmost importance to differentiate bad spirits from the ancestral spirits i.e. from the
ordinary spirits of the ancestors, though the latter may also become angry or displeased as we
have seen.
A. Origin of the bad spirits:
As the ancestors are on the whole benevolent spirits protecting and safeguarding their
offspring, where do those bad spirits we hear about, hail from?
1. A bad spirit is the spirit of a person killed by a relative or killed by the one who was
supposed to take care of him. This spirit looks for revenge and brings suffering and even
death to its offspring or to nephews and nieces of the perpetrator. Though the spirit may
originate from both father’s and mother’s side, it hails mostly from the mother’s side.
A mukyénó (evil spirit) may affect even young children. Its presence is shown by the child’s
clenching fists, convulsions or tetanus. It may cause the death of a child after an illness of two
days only. The child may complain of a headache or dizziness. A few hours later the child is
dead. The corpse smells badly, becomes black and bleeds as if the child has taken poison.
These kinds of spirits abide at crossroads, in swamps, forests and on the way to the village
well. They try to possess people who happen to pass or stop over at these places. The Básogá
therefore do not bid farewell to their visitors at crossroads neither do they fetch water or
collect firewood between midday and 2:00 pm. They fear to encounter those spirits. Malicious
people can invoke these roaming spirits to strike and punish their adversaries as is the case of
cursing.
2. A pregnant woman yearns to eat a certain type of food but her relatives refuse to give it to
her. If this refusal results in her death, that particular kind of food becomes the totem
(omúzíró) of their clan. If a woman of that clan eats that food, she will have miscarriages or a
stillbirth. It is the mukyénó (evil spirit) which causes the problem.
This class of emíkyénó is known as Námúgúmbá. This word is derived from the noun
obúgúmbá meaning barrenness. These spirits belong to barren women who were not respected
or even mistreated by friends or relatives. These spirits attack young girls and make them
barren. These girls are attacked when they go and fetch water between midday and two
o’clock. The symptoms of these ‘possessions’ are very painful and abundantly bleeding
menstrual periods.
3. Reconciliation is vital for the Básogá in Uganda. One needs to avoid quarrels and situations
when a person dies aggrieved. A lack of reconciliation between a community and the
wronged person may turn this person’s spirit after his death into omúkyénó and trouble the
family responsible.
- One day I was driving in the region of Nsng (Congo) when people stopped me. I asked
them what the problem was. They narrated the trouble they encountered with a grave in the
palm plantation at the other side of the road. Two years earlier they had buried an old man
there whom they had accused of being a sorcerer. The whole village had ostracized the poor
man. He died just as miserably as he had lived. They had buried him at some one hundred
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yards from the village, fearing his wrath on account of their accusations. But even so at night
they saw light shining and moving up and down in the plantation and all night long dogs
howled and looked in the direction of the grave. People’s request to me was: ‘Can you,
please, come one day to bless that grave and put an end to those vexations? We don’t sleep at
night on account of our fears and the barking of the dogs.’ We fixed a date. When I returned
to the village on the day we had agreed upon, I invited some people to accompany me to the
grave. There we prayed together and then I blessed the grave with holy water.
A few months later I happened to pass the same village. I stopped and asked the people
whether the grave trouble had come to an end. ‘Yes’, they said, ‘no more trouble at all; even
the dogs have stopped barking and looking in that direction.’
Conclusion: Endeavour to live in harmony with other people. A proverb says: ‘Those who
live together are like the gourds on the rack. They knock one another but they do not crack’
(2061PK). Quarrels are unavoidable but they should never cause rifts in the family or in the
community. Reconciliation is always the priority.
- Recently I received a letter from the wife of a deceased friend. She bemoans the fate of her
eldest daughter. One day this girl gets an awful ulcer on her right arm. The ulcer heals very
slowly indeed. After one year’s treatment the wound has healed. Six months later, however,
the pain reappears and the ulcer is back. The mother writes that she is convinced that slander
is the cause of her daughter’s plight. The theory is that when people talk ill of someone, their
speech has a pernicious influence on the person concerned. The reason is that the ancestral
spirits hear the slanderous talk, especially when it is uttered on the way to a well. That is
where the spirits abide during the day. The spirits, hearing the slander, are convinced that
what is said is true and direct their anger on the person mentioned. Their anger has an adverse
effect on that person’s health: he or she will fall ill and may even die.
There is still another conviction that comes into play, namely that the spoken word has a
power of its own. A benediction or blessing brings about what is said. A curse pronounced in
a certain way becomes true. So, her daughter continues to suffer from her wound, because
someone has spoken ill of her. Whatever medicine is applied to the wound, it has no
permanent effect.
She writes: ‘I leave it to God.’ What else can she do? There is no health post in the vicinity,
let alone a hospital. Even if there would be modern medicine around, she would not be able to
afford it.
4. People endeavour to welcome visitors and make them feel at home. Otherwise, if the
visitor dies aggrieved, he may turn into an evil spirit and bother them.
5. We need to respect the forest spirits:
In Basnkusu (Congo) people cut certain trees for making their dugouts. But before felling a
tree, they put white lime on their bodies and on the axe which they are going to use. They
address themselves to the forest spirits in a prayer, asking them to forgive them for cutting
down the tree, saying that they do not cut it down for nothing but only because they need the
wood to carve a dugout. They pray the spirits not to be angry and not to make the tree split in
coming down. Later when the tree has been cut and they start on the job of making a dugout,
they again smear white lime on their bodies and on the tools to be used praying the owner of
the tree to guide their hands so that they do not make holes in the bottom and in the sides of
the dugout.
People use white lime, because this material is found mostly in swamps, the preferential
residences of the spirits. By using white lime, people show respect for the spirits making them
feel at home.
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At certain moments people invoke or thank the forest spirits for a successful enterprise, such
as fishing, a hunt or an abundant harvest.
This hunter brings a packet of intestines for the spirits that helped him. (Congo)
Conclusion: Respect the spirits residing in the forest, in the bush, in trees, in streams and in
rocks; respect all of nature so as not to exasperate the owners, i.e. the spirits. It is beneficial to
ask their assistance, before and when handling their possessions. Respect shows itself also
through occasional offerings.
6. Animals and birds can also turn into bad spirits if mistreated or killed without good reason
or if not accorded a proper burial. See the following West-African story of the ‘wáítítí’ as
taken and adapted from ‘Contes d’Afrique by Henri Gougaud (pages 113-117). In the story I
use the name of the sacred bird wáítítí as it is used in Búsogá (Uganda). The song as well as
the names Eyenga and buutú are taken from the Mng in Congo.
a. The story of the wáítítí:
Far away, at the other side of the forest, there is a very peculiar village. In a way, it is a
village like any other with a main street and a couple of houses situated apart. But the odd
thing about this village is that it does not carry a name. Therefore one won’t see any taxi’s
stopping there, because nobody can tell the driver: I have to go to such or such a place. That
the village has no name is the first queer thing about it. The second odd and awesome thing is
that for years on end no baby has been born there!
One day, one of the young ladies called Eyenga goes to the forest to look for firewood and for
mushrooms. She wants to prepare a nice meal. So happy with the expectation of enjoying the
meal she starts singing when she arrives in the forest. Her song is: eéke mpulú, nkak’il’éndo;
eéke mpulú, nkak’il’éndo. ‘Fish eagle, the small fishes are here; fish eagle, the small fishes
are here.’ While she sings, a bird comes flying near and sits down on a low branch, whistling
along with the song of the woman. Eyenga stops singing and asks the bird: ‘Say, bird, you
whistle well along with my song, but can you tell me your name, please?’ The bird answers:
‘I’ll tell you my name, if you tell me the name of your village.’ Eyenga thinks: what a cheek!
She bows down and picks up a stone. Whilst she does so, the bird takes off to the highest
branch in the tree. Eyenga throws the stone at the bird and by pure chance hits it. The stone
and the bird fall down together. Eyenga hurries to pick the poor bird and sees that blood is
trickling from its beak. She feels a sense of guilt in having killed the singing bird. Quickly she
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fills her basket with firewood, puts the dead bird on top and returns home. When she reaches
her house, she carefully leans her basket against the wall of the house and calls her husband.
Happily he is at home. She narrates to him the whole story, how a wonderful bird came and
sang along with her when she sang her song of ‘eéke mpulú, nkak’il’éndo’, how it refused to
tell her its name, how she had picked up a stone, hurled it at the bird and killed it. Her
husband then asks her: ‘And where is the poor bird?’ She answered: ‘Let me show you’.
Eyenga walks over to her basket and takes the dead bird to her husband. When he sees the
dead bird, he wails aloud: ‘Mother dear, this is terrible; it is just terrible. This is a wáítítí, a
protected bird. Our ancestors have always warned us never to kill that bird. If we kill it,
terrible disasters will befall us. Oh, it’s just terrible.’ The neighbours hearing the husband’s
lamentations, approach to see the mishap with their own eyes. Then they too exclaim:
‘Mother dear, it’s terrible, it’s just terrible.’
Eyenga’s husband waits for people to calm down and then says: ‘Let us all go to the chief and
ask for his advice.’ They roll the dead bird into a cloth and carry it along with them. On the
way they all sing together: Eéke mpulú, nkak’il’éndo (Fish eagle, small fishes are here).
When they arrive at the chief’s place, they call his name and knock on the door, saying: k,
k, k. The chief presents himself and invites them in. As a sign of mourning they all sit down
with their legs stretched out in front of them. The chief asks Eyenga’s husband to tell him
what happened. He says: ‘Our ancestors had a saying: ‘you go out to hunt squirrels and then
return home with a human leg on your shoulder’ (2730PK). My wife, Eyenga, went out to
gather firewood and mushrooms. When she was singing, a bird came flying near her and sat
down on a low branch. The bird whistled along with her. When Eyenga asked the bird for its
name, it refused to tell her. She then picked up a stone, threw it at the bird and killed it.
Because the bird in question is protected, I think we all have a problem on our hands. That’s
why we have come to see you.’
The chief asks him to show him the bird. Eyenga takes the cloth, unfolds it and shows the chief
what is inside. The chief then starts crying aloud: ‘Oh, this is terrible, oh, this is terrible!
Eyenga, did you really kill this wáítítí?’ The wáítítí or buutú is a ground hornbill representing
Musóké, the rainbow spirit. Eyenga just nods in agreement.
The chief then restarts his lamentations. Then he says: ‘If we do not give this bird a decent
burial, disasters will befall us. Not a single man in our village will be able to have an
erection. Oh, terrible. Oh, terrible. I proclaim an official mourning of three days. We have to
mourn this bird and bury it as we bury a human being. The men must beat the drums and
dance. The women must prepare plenty of food, beer and gin. For three days we have to sing
and dance, to eat and drink.
Women collect bananas for making beer.
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And so it happens. Women prepare plenty of food and beer. On the agreed day, the mourning
ceremony starts. The men beat the drums and dance in the village until the heavens rock.
They eat and drink until they are drunk. The feast lasts three days.
The clan members invite the bázwezí, the traditional priests, to bury the wáítítí and to perform
all the rituals proper to the burial of a traditional priest. Twelve goats are to be provided as
well as twelve chickens. People bring lots of bark-cloths in which the bird will be buried.
Eyenga who killed the bird, has to bring at least six more lengths of bark-cloth. After the bird
has been buried, a goat is strangled on the edge of the grave by the priests in order to chase
the bad luck brought on by the killing of the bird. While the goat is killed one of the Báswezí
asks the ancestors for forgiveness.
After the burial, everybody returns home in the conviction that a great disaster has been
averted.
The bird has been buried. The priest holds a goat and invokes the spirits asking for forgiveness.
A few months later, Eyenga feels some movement within her. She first tells her mother and
then also her husband. It is the first time since time immemorial that a woman becomes
pregnant in this village. The news spreads quickly like a bushfire. From everywhere people
come to congratulate her. One day all the women of the village come and visit Eyenga. Their
leader stands up and says: ‘We, women, are so excited and glad that you are expecting a
baby. Tell us what you like us to give you and you will have it.’ Eyenga looks surprised and
says: ‘I have only one wish and that is that our village be called Wáítítí.’ Now the women too,
are surprised. But they like the idea. They say: ‘Let us all go and see the chief and ask for his
advice.’ The whole procession of women proceeds to the chief’s house. On the way they sing
their song: ‘Eéke mpulú, nkak’il’éndo’ (Fish eagle, small fishes are here). They find the chief
at home and ask him to officially name the village and call it Wáítítí. The chief reflects a
moment and gives his consent.
When her time has come, Eyenga gives birth to a healthy son. A great sigh of relief and
intense joy fill the whole village. It does not take weeks before two women, then three and
then four become pregnant too. Taxicabs and buses arrive and stop in the village, because
passengers can now say: ‘We want to go to Wáítítí!’ The whole village becomes alive. After a
couple of years children play in the main street, they go fishing in the little stream; they climb
in the trees, fetch firewood and collect water for their mothers. At full moon, young and old
dance in the moonlight. The village which was once dead has come to full life.
Observations:
- The wáítítí story is a resurrection story. The song brought the bird; the stone brought death
but the burial brought life again. Where there was only stagnation and death, life and
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activities developed: the contented ancestors brought life as there was never before. If you
respect the ancestors and their prescriptions, you will encounter joy after misery. After death
we’ll experience a resurrection. So, do not despair!
(We can draw a parallel with Jesus’ life. His teaching attracted Judas. But Judas became an
angry man and caused death to Jesus and to himself. But Jesus’ burial brought forth new life
for Jesus and for us).
- All creatures need to be respected. They were not created for nothing. Certain creatures like
trees, birds, animals and even rocks are sometimes dwelling places for spirits that do not like
to be disturbed without reason. The bird ‘Wáítítí’ represents Musóké, the rainbow spirit. It’s a
great taboo to kill the bird. This story inculcates respect for life and for nature.
- If a taboo has been broken, the whole community may suffer on account of it: killing an
animal or a bird can have a deadly effect on human fertility and male potency. The whole
community needs to make amends for the mishap.
- Certain individuals like the traditional priests, the Báswezí, intervene to accompany the
necessary rites with their singing, musical instruments and dancing.
-Sacrifices form an integral part of the rituals in question to show the spirits that the amends
they want to make are serious.
- Treat pregnant women with special concern. Because if they die expecting a baby, they may
take revenge on a presumed lack of care during their vulnerable time. Listen therefore to their
even unreasonable wishes as did, in the myth, Lianja, the famous ancestor of the Mng.
b. Burial of a dead dog:
When we encounter the corpse of a dog, we need to show respect as we do with that of a
human being to make sure that the spirit of that person or dog does not pursue or harm us.
A woman is putting grass on the carcass of a dog.
In Búsogá (Uganda) they say as follows: ‘When we unexpectedly find the carcass of a dog,
we need to take it to an ekíramá tree where we either hang it in its branches, or put it at the
foot of that tree. We pick a tuft of tall ebísindé (elephant grass), spit on it and throws it on the
dog, saying: ‘Tí ninzé nkwîsé’ : It is not I who killed you.’
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We must make sure that the grass covers the dog. By this ritual of throwing the grass and
saying ‘I am not the one who killed you’, we prevent the spirit of the dog bewitching or
haunting us’. By spitting on the ebísindé grass, we leave as it were our own DNA notifying
the spirit of the dog to leave us in peace.
This ritual has to prevent any revenge of the dead dog coming to haunt us. At the same time
we show respect to the dog by giving it a burial. The words also convey the message that one
feels sorry for the death of the poor dog. As mentioned earlier, the same gesture of taking
ebísindé grass is performed by people when they find the dead body of a person.
I used the gestures of this ritual once on Good Friday at the adoration of the cross in the Mill
Hill Formation House in Jinja. In stead of kissing the corpus on the cross, I took a tuft of
ebísindé which I had brought along, spat on it and deposited it on the cross saying: ‘Tí ninzé
nkwîsé’ : ‘It is not I who killed you.’ In this way I expressed my empathy and commiseration
at the death of Jesus.
Advice contained in this story:
- Respect all life. Respect also animals and birds. Treat them properly as you would treat a
human person.
- Do not kill an animal without a valid reason.
- If a bird or an animal has died, give it a decent burial, especially in case of a dead dog, since
the dog is the friend of man.
- We have to be aware of the values and of the taboos handed down to us by the ancestors.
Only then we’ll obtain their blessing and we’ll enjoy life to the full. In Búsogá (Uganda) good
luck is called ‘omúkísá’, a blessing. In Basnkusu (Congo) they call good luck: bngji
w’ltsi: a good ancestral spirit. Bad luck they call: bngj’obé: a bad spirit. Good luck and
bad luck therefore depend on the (un)willingness of the ancestral spirits.
We in the West force our good luck by working hard; the Bantu obtain good luck by the
blessing of the ancestors.
B. Healing rituals after being attacked by an evil spirit.
1. When suspecting the presence of a mukyénó (evil spirit), the Básogá (Uganda) consult a
diviner. If the diviner confirms their suspicions, he calls for a special ceremony to rid the
victim of the evil spirit. He orders for a special ritual for which they should provide local
beer, a calabash, a black chicken or a black goat. The black chicken or the black goat has to
obscure the way back for the evil spirit. The victim has to bring a bright cloth on which the
victim has to sit. Its brightness attracts the spirit. The ritual is carried out in the home of the
victim who is made to sit in the middle surrounded by the clan members. He has to hold the
chicken. The diviner officiates in an all night ceremony. They all sing songs to identify the
mukyénó.
When the evil spirit reveals itself, the diviner talks to it and persuades it to enter the calabash
and drink some beer. As soon as the spirit enters, the diviner puts a cork on the calabash and
together with the clan members he takes the calabash to a lonely but public spot where the
calabash is deposited. The ancestors are invoked to ask for their protection and to deliver
them from the evil spirit. There the goat and/or the chicken are killed. At times only a few
drops of blood are a sufficient sacrifice. For this purpose one ear of the goat is cut off. Blood
should drop onto the ground. The head of the victim is shaved. The ceremony ends just before
sunrise when the whole group says goodbye to the mukyénó at the crossroads, on an
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abandoned anthill or in a swamp. These places are public. One day someone will pass by and
carry along the evil spirit.
2. The diviner and the clan members meet at the homestead that has lost several people due to
the mukyénó (evil spirit). The ceremony is presided over by the diviner. People sit in a circle
whilst the diviner sits in the middle holding four branches of the olúgháánhi plant (dracoena
fragrans). The pot and a bark-cloth lie next to him. People sing, clap and drum. The song
should be interesting enough to attract the mukyénó to come and identify itself. When it
arrives, it manifests itself by shaking the branches of the olúgháánhi plant. At that moment,
the singing and the clapping reach a climax; the diviner picks a small branch of the said plant,
folds it and pushes it into the pot and covers the pot with the bark-cloth. People continue to
sing, whilst the three other branches continue to shake. The diviner takes another branch at a
time and introduces it into the pot also, because it is believed that the evil spirit does not come
alone, but it moves in the company of fellow emíkyénó. The four branches represent the evil
spirits from all quarters of the world. When the diviner is convinced that all the mikyénó are
trapped and are in the pot, he informs the clan members present.
The diviner asks the nephew to hold the black chicken and the goat and lead the procession
into a swamp. He himself holds the pot and all the clam members follow. On reaching the
swamp the group stops and leave the diviner and the nephew to proceed a little further. There
the diviner invokes the ancestral and bush spirits so that they chase away the mukyénó. He
sets the chicken and the goat free. Whoever meets them first will be possessed by the evil
spirit. It may kill one of his/her relatives.
The whole group then goes back home but the people do not use the same path as they came
to the swamp. If there is no other path, they walk right through the bush. They take another
path so as to shake off the evil spirit which they have left behind in the swamp. On reaching
the village, they go to the same house where the diviner mixes some herbs called ensóngá.
These herbs are put on a banana leaf. All clan members have to bathe in it or at least wash
their hands. The bad smell of the herbs is supposed to chase the evil spirit. The following day
the diviner makes incisions on the joints of the patient into which he rubs some herbs. The
joints of the body are the body’s vital parts connecting different limbs. When local medicine
is rubbed into those spots, the whole body undergoes its wholesome effects.
Sometimes the diviner asks for a goat which is killed and stripped of its skin in his compound.
The patient is made to sit naked in the middle of the shrine holding the goat’s skin, while the
diviner and other strong people invoke the mukyénó to come. With the help of fetish spirits
the evil spirit is arrested in the goat’s skin which is then tied together with a rope. The people
present hold their belly buttons tight to prevent the mukyénó from entering there. People take
the goat’s skin into the bush where they put the skin in a bonfire so as to get rid of the evil
spirit. When the people leave the place of the bonfire, they do not look back fearing that the
spirit joins them again.
Observations:
- The bad spirit has to be banned and left in a deserted place. It is like the scapegoat the Jews
sent into the desert to free them from their sins (Leviticus 16, 20/22). The bad spirit has to be
removed forever.
- I see another parallel between the group that stops leaving the diviner and the nephew to
proceed a little further and Jesus who left the group of the Apostles and went a little further by
himself. Matt. 26, 39: ‘Going forward a little distance, Jesus fell on his face, while praying
and saying, My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from me’.
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3. One day, in Bokákakata (Congo), a woman came to my door with a chicken. She offered it
for sale. She pointed out, however, that the nails of the chicken had been accidentally burnt in
the fire. I thought nothing of it. I bought the bird and put it together with my other chickens in
the henhouse. A few days later, during the night, a civet cat crawled into my chicken coop and
killed 25 chickens. Only later I understood that the people wanting to get rid of an evil spirit
take a chicken to a swamp, and let it loose pleading the evil spirit to stay there. Before letting
the chicken loose, they burn the chicken’s nails to show that this chicken is one used in the
ritual and therefore should not be picked up since it is associated with the evil spirit. The
woman, who found it later in the forest, was probably not aware of the practice, caught the
bird and brought it home. There, people upon seeing the burnt nails of the chicken told her to
get rid of the bird as soon as possible. That’s why she came and sold it to me. The evil spirit,
however, still took revenge and caused havoc in my henhouse.
4. Many Africans try to protect themselves with fetishes and amulets which they buy from a
medicine man. They carry these objects on them, bury them in front of their homes or insert
them into the roof of their houses. In Balíngá (Congo), people used to hang crowns of
pineapples from the roof over the entrance of their homes to prevent Aids from entering the
house.
5. A limitation to the glitter of the African pearl is the connection people observe between
material progress and sacrifices. Not so long after Mobútu had taken control of the Congo, his
wife Marie-Antoinette died. Everywhere in the country, in all the churches and mosques,
memorial services had to be held. Mobútu, it was said, was devastated. Years later when I had
studied people’s beliefs, I asked my collaborators in the Cultural Research Centre of Baríngá
about the ‘real’ cause of Marie Antoinette’s death. The Bantu’s strong belief is that nobody
makes progress in life without offering a sacrifice. If one wants to reach far in this world, one
needs to sacrifice a near relative: a wife, a child or one’s sister. When I asked my helpers
whether we had to see the death of Mobútu’s wife in that light, their answer was: ‘Is there
anybody who has made progress without a sacrifice?
‘The practice is rooted in the belief that a blood sacrifice brings fortune, wealth and
happiness. The “purer” the blood, the more potent the spell, making innocent children a
target. Witchdoctors look for children without marks or piercings, so many parents pierce
their children’s ears at birth and get their boys circumcised in an effort to protect them.
Children are either abducted by or in some cases actually given to witchdoctors by relatives
out of desperation for money. In those rituals they cut up the child and remove some body
parts, often facial features or genitals. These brutal acts are done while the child is still alive.
Few children survive such a ritual’ (Wyswa Kisa).
No wonder people try hard to protect themselves with all sorts of fetishes! Here still another
example: a young man presents himself at the diocesan garage as a mechanic. He is a handy
fellow; moreover he knows how to drive a car. Not long afterwards he is promoted to be the
bishop’s driver. Then all of a sudden his eldest son dies. Nobody in town doubts why the boy
had to die. His father had to sacrifice his son in order to protect his new job.
This mentality reminds me of the old Middle Eastern and European practice of burying one or
two people in the city walls in order ensure safety and prosperity. Even today we cement
sometimes a container with coins in the wall of a new home in order to safeguard our
wellbeing.
6. I have often heard it said by my fellow missionaries that their preaching of the word of
God set people free from fear. They were convinced that the traditional Bantu go through life
weighed down by fear of all kinds of evil spirits. Is this really the case? When walking the
streets and paths in Africa, one does not get the impression that people are morose and
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paranoid on account of spirits hiding in the trees. On the contrary, the Africans are ever ready
to smile and to laugh at any occasion far more so that Europeans do.
The ‘Básogá in Uganda start their ‘national anthem’ by saying ‘tulí b’enkábí’, we are a
blessed people. People who from early childhood are privileged to receive a daily blessing
from their parents, people who feel the protective presence of their ancestors in their lives,
how can they be weighed down by fear of some evil spirits?
They feel blessed also by so many natural resources such as forests, rivers like the Kiírá (the
river Nile), Mpólógómá, Náigombwa, Kitúmbezi, Lumbúyé and Kíkó and the great lakes
Nálúbaalé (Victoria) and Kyóga. They are actually surrounded by fresh water and gifted with
so many fascinating waterfalls.
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Chapter VI
The Supreme Being:
Another question remains: Did the Mng and the Bongandó in Congo and the Básogá in
Uganda know God?
In Uganda, in the territory of the Bágandá and the Básogá, the churches use the name
‘Katóndá’ for God. The noun Katóndá comes from the verb –tónda which means to create.
The noun means: the one who creates, the creator.
However, in the impressive Kintú shrine in Buswíkírá, Katóndá is one of the many spirits that
possesses a separate shrine. Katóndá is there understood to be the creator spirit. It creates
boys and girls in their mothers’ womb. Katóndá creates eyes, nails and other parts of the
body. Christians have, it seems, confiscated the noun ‘Katóndá’ by giving it another meaning
namely the one we call God, the Supreme Being who created heaven and earth.
According to Jan Hartering, the Bongandó in Congo did not possess a name for God. (Leven
en sterven in Bongandoland, pages 74-75). They borrowed the one used by the Mng,
namely the word Njakomba.
What is the original meaning of Njakomba? Was that term also used to indicate a spirit and
not the Supreme Being? I understand that komba is the name for God (or main spirit?) as used
by the Pygmies in Cameroon. That is the actual meaning, but was that the original meaning?
Curious enough the same noun njakomba is also used to indicate the praying mantis. I have
read once that one of the peoples of Mozambique also use the same noun for God and the
praying mantis.
The word Nzámbe is used in Lingála and in non-Bantu Ghana the word Nyambe.
Another name employed by the Mng to indicate the Supreme Being is mombiándá or
mbombiándá. The name iándá is rarely used by itself. The word iándányama means the
praying mantis! Like Hulstaert, I have no explanation for the etymology of the word mbomba
on account of a tonal difference with the word Kibúmba used by the Básogá.
The Básogá in Uganda use the name Kibúmba for God. The name literally means the potter,
the one who plays with clay, indicating that we are formed by the hands of the Potter. The
word Kibúmba seems to come from the Luganda verb okubûmbá. We can link the noun
Kibúmba with the Lmng verb –bómba: to model with clay as we find in the words iómba
(clay) boómba (grave covered with clay) and liómbo (floor made of beaten clay).
But all this does not explain the noun m(b)omba in m(b)ombiándá. In Lúsogá to play with
clay means okúwumbá, which would explain the noun perfectly. However, Lúsogá has an
inversed tonality system compared to other Bantu languages.
A judicial fable ‘Botúli la njakomba ífé’ written down by Bokaá Étienne narrates a dispute
between two njakomba (gods): the god of the trees and the god of iron. It would be better to
translate the name njakomba here by spirit. This fable points to the original meaning of the
name njakomba, namely spirit. The smith needs to respect both spirits so as to be able to
forge, because he needs both charcoal and iron. Which spirit does he need to respect most?
(See rechtspraakfabels nr. 37).
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The Mng use also the expressions: Njakomb’káú bobé and Njakomb’ekáú bltsi which,
in fact, means I have bad luck or I have good luck; these two expressions run parallel to the
expressions bngj’obé and bngj’ltsi meaning also bad luck and good luck or to
bonin’káú bobé and bonin’káw’ltsi. All these six expressions indicate that a certain spirit
gives me either bad luck or good luck. The expressions Njakomb’káú bobé and
Njakomb’ekáú bltsi point therefore strongly to the meaning of njakomba being a spirit and
not the Supreme Being.
According to Jan Hartering (page 14), the Bongandó, living to the east of the Nkundó and to
the south of the Mng did not know God. They only knew the ancestral spirits (bekáli). In
his researches, he says that the name Njakomba was borrowed from the Mng, where the
missionaries arrived first. The other names actually used for God like Nkúmú, Nkóló (Lord)
and Bmn (Owner) originally indicated the first spirit which created the other spirits. The
Bmn is the first, the head or boss of all ancestral spirits. When, according to Bongandó, the
very first people came on earth by marching out of a great ant-hill, there were no spirits yet,
not even the bmn. The Básogá in Uganda call him mwêné (owner). My own publication
called ‘Bomóngó’ has been written according to the actual belief of people who call God the
Owner. This does not exclude the real possibility that originally the Owner was the first spirit
and leader among so many other spirits.
In their fables, the Mng let people often pray and sing to the ‘owner of the forest’ to allow
them to eat certain food. The owner of the forest is a spirit who is the boss of the forest and
certainly not God.
It is, moreover, striking that, among the thousands of Mng proverbs, one will find only one
or two directly referring to Njakomba (God). The Mng evidently counted only upon the
ancestral spirits for their physical, spiritual and psychological wellbeing. Their prayers were
directed to them and not to the Supreme Being. In their rituals they addressed exclusively the
ancestral or forest spirits.
Father Gustave Hulstaert believed strongly that the Nkundó recognised a Supreme Being,
creator of heaven and earth. A different opinion from the one of Van Der Kerken is swept
aside as irrelevant and due to the author’s stand on religion (Le Dieu des Mng, page 233).
Van Der Kerken maintained that the Mng had a very confused idea about the spiritual
world with all kinds of names for God, forest and ancestral spirits. Could it be that Hulstaert’s
own religious education and people’s acceptance of the Christian faith made him judge
differently and in favour of the Mng’s belief in a Supreme Being? On page 234, Fr.
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Hulstaert recognises that certain expressions could have come about by missionary work and
that it is actually (1980) difficult to distinguish between traditional and new beliefs.
According to the Mng the only one who was there in the very beginning even before the
arrival of human beings, was Lingólóngóló or Ingólóngóló, a mythological old person who
resides far in the forest. His mental capabilities are seemingly undeveloped. He is our
antithesis. He does not follow the foolishness of our human existence, compulsively wanting
more and more and better and better. That’s why he is enlightened and capable of solving
people’s problems. For people who are lost or at their wits’ end and ask his help,
Lingólóngóló is there to help them provided they wash him, cut his hair and shave his beard.
Nothing for nothing. The proverb (1766PK) says: Lingólóngól’ákolaké mbóka: Let the
mythical old man show you the way. It means that if you have a serious problem, consult an
old, wise man.
This same mythological figure we find also in Uganda. “The second boy travelled well until
the twenty-eighth day when he found the old man foretold by the old lady. The man was very
hungry and had a very long beard. The boy shaved him, gave him food and the old man ate
and was satisfied. Then the boy asked him how to obtain the valuable things on the mountain.
When the old man heard this, he pleaded with the boy to change his mind. Since the boy was
determined, the old man directed him… When his sister found the old man, this time his
beard had almost overgrown his mouth. She cared for him, after which she asked about the
way to lay her hands on the valuable things on the mountain…. The old man instructed her
like he had told her brothers.” (Twire ku butaka, pages 36-37, CRC in Jinja).
Indeed, the old man is our antithesis. If he knows how to obtain the riches on the mountain,
why did he not go there himself? The answer is that he is not interested in valuable objects
and advises people not to go out of their way to obtain them. He is happy enough to be where
he is and how he is at that moment. That’s why he is full of wisdom. Only young people run
after riches. The old wise person is sitting in front of his home to keep the goats away. His
task is to prevent and/or to solve problems. That’s why the Mng says: Engambí nd’ôtúmbá,
ntaa nttswáká (1124PK): If the old man is at home, no goat will enter.
In Bantu society, we find a strong trend of the Ingólóngóló’s attitude on life. In their
hospitality, people are all-out generous. They are ready to give away their last chicken to their
visitor. The visitor is then more important than their poultry farm which may be barely
surviving the latest attack of Newcastle disease.
The name Lingólóngóló is the diminutive of a Longandó word for an elderly person namely
bongóló. See also the Lingála word mokóló, mukúlú (in Lugánda) and múkulú (in Lúsogá).
Lingólóngóló means therefore the little old man.
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Chapter VII
The Gospel and Magic:
Christian Bantu feel a sense of powerlessness in reconciling their Christian faith with their
own traditional beliefs regarding illness and healing. For centuries the Bantu managed to
survive all the odds of tropical diseases by their extensive knowledge of what we now call
traditional medicine. They have an awesome knowledge of the healing effects of roots, bark,
herbs and leaves. Lots of names they bestow on plants have also a symbolic meaning.
Moreover, their healers are at the same time the local priests and diviners and serve as the
ordinary contact persons with the ancestors. This bestows on the healers an emotional
empowerment as well as, in our Western eyes, a scientific weakness.
In modern Africa the traditional healers continue to enjoy a broad-based clientele. Formerly
we, people from the West, used to call such healers witchdoctors, sorcerers or magicians on
account of the traditional outfit which they don to facilitate the contact with the ancestors. To
the first strangers, notably the missionaries, they had the appearance of the devil in person!
At the time of independence (1960) many Congolese expected that the local hospitals would
accommodate, besides the modern general practitioners, the traditional healers. A hospital is
the place to receive patients so that they can meet the healer. Since in modern society there
are two types of healers, it would indeed make sense to accommodate both, so that people
have the choice between traditional and modern medicine. If one kind does not work, one can
try the other or both! The disappointment was great when local healers remained excluded
from the hospitals. This still remains, in the minds of many, a sign of modern shortsightedness and a great cultural and medical injustice. And doesn’t a truly intelligent person
make use of all the options at his disposal? Is this not a sign of short-sightedness and of an
enormous and continuous prejudice concerning African traditional know-how and wisdom?
Witchcraft:
1. The glitter of the African pearl is, in my opinion, dimmed also by the all pervading belief in
witchcraft. In Western languages a witch is usually a woman. In Africa a witch can be male or
female! These days much attention in the media is paid to child-witches. In the midst of the
misery of civil wars, pandemics like Aids, extreme poverty and famine, an assiduous and
continual search is on for the person who is the cause of so much adversity. In the West, we
say that the disease Aids is spread through blood transfusions, sexual contacts and lack of
hygiene in hospitals. Africans do not object to this kind of explanation. But they remain
obsessed by the question: why did I contract the virus and why does my next door neighbour
go scot-free? The fact that I am the victim of the Aids virus and other misery is due to
witchcraft. Someone has bewitched me! I have to know the culprit. ‘The snake which has
been spotted won’t bite you’ (2174PK). Only a diviner can help me to find out.
Someone may bewitch me consciously or unconsciously. A person can bewitch me willingly
by pronouncing a curse, by burying a juju in the ground or on the path leading to my home or
by getting hold of a piece of clothing, some hair or nail clippings belonging to me. The witch
will take these to a medicine-man and ask him to throw a spell on me.
A person can also unconsciously bewitch me, when an evil power emanates from him or her
and causes accidents, diseases and even death. Afro-Americans call such a person a jinx, a
walking disaster. The Básogá say of such a person: ‘It’s the misery of a dog that even the one,
who is not the owner, makes it howl (440 CRC Jinja Vol. II). If one has bad luck, one
continues running into all kinds of misfortunes.
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2. As I said, children have recently also been accused of falling into this category and
possessing that evil power. They are sometimes chased from their homes by their own
relatives and subsequently they become street-children. These kids are said to possess special
gifts of knowing what happens far away. They come and leave the house though all doors are
locked! As a group they are supposed to exhume corpses by beating the grave with a
pineapple and consume the bodies in order to reinforce their perverse power. In all African
cities you’ll find groups of street children who sniff glue and petrol and look at you with
wildly looking open eyes. It’s scary all right for the passers-by and it is devastating for the
children’s young bodies. Sometimes NGOs assist those children by feeding and washing them
on a daily basis. But the organisations are often accused of maintaining the problem, because
at night the children are back on the street.
3. In Uganda people build walls inside the grave so that they can put a concrete slab on the
grave right after the burial. Even so people will watch over the grave the night after the burial
afraid that sorcerers may come to steal body parts for magical purposes. Heads are very much
sought after in order to obtain magical power and knowledge.
The BBC News/Africa of 27-7-2008 narrates that, in Tanzania, healers whom they call
witchdoctors, are behind the killing of several albinos, because they use their organs such as
hair, arms, legs and blood to make potions which they claim make people wealthy.
In Bokákata (Congo) it happened one night that a son of the deceased held watch over the
grave with his gun cocked to kill any sorcerer who would approach. Another son of the dead
person got that night the same idea. He too took his gun and went to the grave to keep watch.
When the first son vaguely saw someone approach the grave, he took him for a sorcerer,
pulled the trigger and killed his brother instantly.
4. On the outskirts of the village of Bokéka (Congo) an elderly couple lived in a very small
house like the house of Hansel and Gretel. The fact was that they lived apart from the village
community because the man was accused of being a sorcerer. Whenever someone died in the
village, a finger was pointed in his direction. It was always he who had cast a spell and killed
his ‘enemy’. He and his wife were therefore banished from the village.
One day it became apparent that the man was suffering from leprosy. Besides of having
wounds on his toes and fingers he also had a wound on top of his head. He made himself a
skullcap that made him look like a Jew. On account of his leprosy his wife abandoned him.
After some time, he found himself another wife who looked well after him while his illness
increased. Their compound in the forest had something fairylike: the atmosphere was so quiet.
Only the sound of birds, insects and a few ducks could be heard.
He, the leper, reminded me of Jesus himself: rejected notwithstanding himself. The leper in
question never spoke ill of anyone, he never complained. His main disadvantage, like the case
of so many so-called witches, was the fact that he did not have children to defend his honour.
He underwent his situation quite stoically and was grateful for the help he received from his
present wife. I regarded this woman as another Jesus figure who notwithstanding the scorn of
the whole community took care not only of a leper but also of a stigmatised ‘sorcerer’. From
time to time I went there to pray and to give them the Eucharistic bread.
One day the news reached me that the leper had died. The whole village heaved a big sigh of
relief, because the big sorcerer had died. The next time I celebrated the Eucharist in that
village, I reminded the community of the death of the man whom they had accused of
finishing off the whole village. I could see people nodding their heads confirming my words. I
asked them the following question: ‘Now that the man is dead, do you really think that people
will no longer die in this village?’ Years later, two elderly women with baskets on their backs
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stopped me on the road some eighty kilometres from that village. One of them asked me the
question: ‘Do you still remember me?’ I had to admit that I did not. She said: ‘I am the wife
of the leper of Bokéka. I want to thank you for the kind words you spoke in favour of my
husband, when you asked the congregation in church whether nobody in the village was going
to die since my husband, the so-called sorcerer, had passed away. Thank you ever so much’.
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Chapter VIII
Inculturation:
I prefer to start on the topic of inculturation by giving you a couple of examples taken from
my pastoral experience and draw some conclusions from them rather than giving you theories
which have no solid foundation.
1. It is 1999. The pastoral coordinator in the Diocese of Jinja (Uganda), Father George
McDermot, proposes to celebrate the coming of the new millennium all over the diocese. He
suggests making a larger-than-life cross that would be carried from parish to parish, from
church to chapel. All parishes have outstations each one with a chapel or a church. All those
places of prayer would be visited by the cross. The proposal was accepted.
One day a big wooden cross is blessed by bishop Willigers in the cathedral in Jinja. After an
all-night adoration hundreds of people carry the cross on their outstretched hands above their
heads. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, old and young take turns to carry the cross.Sometimes
a brass band precedes the procession. When people reach a church or chapel, they pose the
cross on a few blocks of wood or on a couple of chairs. In the evening and all during the
night, people are present, praying in silence, singing hymns or reciting the rosary. All the
while people move to the cross to touch it. Clothes, rosaries and even tools are put on the
cross in order to obtain blessings and good luck. Some people hang over the cross in prayer.
In the morning the wake is closed by a big celebration. Then the cross is carried aloft again on
many outstretched hands, along public roads, sometimes via footpaths that meander across
fields, forests and gardens.
In this way, the millennium cross, for weeks and months on end, is a call to prayer, a call for
believers to lift up their hands to heaven and ask God’s blessing over the new millennium.
After a year long tour of the diocese, the cross is taken back in procession to the cathedral in
Jinja. Thousands of people accompany it on its last stretch. Outside the cathedral the
millennium cross is erected behind a big iron grating.
Observation:
The millennium cross was a great spiritual experience for all who sought solace in it. But I
find it a great pity that the famous cross is placed out of reach! The cross which was being
touched a year long by thousands of people is now beyond their grasp. The leaders of the
church, haven’t they seen or learnt anything about the spontaneous and religious needs of the
ordinary people? The Christian faith was brought to most of Africa by European missionaries
who had in their tradition more than a whiff of Calvinism. Apart from the rosary, holy water
and a medal, we did not bring many devotions. Moreover after Vatican II many devotions or
symbolic gestures disappeared as if by magic. In my opinion, people’s religiosity needs to
find an outlet in devotions where the spiritual and the divine worlds are experienced: where
the spiritual world can be touched, smelled, felt and heard. In the millennium cross the nearly
physical presence of the divine was experienced, but after that year it had to be stored beyond
reach.
2. A similar experience is happening in Tororo Diocese in Uganda, not far from the border
with Kénya. In the parish of Osía, Indian missionaries erected a giant, 40-foot cross on a large
hill which had always been associated with certain ancestral spirits and where people would
come to collect medicinal and rare herbs for physical remedies. The hill, originally carrying
the name of Osukuru, has been christened the Hill of Salvation. The three kilometre path
leading to the top now contains beautiful statues, stone paintings honouring saints, angels and
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of course Mary, the mother of Jesus. Also the fourteen Stations of the Cross have been
specially decorated.
At the foot of the hill a large cave, where foxes and hyenas used to seek sanctuary, has been
transformed to resemble Jesus’ burial place.
Pilgrims from all over slowly make their way up, singing hymns, rosary beads dangling
around their necks. At the top they touch the cross, some in a special night-long session,
before undertaking the long descent. Rumours have it that minor ailments and bad habits can
be cured by touching the huge concrete cross which is lit up at night with huge yellow lights,
powered by solar panels.
‘I had been having sleepless nights from evil spirits in my house,’ says Margret Atyang, a
widow who made the pilgrimage. ‘But right from the time I began climbing the hill to pray
under the big cross, the evil spirits disappeared from the house. Now I spend the nights like
any other normal person. This means that Jesus is present on the hill.’ (BBC News 15 Dec.
2006).
3. One day I was in the village of Bεk-Toénga. The catechist asked me to accompany him to
a dying man and give him the sacrament of the sick. At that time we still called it the last
sacrament or extreme unction. Until now for most Africans that sacrament is really the last
one, since the priest takes away the soul of the dying person when he leaves the home. Sick
calls are therefore rather rare both in Congo and in Uganda. The reasoning is not that strange,
because people wait till the last moment to call a priest. In that case the sick person dies very
soon anyway. On that day in Bεk-Toénga we prayed together and I anointed the dying
person. When I left the house, a boy surreptitiously pulled at my pair of trousers. It struck me
that he did so, because the boy was not sure whether he had reached out well enough at my
trousers and did so a second time. In the evening I asked the catechist what the boy’s gesture
meant. He then explained that people usually do so when a priest comes to anoint the sick.
When the priest leaves the house, they pull at his trousers or cassock to retain the spirit of the
sick person he is carrying away. I said to the catechist and others present: ‘If you, people,
really think that I come here to collect the soul of the dying, then I don’t wish any longer to
come and anoint and comfort the dying. The sacrament of the sick, on the contrary, is meant
to heal and console the sick. But you seem to have another idea of that sacrament. Never
mind. Next time when you call me, I won’t come. You just pray by yourself. I do not want to
be the subject of any trousers pulling!’
Sometime later, I passed the village and they stopped me to anoint a sick person. I refused. I
asked the catechist to call his council together and discuss the trousers question. When I
arrived two months later in the village for the Eucharist, I brought up the question of the
sacrament of the sick. They explained to me that they had heard rumours about the priest
carrying off the souls of the sick. They had apparently been misinformed. They regretted very
much that the whole question had come to a head. There would be no more trousers pulling!
And indeed in that part of the parish people seemed to have understood the point.
Sometime later I was called to a very sick person in the Basnkusu hospital. The sick man had
come from the other side of the river. He was of the Ngombe tribe. When I entered the ward
where the dying person had been given a bed, a boy pulled at my pair of trousers, not just
once or twice, but three of four times. I became rather angry that this was happening again. I
informed them that they could pray by themselves but that I was no longer going to be
subjected to any pulling of my trousers. I left immediately.
In order to bring about a breakthrough or a change in mentality, I think a confrontation is
necessary. It makes people reflect on what is happening and on the value of any so-called
rumours. The whole story made me reflect also on how deep or how shallow our Western
spirituality has penetrated into the minds of our Christians.
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4. Much later when I was in charge of the Cultural Research Centre in Baríngá, it dawned on
me that our traditional way of anointing the sick is a typically Western way of administering
sacraments. From then on, when I was be called to anoint a sick person, I invited the whole
neighbourhood to come together. I prayed and pronounced a blessing in their traditional way
by expressing my desire for good health, by invoking the blessing of the Lord and of the
ancestors and by blowing some spittle on the sick person. I invited all the elderly people to
come to the fore and one by one to bless the sick man in their own words. People participated
wholeheartedly and with moving words they blessed and comforted the sick person. Only
after that, I anointed the person by invoking more blessings and demanding God for
forgiveness and compassion.
The typically Western way of an individual administration of the sacrament of the sick was
turned into a communal healing process. Nobody ever thought of pulling the priest’s pair of
trousers anymore. The sacrament had been inserted into their communal concern and desire
for healing and life. I realised that it was not their fault that our spirituality had not penetrated
deeply into their lives. It was rather the missionary’s mistake not to have taken into account
the people’s communal desire and effort to obtain life for everybody. Religion in Africa
should not be a one-man show, but it is a communal effort at survival. Only then it makes
sense.
5. The same holds good for the practice of confession, which is another typically Western
way of doing things: administration of forgiveness on a one-to-one basis. In the Bantu way,
forgiveness between two individuals has to be inserted into the community. When two
persons have a serious misunderstanding and their quarrel risks to deteriorate into a
permanent separation or physical violence, someone in the community will step forward to be
the mediator. He will convene the two parties with their friends and relatives and invite each
party to tell in detail how the present rift came about. Each one will speak freely without
interference by the other. They take turns in defending themselves. Then the mediator and
other elders will sit together to deliberate how to solve the crisis. Their aim will not be to
punish any of the two sides but to bring them together again. They may blame each side when
necessary without losing sight of the fact that village life and friendly relationships are the
priorities. The two parties have to accept the wise words pronounced; otherwise they reject
the moral authority of the elders and their right of being a part of the community. When both
parties have explicitly or silently accepted the verdict, they are both invited to wash their
hands in the same basin. This action expresses their willingness to forgive the other.
At a reconciliation ceremony, the leader invites the two parties to wash their hands in the same basin to
drown their differences.
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Each person may also take a brush with which women sweep their homes. The two persons
will face each other and sweep the soil in between them, symbolising that they take away any
misunderstanding between them. Someone has already prepared a meal which is then shared
by both sides. Eating together is a sign of friendship and reinforces existing friendships.
Enemies will never share food or eat from the same dish. After the meal everybody goes his
way starting a new life.
This is what Jesus wanted his followers to ask in their prayers: ‘Our father.., forgive us our
debts, just as we have forgiven our debtors (Matt. 6, 12). For many years we in the West did
that through individual confession. In Africa a more communal way of forgiving one another
appeals not only to the mind but to the whole human person. It is not an individualistic but a
communal approach which proves far more satisfactory and efficient. Is it not this that Jesus
had in mind when he called us to forgive one another seventy times seven?
Sweeping away all dirt as a sign of reconciliation.
This is an aspect of what is called inculturation. The gospel message is preached to all kinds
of people. Each people has its traditions. The gospel should not be put on top of a certain
culture but inserted into it and become a living part of it. Every culture should be regarded as
God-given, that’s where God’s spirit has spoken and continues to speak. It should be
respected as such. It is the holy ground where we take off our shoes. In my opinion, it is a
‘mortal’ sin to look down upon a people’s culture, their wisdom, customs, values, history,
literature, techniques, symbols and language. A missionary or pastor should never, never
contribute to the destruction of the local culture; that would be killing and chasing God’s
spirit. It is in people’s culture that the religious and spiritual dialogue starts and ends. The
pastorally-minded priest or pastor needs to have a great interest in the local traditions. How
can he ever insert Christ’s message into a culture which he doesn’t know or even wants to
know and to respect?
As we look upon the question of inculturation from the pastoral point of view, we may put the
following question: How can we convey Christ’s message that people are God’s beloved,
when we tell them that their language does not count, that their rituals and other customs are
horrendous, when we prefer to overlook, to ignore or to look down upon their myths and
traditional stories? Our first message should not be that we have to love God and what He
stands for (the commandments), but that God loves us as we are, that it is precisely in our
cultures that God’s traces are to be found, that’s where He is present in the best of our
families, societies and traditions.
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6. One day I went to the north of Ghana to a place called Tamale. The SVD fathers have
started a cultural centre there for the study of African values. It is called TICCS. In a village
in the neighbourhood they have constructed a few simple houses. Students at the Study Centre
are invited and advised to spend a number of months in that village and observe the ordinary
village life, to learn the local language and to get a taste of what it is like to live the African
way. In the weekend the students go back to the centre, enter into dialogue with other
students, and ask questions about the things they have observed during the week. The
excellent library is at their service so that they can read about a certain topic. African clergy
and foreign missionaries are invited to participate in the programme. But few congregations
have taken a real interest. I proposed to our regional superiors in East Africa that we, Mill
Hill, would take part in their programme as a necessary preparation for also our young
African members. I sent them my report together with the TICCS’ program. I did this before
one of our meetings in Kakaméga, Kénya. I sincerely hoped that the topic would be treated
with all the attention it deserved. But to my great surprise my proposal was not even
mentioned, let alone discussed. Was I really surprised? Not really. The Mill Hill authorities
have in the course of the years shown very little interest in the topic of culture and
inculturation. Their support for the cultural research work I have been doing in both Congo
and Uganda has been minimal. Officially in their publications they announced for a number
of years openly that dialogue was the great priority in our pastoral approach. But the
practicality of the dialogue was never discussed. What does dialogue mean? Where and how
is dialogue to take place? What are the prerequisites? Between whom is the dialogue
supposed to take place? Do we need a dialogue between us and the Traditional African
Religion?
Our congregation like other missionary congregations has accepted third world candidates.
What is their mission? Are they to be any different from the diocesan clergy? If not, why
recruit for a special congregation? If their mission is to be different, is celibacy the right
means or an obstacle to attain the objectives of their mission? Are they encouraged to study
and take an interest in local culture? Or are we encouraging globalisation in the sense of
globalising Western culture? I asked these questions before the last Chapter of our
congregation held in Nairobi, Kenya. I never received an answer. It is therefore business as
usual; we continue as in the past, with little respect for local traditions and its values even
when these run parallel to those of the gospel.
I felt and I still feel like a prophet shouting in the desert. Is anybody listening out there?
7. It will be the Africans who will Africanise the Christian faith or the church as the Romans
romanised it. But the Africanisation had a bad start since we, missionaries, went about
preaching the gospel without taking into account the African context: its symbols, its
sensitivities, its values, its history, its humanity. After breaking my leg in Congo at the end of
2002, I had, once back in Uganda, time to observe the Sunday service as it was conducted by
a fellow missionary. After participating in his celebrations for two months, I wrote him a note
which I called ‘Gratuitous Advice’ describing what I felt was out of place in our Sunday
liturgy. Here are some of the points:
a. When one wants to enter a traditional African shrine or the room where a diviner receives
his clients, one needs to take off one’s shoes. Being a foreigner, I was always reminded to do
so! In this demand I recognised Yahweh’s voice speaking to Moses from the burning bush:
‘Do not come nearer, take off your shoes, because the soil on which you stand is holy!’
(Exodus 3, 5)This is the custom both in Congo as well as in East-Africa. The Muslims, as we
all know, practise the same custom in their mosques. When we, missionaries, arrived in
Africa, we did not take notice of this local custom and walked without any trepidation, shod
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in our shoes or boots, into what we call the Eucharistic presence. Our Christians must have
felt that our church buildings were after all not as holy as we proclaimed they were. Is it now
really too late to take off our shoes when we enter a church?
b. In the parish church in Jinja town, the priest in charge usually plays Western, semi-classical
music on his CD player before the Sunday service. Two or at most three parishioners are of
European descent. All the other parishioners are Africans. Would it not be more appropriate
to play a CD with African church music? Music tapes of that kind are for sale in the little
shop under the same roof! How would we feel when a Chinese missionary would exclusively
play Chinese music in our church?
c. In that same church there is a nice set of drums: a big round one covered with the cow hide,
representing the wife, a tall thin one covered with a skin of a monitor lizard; it looks like a
phallic symbol representing the husband, and a small drum covered by a cow hide
representing a child. The drums are very well made. They are artefacts, pleasing to the eye.
But during the week the drums are lying in a corner of the church as if they are not worth
looking at. In fact, they are the only objects in that church reminding us that we are in Africa.
During the week lots of people drop in for Mass and for prayer, since the church finds itself
near the main market. I propose to the priest to allocate them a place of honour during the
week, next to the altar, for everybody to see and to admire!
d. When the officiating priest leaves the sacristy to start the Eucharist, he walks to the front of
the altar and bows to it with his back to the public. This gesture of showing your bottom to
people is the worst one can do. It shows them your total disgust. People use this gesture when
they curse someone. However, in our Catholic churches we continue to do so as if we are
totally oblivious of the fact that we are showing our utter disgust! And that at the start and at
the end of the liturgy!
e. Kissing in church. When doing parish work in Basnkusu, I invite the oldest Congolese
priest in the diocese to preside at the liturgy of Good Friday at the biggest outstation. He
readily accepts. When it comes to the adoration of the Cross, he does it in the usual Catholic
way by putting up the cross against a chair and then, whilst kneeling before it, he kisses the
Jesus figure on the cross. There are many uninhibited schoolchildren present. The moment the
priest kisses the cross, a big wave of laughter rolls through the church whilst the children are
slapping their thighs out of sheer joy. What should have been the most moving moment of the
liturgy becomes a farce and a hilarious distraction. Later on it becomes clear to me: for the
people a kiss is an erotic gesture. One never kisses in public. It belongs strictly to the
bedroom between husband and wife. To do so in public and that in a church, is an insult to the
norms of local decency. Later in Uganda I see the same reaction: the king of Buganda had
been away to London for a couple of months. When he returns to Uganda, his wife receives
him at the airport. As she kisses him photographers take pictures. Next day there are big
articles in the local newspapers condemning the act of the queen. ‘It is just not done and we
should not allow perverse western habits to spoil our local culture!’
But we in the Catholic Church, missionaries and local clergy alike, we kiss the cross on Good
Friday; we, priests, kiss the altar at the start and at the end of the Eucharist and we kiss the
gospel book! Are we blind and deaf to local sensitivities in the name of Roman rules and
prescriptions? Do we care not to insult people even in the sanctuary of our churches?
f. At local gatherings, Africans have the nice habit of introducing themselves or others who
have a function before the assembled public. The leaders at the function are not just
functionaries; they are men and women of flesh and blood. Each of them has a name and
deserves to be named. The names are called out aloud. Each one counts, even the small mass
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server. It is as if they want to say that each person is of high esteem and should be honoured
and respected.
One of our Irish Fathers in Uganda got the feel of that important point. One day he parked his
car at the Entebbe airport in the section restricted to V.I.P’s. He had hardly come out of his
car, when a policeman came to him and said: ‘Sir, you parked your car in the V.I.P. section.
You are not allowed to do so. Please, park your car at the other side.’ The tall Irishman faced
the policeman and said: ‘You are quite right to say that I parked my car in the V.I.P. section. I
am allowed to do so, because I am a V.I.P. And you too are a V.I.P. We are all V.I.P.’s!’ He
had to move his car all the same, but he got a very important point in the Bantu spirituality.
We are all very important persons. Didn’t Jesus come to tell us just that? Why not follow the
nice Bantu custom of introducing the leaders of that day’s liturgy before starting the
celebration? And don’t forget to name the small mass server!
g. In Africa each people has its way of blessing their children or grandchildren. The language
used is very special. It contains flowery language with lots of onomatopoeias and alliterations.
It is a pleasure to listen to. Also the gesture of blowing some saliva on the head and hair of the
person being blessed is impressive. Some people use a calabash filled with water or beer in
order to blow the content on that person or on all who are present.
In our Sunday liturgies we completely ignore that treasure. We ignore the local and usual
formula to bless people; we do it in the non-telling Roman way: ‘I bless you in the name of
the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.’ Moreover, we ignore the gesture of
blowing a blessing onto people using saliva, water or beer!
The Mng in Congo finish their blessing, by pronouncing the words: ‘bokako swaa.’ The
word ‘swaa’ invites people to really bless. During the prayers of the faithful, I used to invite
people to use that small phrase when the reader invited people to pray for a particular
category of people, for example for the disabled that they may pick up courage. The whole
church would answer with lots of gusto this ‘bokako’ with a thunderous ‘swaa’. This is what I
consider participatory prayer. People feel that they are not just standing passively on the
sideline, but that they participate actively with their whole being in the prayer being presented
to our mighty and merciful Father.
h. In Western-like liturgies the faithful are used to sit in uncomfortable pews. Now and again
they are invited to stand up. For the rest, people are pretty immobile. In the Bantu setting,
people are not used to be mere spectators. The Vatican II documents encourage the faithful to
be participants. A participatory gathering of the faithful is quite in line with African tradition.
The ever present drum invites people to rhythmic dances. The charismatic and pentecostal
churches find it easy to introduce dancing movements for those leading the liturgy as well as
for all those in the congregation. In the Congolese rite, dance and dancing movements
enhance the atmosphere and make for a very lively gathering. The liturgy tends to become
one big happening. The dance encourages people to feel at ease and to sense that the church is
not a foreign element in their society. The Eucharist is in this case no longer a sober monastic
ritual of past ages but a lively happening honouring Jesus and our heavenly father. Rightly so,
because ordinary Africans aren’t monks, they are not Europeans either. They do not live in
the past but in the here and now.
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Dancing belongs to the Bantu lifestyle.
i. During the collection the faithful used to be stationary in the sense that someone came
round with a basket to collect the gifts. In the Congolese rite, people are invited to bring their
offerings individually to the front dancing and singing a rhythmic offertory song. Some
people bring money; others present themselves with fruits, chickens and even animals. They
move forward on the rhythm of the hymn. It takes time, but it is time well spent since it is
participatory liturgy which people enjoy as well. Or are we not allowed to enjoy our prayer
service? We deny most people the occasion to receive communion, but at least they can
participate in the offertory procession.
j. After the singing of the ‘Our Father’, everybody in church is invited to wish others present
the peace of Christ. This is another occasion which Africans readily grasp to move around in
church to greet neighbours and friends with a hearty handshake or a warm embrace. In the
Afro-American churches in southern Chicago, people move around the whole church greeting
and embracing everybody. Sometimes this ‘kiss of peace’ takes ten or fifteen minutes. People
do not mind at all. They regard this time as an essential part of the Eucharist. Should we not
regard this time as belonging to the original meaning of the agape of the early church? Is this
not the time of reconciliation, of reminding ourselves and others that God loves us and that
He wants us to live in peace?
k. I just mentioned that most people frequenting the Eucharist do not receive communion,
because they are not allowed to do so. Adults who have relationships but have not yet
contracted a church marriage, people in a polygamous relationship, parents who do not send
their children to follow catechetics for baptism or first communion, adults of other churches
and people who do not pay their church dues, children who have not followed so many
instructions, all these are not allowed to approach Holy Communion. Most of the time, 90
percent of the church-goers is not allowed to come forward. Useless to say that people feel
discriminated against.
It is not very African to be invited to a feast and when the time comes for food, to receive a
slap on the wrist with the message that one is not good enough to approach. We, the church
leaders, render a very bad service to the church and to those still willing to come to church by
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maintaining Jansenist-like rules. In one word, I find this practice a shame! We fail to
understand the seriousness of the traditional marriage and the often well founded and
meaningful practice of polygamy. When will we take the Bantu culture seriously? By the
way, did Christ come for saints or for sinners? Didn’t he say that he, like a medical doctor,
did not come for the healthy but for the sick?
P.S. This same pervasive puritanical spirituality sips through in the actual directive in Dutch
dioceses that burials and the sacrament of confirmation of children be given without a
Eucharistic celebration out of fear that parents and relatives of the children would approach to
receive communion whilst they are not regular churchgoers and therefore live in sin and not
worthy to receive the Bread of Life! Did Jesus not dine with Pharisees and tax-collectors?
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Chapter IX
Globalisation
1. Permit me to reflect a bit on the phenomenon of globalisation. On the one hand,
globalisation makes me think of Hitler who idealised the Arian culture and its people. Those
who did not conform to his ‘ideals’ were condemned to disappear. They had to be destroyed.
A whole organisation of death camps was set up at the cost of other pressing issues like the
war in Russia. In our present day, cultural globalisation can be another form of persecution of
those who do not fit into our picture. These are bound to fall by the roadside like the peoples
of Africa, Asia and South-America who until now have survived and flourished thanks to
their technical, social and family structures formed in the course of centuries.
2. On the other hand, globalisation is taking place naturally through the growth of megacities and the internationalisation of the media. Tribal cultures are being shaped into a more
regional or national culture retaining their common elements. Local languages are threatened
and will disappear, though they are treasures of humanity. Language departments of certain
universities like the one at Leiden (Holland) encourage students to study endangered
languages, since those languages are the results of the human genius and may disappear in a
not too distant future. Those languages have a right to figure on the world heritage list. Their
total disappearance would be a calamity for mankind.
Globalisation has strong and positive elements: the spread of scientific achievements, of
openness in research and communication, the spread of new thinking, the participatory way of
government, the acknowledgment of genuine human values and rights, the availability of
music, poetry, theatre and information, the stress on the importance of feelings and emotions.
3. But globalisation should not become a destructive force bulldozing complete cultures out
of existence. Within the Catholic Church, globalisation has been at work and has been
maintained on purpose for twenty centuries by forcibly preserving and imposing the same
structure, language, discipline, symbols and liturgy on different peoples and on different
continents. It took 2000 years to realise that not all people are speaking Latin and that God
understands other languages as well. People all over the world object to the old clerical
structures which they call ‘the institution’, because the church does not evolve with the same
speed as society evolves or does not evolve at all. Many of them call it quits. They do no
longer feel at home within its organisation. People have to fit into the church instead of the
church fitting into society. At the time of Vatican II, we used to call this short-lived effort
‘aggiornamento’ i.e. updating. This exercise at openness to the world was stopped after the
death of the charismatic Pope John XXIII. Then the leaders became afraid of losing control
over their flocks. Isn’t this a lack of trust in God’s spirit moving us on as time unfolds?
In African societies, people live their lives according to age-old traditions. It is an insult to
their genius, to human heritage and to their humanity to force Africans to give up their
cultures and become British with the British and to celebrate liturgy as the Romans do. Was
Jesus not a Jew with the Jews and Saint Paul a Roman with the Romans? It is not the people
who should adapt but the church should take people’s culture into account!
Pope Paul VI said in his encyclical ‘On Evangelisation in the Modern World’ (1985):
“Evangelisation loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration
the actual people to whom it is addressed, if it does not use their language, their signs and
symbols, if it does not answer the questions they ask and if it does not have an impact on their
concrete life”. Pope Paul’s concern was not dialogue, but the effective transmission of
Christ’s message. His was the legitimate and necessary concern of any messenger.
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Let me give another example: Singing Christmas carols is a great tradition in English
speaking countries, like the U.S.A. and England itself. During the last two weeks before
Christmas, one will find small choirs in shopping malls, at street corners and other public
places. People sing beautiful harmonised carols without accompaniment. When I was in Jinja,
Uganda, the head of the Mill Hill Formation House was an Irishman. As the students would
halt their courses around December 15th, the rector organised the singing of Christmas carols
a few days before the students’ departure. As the students hailed from Cameroon, Congo,
Uganda and Kenya, I was curious as to what kind of carols they would sing. I still
remembered the passionate singing of Congolese carols in Basnkusu, in the local language
and in local tunes. At the time I used to be afraid that the roof of the church would come
down when a few thousand voices aired with so much enthusiasm their ‘Iyaya ya Maria’
(Mary’s baby).
So I went, armed with my video camera, to record the singing at the Formation House. Only a
few priests and sisters were in attendance. The choir started with the carol ‘Rejoice, rejoice
Emmanuel’. The students sang the song without any trace of joy on their faces, let alone their
usual broad smiles. They worked their way through the programme in the same fashion: no
rejoicing, no exuberance, let alone passion. I felt let down that they did not sing even a single
African carol. The students’ faces showed the same feeling. Evidently the programme did not
appeal to them. It must have been imposed on them. They were forced into the globalisation
movement: banning local culture and imposing an element from outside that felt very foreign
indeed.
4. The school system in African countries is based on what was taught in the colonial times.
In fact the globalisation started with the introduction of the European school system. Children
are trained for work which hardly exists. After having finished primary or secondary school,
the kids do not longer wish to dirty their hands. The heavy work with a hoe or axe is looked
down upon. That’s not what they have been studying for! They become disgruntled, because
they don’t see any future in the village. Therefore they flock to the big mushrooming cities
where they hope to find a white collar job.
The millions of hectares of forest in Congo are used only a bit and then only to make fields or
charcoal. Foreign companies encouraged by political leaders come in and cut down huge parts
of primeval forest. Erosion, lack of game and misery are on the increase. Poverty, sickness
and hunger take apocalyptic proportions. The political leaders in Africa or South-America do
not seem to lose any sleep on account of these ‘underdevelopments’. The leaders use the
revenue of the natural resources nearly exclusively for their own wellbeing. ‘Après nous le
déluge’ seems to be their adage: ‘After us the deluge.’ The one who dies later of starvation
does not care any more either.
Not a single Western country, parliament or journalist lies awake at night because Mount
Elgon is stripped of its trees. They don’t lose sleep either over all the heaps of charcoal up for
sale along the roads of Uganda, while there are hardly any more trees in sight. Journalists do
go out of their way to take pictures of emaciated children. But where are they when forests are
being cut down? Where are they when daily transports of huge trucks ferry tree trunks across
the Suam River from Uganda into Kenya, because leaders in both countries have struck a
deal?
Some youngsters, who have finished their studies, make their way to the West. Medical
doctors go to the oil states in the Middle East where they earn a good salary compared to the
trifle they earn at home. Some do stay at home, work in a government hospital but then also
open their private clinics where they sell the medicine taken from the public hospital. A
Ugandan medical student in Nijmegen made more money by doing an early newspaper round
than he would later by working as a doctor in Uganda. When skilled people look for jobs
87
beyond their horizon, we call this brain drain. But can we blame the adventurous few who
leave their homes for greener pastures?
5. Africa is very different from Europe. A few times I was asked by Memisa to give an
introduction to medical people who would go to work in Africa. As a start I asked the group
whether each person could introduce him- or herself. And so they did: ‘I am doctor so and so,
I am nurse so and so, I am doctor so and so.’ It all sounded very impressive. Then I explained
to them what happens when two Africans meet unexpectedly in the forest and only hear each
other. The one will ask the other from a distance: ‘Who are you?’ The other person will
answer: ‘I am a ‘muntu’: ‘I am a human being.’ No big titles, not even a name, but just the
most important thing to say: ‘I am a human being.’ It is very sad to know that in the colonial
era, Belgian authorities would scold the Congolese citizens by shouting the word ‘nyama’
(beast) at them, or ‘macaque’ which means monkey! It must have hurt them deeply in their
heart since being a human being is so much their pride. If they want to praise someone for his
or her fine character, they will say: ‘He or she is a real ‘muntu’, a real human being.’
6. The big cities in Africa are melting pots of mixed populations: diplomats, members of
international NGOs, local business men as well as those from India, Pakistan and China,
government officials with lavish lifestyles and then the great mass of the African employed
and unemployed from a great variety of peoples. Churches, mosques and temples stand side
by side, each trying to impress their neighbourhoods day and night with vociferous bells,
hymns and mega-loudspeakers. Though there is a lot of noise, there is little or hardly any
intercultural or inter-religious contact between the different groups. The move from a
multicultural to an intercultural society is not easy to make. It asks for courage, openness and
concern. The leaders in the parishes are too busy with their own flocks. Don’t expect much
dialogue from the diocesan pastoral agents. They have great and grave difficulties of entering
into dialogue with their own flock, let alone with other categories of people.
Would it not be normal for the missionary to form the link, to lay a bridge between cultures,
between churches and between religions? The charisma of a missionary and of any pastoral
agent is to be able to contact people from different backgrounds; he needs to appreciate the
value of not excluding anybody; he needs to be inviting, ever ready to listen to the birth pangs
of a new society being shaped; he needs to invite the poor and listen to their stories and to
those of the illegal citizens who have come from across the border, or of those with hardly
any human dignity as they are being hunted down by the army or the police force.
In other words, the task of the missionary would be to give people a taste of God’s Kingdom
where each person counts, where each person is appreciated and known. The missionary
should be the point of reference in a society where people live and work together beyond the
boundaries laid down by cultures, including religions and tribes. Ordinary people do slowly
connect through their work and leisure. People in the margin desire to be part of a bigger
group. Instead of stressing the points of difference between peoples, the missionary should go
out of his way to stress what unites people.
7. Symbols are very important clues to convey messages, not just to the intellect but to the
very heart and soul of a person. A spoken word may not touch a person, but a symbol may stir
a person’s gut feeling and change a person’s attitude.
In the above, I have mentioned a number of symbols and customs among the Bantu. I mention
a few more:

When as an adult you meet a child, do not put your hand on its head, because in case it
falls ill later, your gesture may be interpreted as you having bewitched the poor child.
Parents give their children the advice not to allow adults to touch them in that way.
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
When you are ill and bedridden, lie down on your side, because, if you lie on your
back, those visiting you may think that you have passed away. Only the dead lie on
their back. In the old Lmng Creed, it is said that, at the end of the world, God will
come to judge the ‘sitters and the dead’, instead of the ‘living and the dead.’ Sitting is
a sign of life. Lying on your back means death.

Do not walk with your hands on your back, because that’s the attitude when you walk
to the cemetery to bury someone. It’s a sign of grief.

If you do not want to forget something, hold your elbow (or knee) and you won’t
forget it. People did not have hankies to put a knot in them.

As a husband you have the obligation to watch well over your wife. That’s why your
wife will always sleep next to the wall so that you, the husband, are ever ready to face
any intruder. This is the story:
Once upon a time, there was a woman who was fed up lying next to the wall. She
liked to sleep on the open side of the bed, nicely warm next to the fire. One day she
went to see God and to complain about her plight. She said: ‘It is pure
discrimination that only the husband is allowed to sleep next to the fire and we,
women, have always to sleep on the cold side of the bed.’
The Lord listened to her complaint and said: ‘My dear lady, you are quite right. This
evening you look for a good excuse and you go to bed early. You take the place next to
the fire. When your husband comes to sleep, do as if you are fast asleep and stay
where you are.’ And so she did. When her husband approached, she snored softly.
In the middle of the night, the woman woke up with a shock. Intuitively she felt
something was amiss. She opened wide her eyes and in the glow of the dying fire
she saw a huge snake passing by. She screamed and threw herself over her
husband, right next to the wall. Her husband woke up with a start, saw the
problem, got hold of his machete and killed the snake.
The next morning the woman met God again. God asked her: My dear lady, how
was the night? She had to admit that she did not sleep well on account of the snake
and that luckily she had managed to throw herself against the wall. Then God asked
her the following question: ‘Why do you think the ancestors ruled that a wife should
sleep on the side of the wall?

If your dog wants to lie next to the fire, do not chase it. The reason is that the dog is
the owner of the fire.
Once upon a time, a man and his dog walked around. Both were suffering from the
cold, because man had not discovered fire yet. When they walked, the man saw that
the dog would from time to time lie down at the foot of a bofumbo tree. At first the man
wondered why the dog would do so, but then he thought there may be a warm element
in the wood of the bofumbo tree. One day, he took some dry wood from that tree and
rubbed two pieces against each other. And sure enough, when he had been rubbing for
some time, he saw some smoke, blew into it and a spark flew out of the smoke and fire
took hold of the wood. Man now knew how to make fire. But it was the dog that had
shown him the way. So, the real owner of the fire is the dog. And the dog knows it.
When it is warming itself at the fire, do not chase it, because, if you chase it, it can
become nasty and even bite you. It knows that the fire is his!
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
If a man and a woman meet on a small path, the man has to step aside. Otherwise he
gives the impression that he wants to rape her.

If a husband and his wife walk together, the husband will walk in front ready to
protect her! But if they walk together in the forest, the wife has to walk in front as the
husband is afraid to lose her for one reason or other.

The owner of the house will greet the visitor first. He should not wait for his visitor to
greet him first. The Mng reserve a special reverence due to the aged. A junior
greets his male senior with a special greeting: the losáko. The senior person answers
by giving his special adage or proverb which he may keep repeating for months and
years on end.

If you have a chat with someone, you need to look straight at him; otherwise you give
the impression that the conversation does not interest you at all. On the other hand, if
an adult talks to a child, the child will look aside to show his submission.

Blood stands for life. If a quarrel deteriorates into a fight and blood flows, the tussle
qualifies for a court case since a bloody scuffle is an attempt on a person’s life.

The stranger or the visitor has the right to the only chair in the house. If you are seated
but then someone older than you enters the house, you are supposed to stand up and
cede the chair to him. This rule does not hold good for women. They usually retire
after the initial greetings to the kitchen.

If you talk about someone who may prove to be in the neighbourhood, you do not
mention his name, but you indicate the person by pointing your lips and chin in his
direction.

A friendly encounter starts by asking and giving information about the family, one’s
children, wives, chickens, goats, and cows and so on. Every question is accompanied
by a new handshake whilst the left hand supports the right hand.

A casual encounter on the road makes the traveller raise both his hands showing his
palms. This gesture shows that the person encountered has no harmful intentions.

In East-Africa, male friends greet each other by rubbing the sides of their heads
against those of their friends.

In East-Africa, the lady of the house will kneel down before the meal with a bowl of
water, soap and a towel and present them to the guest to give the visitor a chance to
clean his/her hands. In Congo, they will present water to the visitor after the meal.
Traditionally people eat with their right hand, without implements. In Congo, when
eating cassava leaves, people make a sort of scoop out of a lolongóté leaf.

Before entering a house, make your presence known by announcing yourself with a
repeated k, k, k, kk (in Congo) or a hódi or kódi in East-Africa. In this way you
respect the territorial integrity of the ownership.

As the small sweeping brush is used in a cleansing and reconciliation ritual, it is
strongly forbidden to use it to strike a child. It would be using a spiritual instrument
for a punitive purpose.
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
Saliva blown over a person is used to bless him/her. This blessing is often given early
in the morning, just after rising from one’s sleep. This blessing is given by parents
over their children.

Saliva is spat on a cloth or on grass left at a shrine in order to reinforce one’s prayer.
Saliva is also spat on grass before putting it on the carcass of a dog.

Special signs of mourning:
- People walk barefooted.
- Near relatives of the deceased roll on the ground when receiving the bad
news and/or wail loudly.
- Men roll up their trousers.
- Men take off their shirts and wear a singlet instead.
- Men wear shorts instead of a pair of trousers.
- Women take off their tops and walk with their hands intertwined above their heads.
- A mother whose child has died will hold both her breasts.
- Women when sitting support with one hand their jaw.
- Women sit with their legs stretched straight in front of them just like the corpse lies
with the legs stretched out.
- Women wear bands of banana fibre round their head and their waist.
- People make a great bonfire in the compound. This bonfire burns until after the last
funeral rites have been performed. Relatives, friends and acquaintances gather in the
deceased’s compound for a nightly wake before the burial next day. They gather
there to comfort the bereaved. People sit, chat, drink, pray, sing and dance.
- On the way to the cemetery people walk with their hands behind their back with the
heads inclined to the front.
The niece puts a band of banana fibre round the head and the waist of the widow.
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Chapter X
Resurrection spirituality:
When I left for Africa for the first time in 1963, I could not imagine that, after fifty years,
Africa would become one of the centres of Christianity. At the time, Christians belonged to
traditional churches like the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and a number of
Protestant Churches. The Christians were very traditional, faithful followers of missionaries
modelled and formed by lessons in morality and dogmas.
As you might have noticed (!), the Bantu have a spirituality of their own. One aspect of that
spirituality is their conviction that, after suffering, there is always new life; after death, there
is a resurrection. Never say die, never lose hope, because there will be a saviour.
On pages 63-66 we presented the wáítítí story as a resurrection story. The song brought the
bird; the stone brought death but the burial brought life again. Where there was only
stagnation and death, life and activities developed: the contented ancestors brought life as
there was never before. If you respect the ancestors and their prescriptions, you will encounter
joy after misery. After death we’ll experience a resurrection. So, do not despair!
This spirituality may take the Western hand and lead also our churches into a redemptive
future. To illustrate this point I present here a few more resurrection stories mainly from the
Básogá in Uganda:
1. Bamúzíngííza (Uganda)
Once upon a time, there was a great famine on earth. People were suffering terribly from a
lack of food and from a lack of water. This famine struck not only people but also the animals
and the birds. The place which was most affected by the famine was Búdolíndo village.
People could no longer stay there. So they decided to move and settle in another village
called Buwólógómá. That village was near a forest called Mútaigutá.
Mútaigutú was a very big forest indeed. It would take eight days to cross it. It would take a
whole month to walk its length, that is to say walking day and night. In that forest, people
found food: wild yams, coco yams, guavas, passion fruits, snake gourds, brightly coloured
fleshy fruits, apples and also small animals which they would hunt so as to have a good meal.
As they say: ‘nothing is perfect in this life’; even though this forest Mútaigutá saved people
from the famine, it had something scary about it, because in it resided a spirit called
Máyúúga. That spirit was aggressive and it could threaten anybody. It was awe inspiring,
because its teeth were one and a half foot long; it had four eyes, four arms and four legs. The
most amazing thing about Máyúúga was that it possessed wings and that it could fly.
This Máyúúga spirit had people on its diet. Everyday it would eat at least twenty people. And
so it ate people from Búdolíndo to near extinction. But you know: ‘God is always quietly at
work for our good’. Even though the spirit finished all people, there remained one girl called
Babigúmírá. She happened to be pregnant! When this girl noticed that the spirit had finished
eating all people, she climbed a tree on a mountain called Kyábáléma. This mountain was
indeed very high and also volcanic. The Máyúúga spirit feared the fire of the volcano so much
that it did not dare to go near the mountain. With time Babigúmírá gave birth to a baby boy
and named him after his grandfather Bamúzíngííza.
As the boy grew up, he moved around with his mother looking for food. One day
Bamúzíngííza asked his mother: ‘Mum, I see many houses in the bush, but I never see any
92
people. Where are the owners?’ His mother Babigúmírá narrated to him how the Máyúúga
spirit ate all the people of the village and how she had survived hiding on the mountain. That
day Bamúzíngííza swore in front of his mother that he would hunt and kill the spirit.
The big boy went into Mútaigutá forest and killed an antelope. He took it home and told his
mother: ‘Mum, today I killed the Máyúúga spirit. Let us celebrate together!’ His mother came
out of the house, saw the animal and said: ‘My dear son, this is an antelope, not the spirit.’
Some time later Bamúzíngííza left again for the great forest. This time he killed a buffalo. He
took its head to his mother and said: ‘Mum, today I killed the spirit.’ He mother came again
out of the house and said: ‘My dear, this is not the spirit, this is the head of a buffalo.’
Bamúzíngííza reflected for some days and in the end he decided to climb Mount Kyábáléma.
When he arrived at the top, he called upon his grandfather’s spirit, his namesake, to give him
good advice. When his grandfather’s spirit came, he said: ‘Grandpa, I am your grandson. I
have invited you to give me good advice and to accompany me when I go hunting the spirit
that devoured all the people of our village.’ His grandfather’s spirit answered and said:
‘Grandson, be strong and brave like me, your grandfather. In order to kill this Máyúúga
spirit, fast for three days and do not speak to your mother. Anoint your body with ghee; then
take a spear and a machete and enter the forest. You will kill that monster.’
Bamúzíngííza obeyed and he acted as directed by his grandfather’s spirit. When he arrived in
the middle of the forest, he boldly challenged the spirit calling out his name: ‘Máyúúga –a-aa-a’. The spirit replied equally loud by saying: ‘Wuu, wuu, wuu.’ The whole forest shook. All
Bamúzíngííza saw was something huge appearing. Quickly he climbed into a tree. He speared
the appearance in the chest. He climbed down and speared it again in the head. The monster
fell down and died. Bamúzíngííza took his machete and opened its stomach: all the Búdolíndo
people came out amid great rejoicing.
They started singing and dancing praising Bamúzíngííza for saving them from dying inside
the monster’s stomach. They made him the chief of their village!
Conclusions:
- An impossible situation is turned around. After death there is new life.
- The advice from an ancestor saves the lives of the clan’s folks.
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- Therefore always follow the advice given by the ancestors and you will live.
- Some people use their God-given talents to help their friends.
- Another name for Bamúzíngííza is Jesus who through his bravery showed people how to
turn away from the clutches of sin and death.
- The mother saved her child and the son saved mankind. Babigúmírá and Bamúzíngííza stand
for Mary and her child Jesus. This story is an Easter story showing life after death.
2. The girl Múdo. (Uganda)
Once upon a time a married couple had a girl called Múdo. As Múdo grew up and became
quite a girl, her parents noticed that she did not grow any breasts. They wondered, because
Múdo had passed the age when girls become adults. So one day the parents decided to see a
medicine-man. The healer gave them some herbs and told them: ‘Go and build the girl a
house in the hills. She is to stay there. The mother should take food to her until she has grown
breasts. Only then she can come back to the village.’
The father built a small house there in the hills as the healer had instructed them. The parents
took their daughter and put her in the house. They told her sternly: ‘If you don’t hear your
mother singing, don’t open the door.’
The next day her mother took some food to her daughter Múdo and she sang this song:
‘Múdo, you who do not grow breasts, Múdo,
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
‘Múdo, you who do not grow breasts, Múdo,
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here is a little food, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here are some nuts, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here is some simsim, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here is some water, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Her mother sang like that whenever she brought her food. One day, mister Chimpanzee was
walking in the bush. When he saw the house, he asked himself: ‘Who built this house in the
bush? Who doesn’t know that this land is mine and that I am the chief here?’ Then he said to
himself: ‘Let me hide myself and see who comes out of this house.’
It did not take long before Múdo’s mother showed up to bring her daughter some food. She
sang her song as usual. Mister Chimpanzee listened carefully as Múdo’s mother sang her
song. Then he saw Múdo appearing in the doorway, taking the food from her mother and
closing the door again. When the mother had left, mister Chimpanzee tried to sing, but he
failed miserably on account of his deep voice. Múdo of course did not open her door.
Mister Chimpanzee went to see a diviner to get his advice. The healer gave him medicine and
told him: ‘Here you have your medicine, but when on the road you see termites, do not stop to
eat them; don’t touch them until you reach Múdo’s house.’ Mr. Chimpanzee agreed. He
headed for Múdo’s house and on the way he found termites. He became confused. But he
overcame himself; he walked on until he reached the hill where the girl was living. When Mr
Chimpanzee had arrived at Múdo’s house, he sang her mother’s song:
‘Múdo, you who do not grow breasts, Múdo,
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
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‘Múdo, you who do not grow breasts, Múdo,
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here is a little food, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here are some nuts, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here is some simsim, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Here is some water, Múdo.
When you grow breasts, you can come back.
Múdo on hearing the song, unlocked the door, opened it, not knowing that Mr Chimpanzee
was tricking her. As soon as she had opened the door, Mr Chimpanzee got hold of her and
ate her. Since the bones of her head were too tough, he put her head on top of the water pot
inside the house.
When the next day Múdo’s mother showed up, she found the door open and Múdo’s head left
on top of the pot. She got a terrible shock and fainted. When she came by, she raised the
alarm. Her husband came running. Many people gathered to see the tragedy which had
befallen the village.
Múdo’s father decided to go back to the diviner in order to know who murdered his daughter.
The healer told him: ‘Take the medicine I give you and anoint your body with it before you go
into the hills. There you will meet many chimpanzees. The animal which does not manage to
give you an answer, that’s the one who ate your daughter. Kill the animal and cut off its little
finger. Then your daughter will come out alive.’
When Múdo’s father arrived home, he sharpened his machete, anointed himself with the
medicine which the diviner had given him and proceeded to the hills. When he had walked
some distance, he saw a group of chimpanzees walking in one row, going out in search of
food. He asked each chimpanzee: ‘Do you know who killed my daughter?’ Each answered in
the negative. When the last chimpanzee approached, the father asked it the same question:
‘Do you know who killed my daughter?’ The animal did not give an answer. Múdo’s father
grasped his machete and gave the animal a blow on its head. As the animal fell, it said: ‘One
does not die on account of one blow. Cut off my little finger so that I die properly.’ Múdo’s
father cut off one of his little fingers. Múdo came out and with her many others whom the
chimpanzee had eaten. They all went home where they ate, sang and danced.
Conclusions of the story:
- The parents take good care of their daughter’s future.
- The parents are worried but they want their daughter to be a real woman and to bear
children.
- It is through a process of reclusion in silence and self-reflection (retreat or a sabbatical) that
a person can grow, heal and re-integrate into society.
- The forces of evil take advantage of our naïveté; it is only through bravery that we can
regain control over our lives.
3. Mama rundú: (Sudan)
In these days there is a great and awful famine in the country. There is hardly anything left to
eat, neither for men nor for animals. The situation is desperate especially for mothers looking
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after little children. How to feed them? How to keep them quiet? How to prevent unending
quarrels and illnesses? How to keep death away from one’s doorstep?
Mama rundú has five small children, two of them twins. She prays to God, she beseeches the
ancestors to keep her children alive. Her husband has fled from the house some months ago.
What to do? She fetches some water, pours it into the big cooking pot, takes some stones and
lowers them into the pot. She lights the fire underneath the pot and asks her twins to keep the
fire alive, saying: ‘I have put food into the pot. I am going to look for vegetables in the fields.
If you keep the fire going, the food will be ready when I come back.’ She is a wise woman. She
knows that as long as the cooking-pot is on the fire, the children forget the gnawing feeling in
their empty stomachs. She then takes her machete and her basket. She heads for the bush.
Mama rundú scours the bush knowing well that she won’t find any vegetables anymore. She
walks aimlessly around and around. All of a sudden, she hears a peculiar sound; it is as if
someone breaks a bone or a branch. She hides behind a tree. Lo and behold, she gazes with
open mouth at a lion devouring a big antelope. Tears spring into her eyes, because, in front of
her, there is plenty of food. But how can she obtain it? ‘Misery makes one inventive’ is the
saying. She gets an idea. She slowly stoops down, picks up a stone and throws it over the lion
into the bushes. The lion startles at the sound of the thud of the stone and then it becomes
curious. It leaves the animal and disappears into the bush looking for the cause of the thud.
Mama rundú jumps from behind her tree, dashes off to the dead antelope and with both
hands scoops plenty of sand and throws it all over the meat knowing that lions do not eat
soiled food. Immediately she runs back and hides behind the tree. She is hardly back and
catching her breath when the lion comes out of the shrubs and heads for the dead animal. The
lion sees the soiled meat, sniffs a few times and walks away disgusted.
Mama rundú waits a little while, and then she leaves her tree, goes over to the antelope and
puts it into her basket. Hurriedly she walks down the hill to the small stream. There she cuts
up the meat with her machete and washes each chunk of antelope carefully until all the sand
and dirt have gone. She fills her basket with the animal and heads home where the twins
continue to mind the fire. She sends the children out and quickly cooks the meal.
That day the whole family has a good meal thanks to the courage and the ingenuity of their
mother, Mama rundú.
Explanation:
a. ‘Misery has made me inventive’(1089PK). This is a popular saying especially among the
poor. One needs to be inventive in order to survive. And indeed there is a lot of ingenuity in
Africa. Once I fell with my motorbike. In the fall the sparkplug broke into two. I did not know
what to do. I asked someone with a bike to cycle the twenty kilometres back to the parish to
look for a new sparkplug. Then someone else showed up and said: ‘Why don’t you try to
wrap some cello tape around the two pieces to hold them together?’ A shopkeeper further on
the road had some tape. He helped me and I drove on for another two hundred kilometres!
Africans are masters in inventiveness.
b. Mama rundú is a Jesus figure. She saves her family through sheer bravery and courage.
When the apostles wanted to stop Jesus from going to Jerusalem so as not to be arrested, Jesus
bravely continued his journey, saying: ‘It would not be right for a prophet to die outside
Jerusalem’ (Luke 13, 33). Even a lion could not stop Mama rundú from feeding her family.
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c. A mother’s love exceeds all other loves. We all know that by instinct. When an old person
is dying, he/she is still crying for his/her mother to come to the rescue. The Mng in Congo
will cry out in any stressful situation: ‘ngóya ee’, mama!
In Uganda there is a kind of riddle: ‘When a woman meets a young man, what is she staring
at? The answer may be: his face, his hair, his eyes or his stature. But when a mother meets her
son: what does she look at? The answer is: at his stomach! She wants to know whether he has
eaten that day.’ A mother is ever full of compassion for her children.
That’s why one should never look down upon or forget one’s mother. The proverb-question in
Búsogá is therefore: ‘When a squirrel gives birth to an elephant, is the elephant then not her
son?’ Even when one becomes a prime minister, one still should honour one’s humble
mother, because one remains her son!
4. The rock and the children (Uganda).
Once upon a time, there was a family consisting of a father, mother and three children. One
day, the mother sent the children to pick vegetables from uncultivated land. When the children
arrived there, they started harvesting what they could find. However, it began to rain and the
children sought refuge in a nearby cave. They were not aware of the fact that the rock they
were sheltering in, belonged to a certain spirit. This spirit did not want anybody near its rock.
When the spirit noticed that the children had entered the cave, it blocked the entrance with
the children inside.
Their mother waited for her children to come back with vegetables. However, they failed to
turn up. That’s why she decided to follow their trail while singing a spontaneous song:
Now, now, get up and go; there is no way (2x)
Now, now, for the children, now, now, there’s no way (2x)
Now, now, because of sending, there is no way,
Now, now, because of picking, there is no way,
Now, now, because of the rain, there is no way.
Now, now, get up and go; there is no way.
When she arrived at the rock where her children had picked the vegetables, the rock told her:
‘If you want your children, I am the one who keeps them; I guard them here. Before I can
release them, you bring me a cow, a goat, chickens, a bark-cloth and Báswezí (the priests)
who have to drum, dance and kill the animals. Only then I’ll give your children back to you.
The mother went to her husband and informed him. They brought all the things ordered by the
rock. The Báswezí drummed, sang and danced. The animals were killed there and then. Then
the rock released the children.
That is where I left them: when the children had come out of the cave and returned home with
their parents.
Explanation:
- This story is a archetype of a death-and-resurrection story as we find it also in the Bible with
Lazarus (Joh.11,1-46) and Jesus himself (Joh. 19,16-42; Joh. 20, 1-18). In the stories we meet
death, burial in a cave and then new life again.
- The story is also archetypal concerning the solution of problems with spirits, whether
ancestral spirits or nature spirits. One has to placate the spirit by means of a sacrifice offered
by the traditional local priests (Báswezí) who turn up with drums, flutes and harps. Singing,
dancing and trance lead to contact with the spirit in question. In the trance they solicit its
assistance. Usually it is the diviner who is consulted and who directs the client to the local
priests, the Báswezí.
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- We need to respect the wishes of the spirits if we want to live in peace, without accidents
and unpleasant surprises.
- We need to respect the ownership of private persons and the property of the spirits.
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Chapter XI
Patriarchy
Nearly all African peoples possess a patriarchal structure i.e. a society where men are lording
it over. Men are the boss. For instance, the village chief is always a man. He has a council
consisting traditionally of men only. The village judges are men also. All functions are
handled by men: it’s always a man who transmits the messages on the drum and who calls
people together on the talking drum.
Women are not allowed to speak in public e.g. in village meetings, because, as they say, it’s
only the cock which crows. One day I asked a Congolese what they meant by saying that’s
only the cock which crows. As a response I was asked the question: ‘Do you ever hear a hen
crowing?’ The answer is clear. In public men do the talking. Women have to shut up.
Moreover a man is physically and mentally stronger and handier:
a. The one who chews the fibres of the palm nut is the man, not the woman (2760PK).
b. A woman’s machete will not cut a big branch (1357PK). Only men are capable of doing
heavy jobs.
c. They beat mom in the forest, because she is a woman (167PK).
d. An elderly woman alone will not cross the forest between two villages (2030PK).
The last two sayings show clearly that a woman alone is vulnerable on account of her inferior
strength. The two sayings are standing invitations to assist vulnerable people and not to
abandon them to fend for themselves.
Most Bantu peoples lack a strong organisational structure. They lack a central authority or
government. Rarely do they have a king, an emperor or a standing army. However, locally
they are well aware that a leader is necessary. ‘Many leaders of a hunt confuse the dog.’
A. Respect for authority.
As long as a person is in authority, people show him respect. This is the principle, the basis
for upholding and maintaining authority. Many proverbs and sayings attest to this stand:
a. When you quarrel with the chief, the soot will not blacken your house (711CRC). Respect
for authority is a necessary condition for participating in society. If you don’t show that
respect, you will not stay long in that community.
b. The one who does not respect his father, runs the risk not to be appointed the heir
(462CRC).
c. An elderly person does not make mistakes; it’s only the young who make mistakes
(2307CRC). A youngster should not try to prove his senior wrong. One should always respect
one’s seniors and the elderly.
d. When wrestling with a senior person, do not strangle him (744CRC).
Even in sports one should respect one’s senior.
e. The Mng people in Congo have a special greeting for the one older than the speaker. The
latter expresses the word losáko. The elder person responds by telling you his adage. When
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you ask for an explanation of what he said, he enjoys giving you the background explanation
of the proverb or saying. This special greeting is given nearly exclusively to men.
f. It is the black spot in an elder’s eye that sees (1236CRC). Through his experience an
elderly person observes even what is going on behind his back.
g. To the chief’s home people take readily their gifts (1060CRC). Gifts are signs of respect
towards those in authority.
h. The roof of the house sees what happens at night (521PK). The old man is not fooled by
what youngsters say. He knows better.
i. With the old man at home no goat will enter (1054PK). The elderly have the task to prevent
or stop quarrels.
j. Ears never extend beyond the head (328PK). A child should always respect his parents.
k. When de water antelope announces the rainy season, don’t doubt his words (PK727). The
old man has lots of experience. You can trust him.
l. The old man stays near the pot (2750PK). Old people have the task to educate the young.
m. The plea of an elder is easily accepted (438CRC). When an elderly person asks you
something, you should comply to his wishes.
n. Mother and daughter do not vie over who has more tattoos (2483PK). A child should
always respect his parents.
o. Whatever the length of the tongue, it will never lick the nose (890PK). A child should never
think that it knows more than its parents. It has to obey them. Africa has had many colonial
lords, dictators and kleptomaniacs. For years on end people never rebelled, because from
childhood onwards people were told to respect authority. In Congo people maintained for
years that the ruin of the country was not Mobútu’s fault, but the fault of his advisors.
Mentally they kept protecting the one in authority.
B. Authority has its responsibility:
a. What a child spoils, the parents clean up (1298CRC). Parents are responsible for the deeds
of their children.
b. The elder predicts an impending famine even with food in his hands (2296CRC). An elder
will encourage youngsters to be wise and proactive (take pre-emptive measures) rather than
wait till all the food is finished.
c. When an elder never carries anything, his children will develop hunchbacks (2297CRC).
An elder should be active and not enforce child labour. If a parent does not carry any burden
himself, he gives the impression that work is bad. He will not foster the active participation by
his children in the community.
d. What an elder sees is not what he says (2300CRC). An elder is supposed to keep secrets
and not to incite people.
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e. What appears first (at birth) is the most important. It is the head which carries the burden
(1033CRC). It is the leader who has to set the example and intervene when things become
tough.
f. An elder does not flee a snake but gets hold of a stick (2306CRC). An adult does not run
away from problems. He takes his responsibilities and tries to solve the thorny questions.
g. An adult without a house does not deserve respect (2298CRC). An adult should construct
his own house.
h. An elder keeps his promise (2274CRC). A man is as good as his promise!
i. An elder does not kill anybody. It’s those who incite him, who kill (2303CRC). Do not
believe everything you hear; otherwise you may take the wrong decisions.
j. The tree stump breaks the gourd and the glue suffers on account of it (1183PK).When the
children spoil things, the parents pay for the damage.
k. The elder does not break the gourd; it’s the child who does so (1126PK). An elderly person
has learnt to be cautious.
C. Social Status of a Man:
1. The soil i.e. the land, is nobody’s private property. It belongs to the ancestors. Land cannot
be sold. The village chief, however, determines who can cultivate a plot of land. He follows
the tradition which determines which family can till which part of the forest. If a certain
family is no longer capable to develop part of their ‘property’, the village chief is free to allow
another family or a stranger to till that land. He cannot sell that piece of land, because he does
not own the land.
2. It’s the man who proposes and not the woman. The man is the one who takes the initiative.
The following story illustrates this traditional rule:
In the beginning of the world, men and women lived apart. When a man and a woman would
go fishing together in the forest, they would each sleep in their own beds.
One day a man and a woman went together into the forest to look for food. When they had
arrived, they constructed each a small hut. One day as they were setting up traps, they heard
the rumblings of a thunderstorm in the distance. The man said to the woman: ‘We ‘d better go
to our shelters and make sure that the fire does not go out.’ The woman said: ‘Right you are.
Go and look after the fire. I myself shall come later.’
When the man arrived at the camping, he dug a trench so that the excess water would run
away. He heightened the spot where the fire was burning. And indeed, soon the thunderstorm
came down upon the forest. The woman soon came running. She saw immediately that her fire
had gone out, because the wood and the fireplace got soaked. When she looked into the
direction of the man’s hut, she saw there a shimmer. She first arranged another and better
fireplace for herself and then asked the man: ‘Can I come and get fire from your place?’ The
man answered: ‘Yes, please, do come and take some fire.’ The woman collected there some
firebrands. But she had to make the trip three times, because each time the fire went out. In
her shelter she started shivering more and more as the cold intensified. She was not able to
stick it any longer and went to the man’s shelter to warm herself.
She stayed there until dark. Then she went back to her own place. But on account of the cold
she did not manage to fall asleep. In the end she gave up, approached the man’s shelter and
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asked him: ‘In my place it’s too cold. Can I spread my sleeping mat next to your fire?’ The
man replied: ‘It’s all right.’ The woman lay down and fell asleep. But very soon she woke up
again and said to the man: ‘Look, I can’t sleep here. Let me lie down on your bed at the foot.’
The man agreed. She got onto the bed and slept for a while. She then woke up again and
asked the man: ‘Can’t I come and sleep at the head next to you?” The man answered: ‘If you
insist, do come and lie down here.’ As they were lying together, they became one. In due time
she gave birth to a daughter.
When the man became aware of what had happened, he became very much afraid and said to
himself: ‘Our law prohibits very strongly that men and women share the same house. This
woman fooled me: we became one and have a child. How can I explain all that in the
village?’ The man decided to kill her there and then in the forest. But the woman suspected
the man’s intentions. She put herself in front of her friend and said: ‘If you want to kill me,
wait till we are back in the village. Gather all the women and explain to them the traditional
law and tell them what I did. Only then you may kill me.’
The man accepted her proposition and they both returned to the village. There they called a
big meeting with all men and women present. The man took the stand and said: ‘We have a
law forbidding men to share the same house with women. But when I was in the forest, this
woman fooled me, we slept together and got a child. I wanted to kill her but she begged me to
let her live so that she can tell you what she wants to say to you. That’s why I came here. Let
her give you her explanation. After that I will kill her.
The woman stood up and said: You, women, please, do listen. Today I die, because of the love
I gave to a man. You will live on. But even if you fall in love with a man, hide your love in
your heart. Do not show it. Today I die, because I showed my love and informed my lover.’
The man sharpened his machete and killed the woman.
The lesson is clear: only a man may take the initiative. He is the boss.
3. A father teaches his son the work he should be able to accomplish in the village and in the
forest:
 A son has to learn how to construct a hedge with forest leaves to set traps in it.
 He has to know how to handle a machete and an axe to cut trees.
 He has to know how to make roofing with palm leaves, build a house, cut dugouts,
fabricate wooden talking drums, make mortars and pestles.
 He has to know how to fish with fishing-tackle and bow-nets.
 He has to hunt with bow and arrow.
 He has to know how to construct s chicken-house, a goats-pen and a pigsty.
 Sometimes he must know the job of a smith so as to make arrow points and
spearheads.
 Sometimes a boy must learn how to climb palm trees with the help of a hoop.
 Other men know how to beat the wooden talking drum, to play the ordinary drum, the
flute, the thumb-piano and harp.
 The father has the task to teach his sons the use of the numerous proverbs,
how to recite the myths, fables and riddles with their appropriate songs.
 The father will teach his children social skills and rules of etiquette.
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A father figure.
4. The Mng myth of Lianja narrates that, when his mother was to give birth to him, nature
showed signs of extraordinary fertility. This was because a twin was on the way; a baby girl
called Nsongo was born in the natural way. But then the baby boy Lianja was born out of a
gnarl on the shinbone of his mother. But before that took place, people heard monkeys
howling in the trees behind the house, snakes twisted on the ground like ropes and elephants
turned up in clear daylight. A howling monkey is a male, snakes are phallus symbols (in the
case of an erection the penis is like a snake coming out of the bushes. Elephants with their
endless penises point to a great fertility).
At a ceremony to welcome new-born twins Ngombe women in Congo dance with a vertical
stick hidden underneath their robes. The stick is hidden but clearly visible. The stick
represents the penis of the lucky father, because thanks to his extraordinary fertility the twins
were conceived and born.
Compare this symbolism to the one we find in the Bible. Moses asked people to erect in the
desert a big pole with a brass snake on top. (Numb 21, 6-9). Whoever looked up at the pole,
was healed from a snakebite. The snake is here the symbol of authority, of the man Moses and
of a jealous God who wants to show that He is the all-powerful. If you do not recognise that
power, you become a leper like Mirjam, Moses’ sister (Numb 12, 10). But in the end the
offspring of a woman will crush the head of the snake. But the snake will retain some of its
might, because it will continue putting its teeth in the heel of the woman (Gen. 3, 15). Evil
will retain its power, but in the end the human person prevails.
5. According to tradition only Mng men in Congo are allowed to eat snakes, eggs and
(aquatic) tortoises. When a tortoise sticks its head out, it’s like a penis coming to life. Only
men are allowed to eat them so as to reinforce their potency. In the same line of thought a
grandfather will indicate to his grandsons the leaves which increase their potency. The male
aspect of life is being stressed in Africa. People live after all in a patriarchal society.
D. A woman’s social status:
In the Bantu’s patriarchal society a woman has traditional rights and privileges thanks to her
(maternal) stakes and single-mindedness. Here a number of examples:
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1. In the story narrated (in chapter IX, no 7) we see a woman who prefers to sleep comfortably
next to the fire. In doing so she takes her husband’s place. It is clear that in principle she can
claim that place, but physically and mentally she is not able to confront the nocturnal dangers
and protect her family.
2. In the Sudanese story a mother called rundú goes out to look for food for her starving
family. She faces a lion but overcomes the danger by her insight and courage. She is a valiant
mother who robs the lion’s prey. A proverb says: ‘An adult does not flee a snake, but gets
hold of a stick. The woman rundú is the model mother who dedicates herself wholeheartedly
to her children’s welfare.
3. Among the Mng in Congo women take a special and privileged place in society. This
becomes evident during the dry season. When in January and February small rivers, brooks
and swamps dry up, the women of one or two villages agree to enter the forest together in
order to empty the remaining pools and get hold of the remaining fish. They go fishing for
one or more weeks. The fish they catch is smoked on the spot. The women themselves choose
the man who is allowed to enter their camp and bring them the necessary cassava. Other men
are not allowed to come near. The scantily dressed women are standing in the mud and slurry
for hours on end. They have no other worry than to catch as much fish as possible. The only
danger they face are snakes hidden in the holes on the sides of pools and ponds. The snakes
are hidden there and will bite the hand that introduces itself so as to catch any hidden fish. A
big thunderstorm with a heavy shower may also disrupt their activities by flooding the area.
The women work hard, they laugh a lot and sing communal songs. They empty the pools with
the help of baskets they have woven themselves. During those fish expeditions many women
receive nicknames by the way they execute their tasks. All this time they are ‘men-free’. The
men remain in the village and look after the children and the household. During those fishing
expeditions the women feel themselves as in a women’s republic. Temporarily they are the
boss in their own lives! It’s a yearly experience which they enjoy wholeheartedly.
4. When a young woman becomes as it were possessed, men come into action in order to
restrain her. If the woman has climbed an impossibly high tree, men beat the drum until she
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decides to come down. The young woman is then taken to a female healer who will look after
her for half or even a full year. The healer does so together with women who have undergone
the same treatment. The possessed woman is thus taken up in a healing community. She is
comforted and supported in her confusion. Even when she is married, her husband is not
allowed to approach her, unless he too is taken up in their therapy. In general men are not
ready to do so.
(Wies Vanderslagmolen)
The possessed woman is anointed from top to toe with red ochre mixed with palm oil. Even
her clothes take on the same colour. This mixture of red ochre with palm oil was used by the
ancestors to protect their skin against infections. It’s now the same pigment that draws the
ancestors’ attention so that they come and protect the sick lady. She is covered by all kinds of
vines and leaves in the hope that they chase the evil spirit away from her.
Every day the healer and her patient work together in the garden. The healing ceremonies take
place in the afternoon and in the evening. At that time the group of women dances and eats
together. Not a single male intervenes. When after a number of months the possessed woman
comes to her senses, the village organises a great feast. Even the neighbouring villages come
and see how the possessed woman comes out of her ‘shelter’ and dances in front of all of
them. That’s the moment she shows that she has been healed and is ready to return to the land
of the living.
It is as if women presume and know that the sick girl suffers more psychologically than
physically. ‘Every sick soul seeks to possess a part of the community’s soul. Healing
emanates from our relationships’ (Raymond Johnson).
It is my impression that a possessed woman is suffering from a deep depression. The woman
concerned feels welcomed in therapy by an elderly lady. Together with the group of healed
women who passed through the same therapy, the healer cares for the sick girl. ‘One of the
intelligent things you can do is to let lots of small relations flower and generate a community’
(Sobonfu Somé).
5. When a pregnant woman’s time has come, she is accompanied by a few women and taken
into the banana plantation behind the home. The women spread a couple of mats. On top of
those they put banana leaves or big forest leaves. There she is allowed to deliver. After the
birth one of the birth attendants cuts the umbilical cord. The afterbirth is buried by other
women in an unknown spot. Men are not allowed to know where the afterbirth has been
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buried. The proverb says: ‘The placenta should not be seen’ (2266PK). The further meaning
of the proverb is: Do not meddle in other people’s business. Sometimes men say jokingly:
women are witches (669PK), because they hide what men are not supposed to know.
6. It is quite peculiar in the African patriarchal society that the husband has no bed of his own.
He always sleeps at one of his wives’. He has no other choice. The nights are divided among
his wives according to their mutual consent.
The man has to abide by that accord, otherwise jealousy and chaos crop up. Here it is not the
wife that visits the husband, but the husband visits the wife. For the man it is not a surprise
with whom he will spend the night, because the wife in question will that day prepare and
serve his food. Thus he has been her guest before spending the night with her. It is quite
surprising that he, the boss of the family, does not possess a bed of his own.
7. In nearly all cases the kitchen is detached from the main house. In the kitchen the cooking
pot is supported by three stones. This is the wife’s domain. She determines the menu. In the
kitchen the husband is not welcome. If he pokes his nose inside the kitchen, it shows he does
not trust his wife and suspects her to eat most of the food. If he wants to live peacefully, he
should not show up in the kitchen.
8. When husband and wife agree to cultivate a piece of forest, it is the task of the husband to
fell the big trees and to cut the big branches. When he has finished his job, his wife makes her
field. With the produce of the field she sustains her family. When she produces more than the
family needs, she is free to sell her maize, cassava, bananas or peanuts along the road or at the
market. She herself manages her income. In that way mothers often pay the school fees for the
children. Most of the time women manage the village and the town markets. Whatever the
husband earns is very often spent on drinks. Nearly daily he spends time with friends and
buys them palm wine, local gin or millet beer.
9. In many places women have a saving system of their own (ikelemba). Each person
contributes monthly an amount of money. Each month the total amount of the group is handed
over to one participant. Each person gets her turn. In this way each participant has once in a
while the occasion to make a good investment. Women do not easily skip a month. This
system does not work well among men, since they are habitual drinkers.
10. Traditionally women have two free days a week when they stay at home and do not work
in the fields. Sunday and Wednesday are free. On those days the ancestral spirits move freely
in the forest. If a woman on her way to her fields meets those spirits, it can cost her dearly.
She may fall ill and even die. The seed sown that day does not germinate. The cassava
cuttings she plants that day will wither.
11. When the husband takes his meal in the main house, his wife and children eat in the
kitchen or behind the house. There she surveys their behaviour and sees to it that each of them
receives a decent share of the food. In fact it’s she who educates the children. During the day
her daughters often stay in the kitchen or work with their mother in the fields. The aunt
(father’s sister) has the task to give the girls their sex education and instruct them about
physical hygiene. The mother gives them information about medicinal herbs protecting the
life of an expectant mother and that of her unborn baby against diseases and bewitching.
12. Mothers teach their daughters lullabies, line dancing, how to grow plants and vegetables
and how to cook traditional dishes. As the girls grow up, they will participate in the yearly dry
season fishing in the forest.
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13. When a widow takes someone to court or defends herself there, she has the occasion to
explain her accusation or to vindicate herself. If she is in a normal family situation, it will be
her husband who takes the stand. But women are always free to be present at the local court
which sits on Wednesdays.
14. Women are handy in weaving all sorts of mats and baskets.
15. It’s the women who take care of the chickens.
16. Among the traditional healers and visionaries women occupy an important place, not only
in the case of possessed women but also treating paediatric illnesses. In case of diseases or
deaths these women are consulted to trace the origin of the evil. A striking example is the big
shrine of Kintú, the ancestor of part of the Básogá and of the Bágandá. That shrine is located
in Búswíkíra in Búsogá. One day a Múgandá woman felt the strong urge to go to Búswíkíra in
order to restore Kintú’s shrine and to look after it. She settled there as visionary. People
having problems consult her.
17. At church celebrations women are always by far in the majority. In some countries like
West-Cameroon women organisations are very well organised.
Conclusion:
Africa is a patriarchal society, but women have their rights and privileges. Women take a very
important place in the family and in the village community. In some cases she is the village or
regional shaman. The African woman can be proud of who she is and how she forms and is
part of the village community. She is not broken-winged, but is free and capable to organise
things in the medical, social, religious and artistic fields. She is life-giving in all those areas.
The clear division of labour between men and women respects the true self and the
responsibilities of both men and women. The division of labour gives each person energy and
the chance to develop his/her gifts.
P.S. Like African society the Catholic Church is patriarchal, where only men are the officials:
Pope, bishops, cardinals, priests and deacons. For many years we were not even allowed to
discuss the possibility of having ordained women. Even now women are no longer allowed to
physically approach the altar during the prayer services. As far as possible the prayer leader
should be a priest, even though priests have become rare. A Eucharistic famine seems to be
preferable to having ordained women. Women are being pushed into the margin by the
leading male officials. Jesus, however, took a different approach and took women, their lives
and position seriously. The Catholic Church can learn a lot from the African culture in her
organisation and service. Here too inculturation is needed, if the church wants to be both
Christian as well as African.
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Chapter XII
Ritual sexual abstinence.
In chapter VIII I wrote about inculturation, i.e. the respect of local culture discerning God’s
spirit in it and in that atmosphere bringing Jesus’ message to life. When doing so we meet
questions like how does ritual sexual abstinence which we find in Africa, relate to the
obligatory celibacy for priests in the Catholic Church? The actual obligation of celibacy for
priests seems to me based on legal prescriptions in a European monastic tradition. Why would
the same obligation be necessary or desirable for the African priest? Because this topic
solicits special attention and space, I did not include this question under inculturation in
chapter VIII, though it merits to be included there.
The greatest priority in the life of an African is to make sure that he/she transmits the life
received from the ancestors. It is not only the greatest priority but also the greatest obligation.
This obligation seems to run contrary to the obligatory celibacy for the same African who
wants to become a priest in the Catholic Church. Apparently these two traditions are
diametrically opposed to each other. Or can we reconcile these two traditions?
First of all we need to have a good insight in the African traditional obligation so as to
understand the African mentality. As you can read in the publication of Theodor Wübbels
called ‘Celibate Tensions in African Reality’, there is a problem indeed. In fifty stories he
presents the tension, not in highfalutin theories but in the testimony of men of fresh and
blood. In each story the tension comes back between the ideal of the celibacy and the physical
and psychological pressure to follow the ancestral calling. In the following pages I do not
present personal opinions or points of view but cultural data like proverbs which extoll
marriage and look down upon the celibate who is mistrusted as a person and an eventual
seducer.
A. Traditional abstinence.
At the internal film festival of 2009 in Rotterdam I watched a movie made in Zambia. The
movie was a common enterprise of Zambians and someone from Thailand. In the film the
traditional healer, before he started a sacrificial ritual to heal a sick child, he addressed
himself to all the inhabitants of the village. He asked them to observe sexual abstinence. This
same habit I encountered in the DRC among the Mng and in Uganda among the Básogá.
From time to time a village plans to make a sacrifice to the ancestors in order to have a good
hunting or fishing season. On the eve of the ritual sacrifice the village chief or shaman strides
through the whole village. He announces the sacrifice that will take place the next day. He
adds: ‘You know what you are supposed to do.’ And everybody knows! None of the men in
that village is allowed that night to have sexual or even physical contact with his wife or for
that matter with any woman. The men, by lack of a bed of their own, are obliged to sleep in a
chair. Everyone is obliged to follow the rule. Otherwise the sacrifice will not have the
intended effect. The men and women will hunt and fish without results.
Sexual abstinence is an essential condition to the acceptance of the sacrifice by the ancestors.
This condition is for the Bantu instinctive and is accepted as such. There appears to be a
physical and mental connection between sexual abstinence and the effect of the sacrifice. To
me it seems to be the fact that children receive life from the ancestors. In the sacrifice they
recognise the ancestors as their source of life and their dependence on them. Sexual
intercourse would block as it were the complete dependence on them. Therefore on the eve
people need to abstain from sex and even from any physical contact with their partner.
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Spiritually, mentally and physically people need to prepare themselves for the sacrifice they
are going to make to their ancestors.
In the Bible we see a similar attitude with the priest entering the holy temple so as to make
sacrifices. They left their families to take their turn in the temple. In Luke 1,23 we read that
Zacharias only went back home once his turn of temple service ended. In the Christian
communities people heeded from the beginning Jesus wish to break the bread together: ‘Do
this in memory of me.’ Very much later theologians turned this meal into a sacrifice which
they called sacrifice of the Mass. With the development of this theory, later stated as a dogma,
the church leaders felt the need for the celebrant of this sacrifice to abstain from sex the night
before the Mass. When the Mass became a daily happening, the celebrant was obliged to live
in complete abstinence. Here also I see a connection between a sacrifice and the necessary
sexual abstinence. Has this connection been laid unconsciously, intuitively? Are people,
abreast in church history and dogmatic theology, aware of this intuitive link?
When the reformation discarded the sacrificial character of the last supper, the obligatory
celibacy also disappeared. For the protestants there was no longer question of a sacrifice. Why
then the permanent sexual abstinence? When after Vatican Council II the idea and the
expression ‘sacrifice of the Mass’ was replaced by the name Eucharist which was seen more
as a meal with a table prayer, nearly automatically many started doubting about the necessity
of an obligatory celibacy. The idea of sacrifice disappeared into the background or evaporated
altogether and with it the need for sexual abstinence.
As a cultural researcher in Africa I came to see a clear connection between sacrifice and
sexual abstinence. I see now a parallel between this Bantu custom and what took place in the
church in the course of the centuries. Acted the church intuitively by considering sacrifice and
sexuality incompatible? Is that the reason why women with their monthly period are unfit for
the sacrificial priesthood? Is this biological ‘unfitness’ one of the unconscious motives for
excluding women from the priestly office?
As long as motives are intuitively and therefore unconsciously maintained, there is no defence
of or argument against a given question possible. Either side gropes in the dark hoping for a
solution which will not come. In this question there is a stalemate or impasse which started
even before the reformation.
PS.
1. Did the celibate leaders of the Catholic Church idealise and sublime the for them forbidden
and unknown woman and did they project that image onto the Mother of God in such a way
that she became the Immaculate Conception?
2. In the Catholic Church an increasing percentage of the priests are homosexuals without
them coming out of the closet. This fact makes the discussion between the pros and cons of
the obligatory celibacy all the more difficult.
B. Obligatory celibacy in Africa
In May 2009 the Vatican forced two bishops of the Central African Republic to resign,
because they refused in their dioceses to send away priests who had wives and children. They
were not any bishops. No, they were the archbishop of the capital Bangui named Pomodimo
and the president of the national bishops’ conference named Yombanje of the diocese of
Bossangoa. On account of the removal of these two bishops more than forty priests staged a
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one day strike and asked their colleagues in other dioceses to do likewise. The priests were
angry, because their bishops and some priests also had been dismissed. They said that the
dismissals were based on a racial attitude, because European priests in a similar situation were
maintained.
Is it right to argue that the punishment of noncompliance in Africa with the celibacy
obligation is based on a racial attitude? On June 16, 2009 the press agency CISA writes that
Kenyan bishops regretted the fact that married priests left the church, because these priests
could no longer observe the celibacy obligations which they contracted at ordination. From
Kenya to Sudan some priests joined the ‘Reformed Catholic Church’, a church founded by
priests who no longer wanted or could not observe that obligation. More often than not they
took along with them half of their parishioners. The Kenyan bishops reacted by enumerating
the blessings of celibacy. They repeated the traditional teaching by saying that ’nobody
among us has the right to change what the Lord has showed us in his own life and what Popes
and Church Fathers have transmitted to us.
In a panic reaction the archbishop of Nairobi, John Njue, indicted the charismatic movement
in his diocese. The well-known archbishop Emmanuel Milingo came to Kenya and
consecrated Daniel Kasomo of Machakos to be Kenya’s bishop of the married priests.
Archbishop Karl Rodig consecrated two priests as bishops of the Ecumenical Church of
Kenya. They are Godfrey Siundu and Benedict Simiyu.
CISA indicated that on December 17, 2009 the Vatican had reduced archbishop Milingo to
lay status. He had been excommunicated several times by marrying Mooney in 2005 and by
ordaining illicitly priests and bishops. He had hurt the Vatican already earlier by pointing out
the possibility of having married priests. In Africa that proved to be a painful topic, because in
several countries the movement of the reformed Catholic Church had taken off. They
accepted married priests and let them continue in their office.
Archbishop Milingo.
Milingo has the charisma of a faith healer. According to the Vatican this is an extinct
profession. Milingo was cut off from the external world for a period of five years. He must
have felt like a cornered rat. Instead of encouraging him to follow his charisma, the Vatican
robbed him of the chance to remain a pastorally minded faith healer. Apparently no fruitful
dialogue but only excommunications and condemnations. He was accused of attacking the
unity of the Holy Church. But what kind of unity did they seek? Certainly not pluriformity.
Obedience and loyalty seem to be higher qualities than faithfulness to one’s own conscience
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and one’s inner vocation. But ‘is one’s own conscience not the guide that spreads a deep glow
over the human spirit?’ (Joseph Kizerbo).
We saw various reactions in the media concerning the actions of archbishop Milingo. Some
Africans wrote that the non-observance of the rule of celibacy had nothing to do with African
culture but only with the human weakness of individual priests. Others on the contrary came
with pugnacious reactions about the African value of transmitting physical life and founding a
family. They blamed European missionaries to have founded a sort of European ecclesial
community without any consideration of what is very dear to the African. ‘Where do you find
in Africa men and women who live a celibate life for a higher purpose? Africans chose for a
European culture instead of their own culture. There is nothing African in the African
Catholic Church, except that there are African members. The church as it looks like today in
Africa is a vestige of a colonial church without an African identity. Why does an African
clergy defend practices which should not be at home in an African context? It is said that they
do so in order to free themselves from poverty and look for a certain identity with privileges
e.g. a comfortable life, security, power and control over their parishioners? Why not form our
own Catholic Church based on our own identity and values? (Cecile Mbolela according to
CISA).
At the end of 2009 Fr. Lehnertz, the regional superior of the Missionaries for Africa, offered
his excuses in this way: ‘I am sorry to say that we often did not show respect for the African
cultures. We regarded our own culture higher and better and tried to impose our own culture
on the Africans.’
Why do we not submit the cultural implications and situations of obligatory celibacy to a
thorough research so as to understand what is happening in Africa: does celibacy or
bachelorhood exist in the African culture and is it regarded as a blessing or as a curse? We
should not forget either to ask ourselves if celibacy in Africa is the right way to promote the
Kingdom of God or does it encourage a hypocritical kind of double life nobody is waiting for.
Let us read a couple of authentic African stories and a number of proverbs so as to see
whether bachelorhood is appreciated or not.
C. Stories and proverbs.
a. Stories of a bachelor:
 The squirrel and his wife (Congo).
Once upon a time there was a man named Bombúla. He was a bachelor. One day he sat down
and made traps to catch squirrels. He lined them up in a tree. The next day he inspected his
traps and saw that he had caught one squirrel. He took the trap in order to kill the squirrel.
But the animal said: ‘Bombúla, do not kill me. I‘ll be your spouse’. Bombúla said to himself:
‘A squirrel is an animal. How can an animal be my wife?’ Together they returned to the
village.
When the squirrel left the forest, it turned into a woman. She stipulated one strict condition:
‘Look, once we are together, you are never allowed, not even in your anger or when you lose
your patience, to mention that I am a squirrel. If you call me a squirrel in front of others, I’ll
leave you for good. You will then be more miserable than you were first.’ The man agreed to
the condition and they lived happily together.
One day the man planted a palm tree of high quality. He called his wife and said: ‘Listen to
what I am saying. I too stipulate a condition: When this palm tree gets fruits, you are never
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allowed to give them to someone else. If you give even one nut of this tree to someone, then
I’ll feel free not to be obliged to your condition.’ His wife understood what he was saying and
agreed to his condition.
Not many days later she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. The child grew up and
became an adult man. One day his wife said: ‘My dear husband, we have become a big
household with a lot of work. I would appreciate to have a helper.’ The man agreed. So she
went off to her native village and looked for a helper. This woman came along and they lived
in a friendly relationship.
One day the village chief called all his people together. Bombúla also joined them. At that
time the palm tree had produced beautiful nuts. He gave an order to his son to cut the fruits.
The son did what his father had ordered him to do and gave the ripe fruits to his mother. She
boiled and pounded them. When she too went to the great meeting, she took some nuts to her
husband. When she arrived, she heard that her husband had gone to the toilet. She gave the
nuts to someone else. Just at that moment her husband returned and saw that a man was
eating his palm nuts. He asked her: ‘Who has given him those nuts?’ She answered: ‘I gave
them to him.’ The husband became furious, because she had not kept her promise. He said:
‘You, awful squirrel, are you not aware to have broken your pledge?’
The squirrel.
At hearing his words the wife became very angry. She felt ashamed and went back to the
house. She said to her helper: ‘Come together with my son, we are off.’ The helper stood up.
But the son did not want to leave. He said: ‘I am not leaving. I do not want to abandon dad.’
The women left and returned for good to their native village. When later the man came home,
he found the house empty and abandoned, because the women had packed and taken along all
the belongings. In this way Bombúla become a bachelor again and his misery was worse than
ever before.
Comments:
1. Husband and wife should never humiliate each other in public. If one of them does so, that
is the end of their marriage.
2. Strict conditions like ‘over my dead body’ bring about grave problems. Marriage consists
of compromises. Strict conditions have no place there.
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3. When someone has been living as a bachelor for a long time, he will experience great
difficulties in his marriage, because he will not always realise that he is no longer a bachelor.
Therefore a proverb says: ‘An old bachelor will never have a wife.’
4. The helper in the household becomes automatically the second wife of the husband, but she
stays subservient to the first wife who invited her. In the story she leaves therefore together
with the first wife.
5. The son does not leave the house. In a patriarchal society the children belong to the father’s
family.
6. After the break-up of his marriage, the life of an old bachelor is even more miserable than
before. He has been spoilt by his wife or wives. Now he has to do all the chores himself.
7. The first nuts which the woman prepared, were a nice gift for her husband. When she gave
them to another man, she gave the impression that that man was her lover. A solid reason for
her husband to become infuriated.
 The story of Ifengu
Once upon a time there was a great fisherman called Ifengu. Nearly every day he went out
fishing in the river. He caught lots of fish and smoked his catch. But every time he went out
fishing, people came to steal his fish. The man was a bachelor and he did not have anybody to
watch over his fish.
One day he came back from the river and noticed that the fish on his kitchen rack had
disappeared. He wailed and said: ‘I am having bad luck. I catch a lot of fish but I do not
profit from my work. Who is bewitching me? Are people or the God who created me,
bewitching me?’
He went back to the river and caught a big pike. He took the fish and said: ‘I’ll smoke this
fish. Then I’ll eat it later.’ He smoked the fish and put it on the rack above the fire. Next day
he went to the river again. But when he was gone, the pike came back to life, descended from
the rack and became a woman. She prepared food for the fisherman and went back onto the
rack. When Ifengu returned from the river, he found that the house had changed. He was
amazed and said: ‘Who prepares food for me?’ He sat down, ate the food and used the hot
water which the pike had boiled, by taking a bath. Again he sat down and wondered in
amazement.
The next day Ifengu went back to the river. When he had gone, the pike descended from the
rack, prepared food and kept it in the house. Again it boiled some water and left the pot near
the fire. When Ifengu returned from the river, he found food prepared as the day before. He
sat down and ate the food. He took a warm bath and sat down. The next day he said to
himself: ‘Today I am not going to the river, because I want to see who is taking care of the
house.’ When moving away from the house, he hid behind the house. Very soon the saw the
pike coming down from the rack. ‘The pike prepared food and took care of the house.
Ifengu left his hiding, rushed to the house and got hold of the ‘pike’. The woman did not say
anything and Ifengu did not hurt her. However, she pleaded him not to tell anyone that she
was a pike. They lived happily together. It did not take long for the ‘pike’ to become pregnant.
In due time she gave birth to a son. When the boy grew up, he understood that his mother had
been a pike.
One day father and son went fishing together. They caught a pike in the fish-trap. When the
father emptied the bow-net, the pike fell into the canoe. The father gave his son a knife to kill
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the pike. But the fish leapt back into the water. The father became furious that his son had let
escape the big fish.
Ifengu.
He scolded him, saying: ‘Get stuffed, good for nothing! You let go the fish, because your
mother is a pike also?’ The boy felt ashamed on account of the reference to his mother. He
sang a dirge that his father had confessed who his mother was.
Once back home, the boy told his mother what had happened. When she heard the story, she
became very angry and told her husband: ‘Husband of mine, we have lived together for many
years. I forbade you to say that I am a pike. Today you blamed my son that I am a pike and
that you are a human being. Never mind.’ Next day when Ifengu had left for the river, the pike
and her child fled and threw themselves back into the water. Ifengu became a bachelor once
again.
Comments:
1. In this story husband and wife should never blast abroad their secrets. If one of them does
spill the beans, the confidentiality of marriage is spoilt.
2. If a bachelor finds a wife, he has to respect her fully.
3. A bachelor will always stay a bachelor and has great difficulties feeling connected to his
wife.
4. Someone who easily gets furious and who cannot control himself, experiences great
difficulties to function in a marriage or in a community.
b. African proverbs about a bachelor:
It is amazing how many proverbs about bachelors abound in African society. Here I give a
number of them from my collections of proverbs from the Mng in Congo and from the
Básogá in Uganda.
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 A. Proverbs from the Mng in Congo:
1. Bndîtákí l’emí nyama, bolitola, kámí éyóleké nkisó (190PK):
Those that smoked their meat, took it down from the rack. My meat produces only maggots.
Those who grew up with me, all have married; I waste my time. One can appreciate life only
when married with children.
2. Bomákí l’emí njku báófalangana; kám’knda l’akngá (215PK):
Those that went hunting elephants with me, have returned. My elephant fled with my spears.
All my friends got married, but unfortunately I stayed alone without hope of having a wife
and children.
3. Besíf’â byló’omeka ná? Omek’é besífó (PK392):
If one has to choose between the besífó vegetables and what one finds in the bush, one
chooses the besífó.
This saying means: It is better to have an ugly wife than to live a bachelor’s life.
4. Bobé w’mot’fa ng’ól’ônjemba (415PK):
Having a wife is not as bad as remaining a bachelor.
Traditional society looks down on bachelors. Living with a wife can be hell. But being a
bachelor is worse.
5. Bomóngó wáj’áokila tóma, bonjemba, ámból’îsúngi wtswa (643PK):
When the husband refuses food, you, bachelor, take your torch and go to bed.
If the owner pulls out of a certain business, his assistants will follow suit. Unlike the husband
the bachelor guest has no influence on the quality of his bed and breakfast.
6. Bonjemba ntátaóngolaka la nkl (733PK).
The bachelor does not act angrily.
The bachelor depends on the goodwill of others for his nourishment. If he is a moody person,
he will have difficulty in finding a host. So instead of wailing about his situation, the bachelor
‘d better work hard to improve his life.
7. Lksú j’ônjemba étola bomóng’ésíká (1856PK).
The cough of the bachelor wakes up the owner of the place.
A bachelor goes hungry and stands near the house where people share a meal. He coughs so
as to draw people’s attention to his presence hoping that they’ll invite him for a meal. The
poor man has to beg for a plate of food.
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If he wants a sexual contact, he will do the same. At night he will stand near the house and
cough!
 B. Proverbs of the Básogá (Uganda):
1. Akáwúúlu akágezí kagyá okúnhwa ogw’óbukúnyí, ngá kamáze okwéyalírá (249CRC):
A wise bachelor makes his bed before going out for a drink.
Because he lacks a wife, the bachelor has to organise well his own life.
2. Amáfa ábirí otí mwânokó okúba omútwalumé wééna n’ôbulá eiryá.(410CRC)
When you have two burials at the same time is like your brother being a bachelor and you
yourself never having been married.
One is at a loss to find assistance. The bachelor is depicted as one in need. It sounds like
Genesis 2, 18: ‘It is not good for a man to be alone. I’ll give him a helper.’
3. Énakú dhirí mu bwîré: n’ômúwúúlu okútoolámu empálé (1112CRC):
The summit of misery is the bachelor taking off his trousers at night.
Why should a bachelor take off his trousers when he does not have a wife? It’s only misery to
think of sex at that time. That thought brings disappointment and frustration.
4. Énkalangafú ewúlá éígumbá (1170CRC).
Tough meat is better than a bone.
You are better off with an ugly or a bad wife than being a bachelor. This saying shows how
people look down on a bachelor.
5. Kirí y’óli ngá omúwúúlu n’agúzé émambá (1454CRC).
When the bachelor brings meat, the owner of the house divides it.
When a bachelor resides with someone and is a guest in the house, he is not the owner of the
home and cannot take initiatives.
D. Conclusions:
It is quite clear that in Bantu society people look down on an unmarried person, especially on
an unmarried man usually called a bachelor. He is not stable, because he has no wife to cook
for him. He is always looking for a meal. In fact he is a professional beggar. The little he
earns disappears, because he has no wife to look after his money. As a beggar the bachelor
has no social status. He cannot assume the role of the village chief or a counsellor. He is not
taken seriously, because, if he cannot govern a family, how can he assume a leader’s role in
his community.
So from the economic, psychological and social point of view, the bachelor finds himself on
the seamy side of the community. An adult man without a family of his own and without
recognised children is considered a misfit, a failure in life.
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Like it is indicated in proverb no 7 under A, the bachelor is a constant threat to the stability of
other people’s marriages. The bachelor will seek ways and means to satisfy his sexual urge at
the expense of the wives and daughters of his friends.
I am well aware of the fact that we should not equate the African unwed priest with his
bachelor friends, because the priest can rely on his diocese or the parish for his upkeep. But
times are changing. The economic crisis is felt in the church also. In the course of the years
the number of dioceses, religious and priests has increased tremendously. Because the Vatican
has to a great extent turned off the subsidy tap, the ecclesial soup has become rather sloppy.
The expatriate sisters, priests and brothers could rely on the help of their home front. The
African priest on the contrary see their brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces coming
forward to ask for help with their medicine bills and school fees, because the priest is often
the only family member who has made it in life! On account of the death of his brothers and
sisters due to the prevailing HIV and aids, their children are often assigned to the care of their
uncle priest. The priest has to find food and school fees for these orphans and to bear all the
costs of their medical bills.
In the meantime many African dioceses have gone bankrupt. They try to fill the one gap with
another. Their personnel is duped. Moreover, the parishes in the bush-bush are extremely
poor. Many parishioners hesitate or do not have the possibility to sustain their pastor. No
wonder that diocesan priests set up income generating projects such as shops or taxi
businesses.
I repeat the second paragraph of this chapter and you reflect on the two questions yourself:
The greatest priority in the life of an African is to make sure that he/she transmits the life
received from the ancestors. This is not only the greatest priority but also the greatest
obligation. This obligation seems to run contrary to the obligatory celibacy for the same
African who wants to become or already is a priest in the Catholic Church. Apparently these
two traditions are diametrically opposed to each other. Or can we reconcile these two
traditions?
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Chapter XIII
Homosexuality in Uganda
In 1877 the protestant missionaries arrived in Uganda. They were welcomed by King
Múteesa. Two years later Catholic missionaries arrived too. They were White Fathers who
were called Mápéera (ba Mon Pères). Their leader was Père Simon Lourdel. It did not take
long for Múteesa to play off the Christian denominations against the Arabs.
Kabáka (King) Múteesa had 85 wives and about 500 boys and men at his court. He was the
father of 96 children. Very soon the White Fathers were forced to depart. However, after the
death of Múteesa in1884 they returned. Mwánga, Múteesa’s son, succeeded his father.
At the court there was a certain Joseph Múkasa who turned out to be a fiery convert. He
encouraged many boys and men to be baptised. But counsellors incited the king against
Múkasa so that he was put in a bad light. When Múkasa forbade his converts to let themselves
be abused as sex partners by the king, Múkasa was condemned to the pyre. The executioner
had pity on him and beheaded him before putting him on the stake. Later many others were
beheaded, cut into pieces or thrown onto the stake in Námúgongo.
When Pope Paul VI visited Uganda, he declared the twenty-two martyrs of Uganda saints on
18 October 1964. Their yearly feast day is on June 3rd. That day up to half a million pilgrims
gather from all over East-Africa. Some people walk for days on end. In Námúgongo, not far
from Kampala, there are two shrines, a Catholic and an Anglican one at a distance of a few
kilometres from each other.
Námúgongo shrine.
One may ask oneself the question: if the Kabáka was gay, is homosexuality a typically
Western phenomenon?
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According to human rights activists there are at least 500.000 gays in Uganda on a population
of 31 million. This is a very rough estimate, because hardly anybody dares to come out of the
closet. They have good reasons to fear, because homosexual behaviour carries the maximum
sentence of 14 years in prison. The present laws still date from the British colonial era.
In general and especially in the media Africans look upon homosexuality as being against
African and against Christian values. Of the 53 African states 38 of them criminalise
homosexuality. Like in so many other African countries Ugandan gays are sometimes
attacked, they are blackmailed, receive death threats, undergo correctional rape or their
property is damaged.
American evangelists hold church services in order to change gays by the power of Jesus. It’s
their agenda to turn gays into straights. They preach that gays abuse the youth, want to
destroy marriage and replace it with free love.
The film ‘Call me Kuchu’ shows that the Ugandan gay community is a courageous but
persecuted organisation. A certain Victor Múkasa is an activist for the gay community. One
day the police broke into his home. Victor accused the minister of justice for the burglary and
won (in 2008). The Ugandan constitution of 1995, article 21, defends equality and freedom of
discrimination in the political, economic, social and cultural areas as well as equal protection
for all. Nobody, therefore, ought to be discriminated against on grounds of sex, race, colour,
ethnic origin, tribe, birth, religion or faith, social or economic status, political opinion or
handicap.
Recent developments:
a. David Bahati:
In April 2009, the Ugandan parliament decides that the MP David Bahati is free to introduce
a bill to head off internal and external threats to the traditional and heterosexual family. The
bill is introduced on 13th October 2009 to protect the Ugandan culture with its legal, religious
and traditional values against the efforts of human rights activists who want to introduce free
love in Uganda. The law criminalises homosexuality with the death penalty for serial
offenders, for probable homosexuals that are HIV-positive and for those who have sexual
relationships with persons under the age of eighteen.
Mr. Bahati.
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Those who probably or in fact entertain homosexual activities, are obliged to undergo a HIVtest. Ugandans who entertain such activities abroad, should be extradited and then indicted at
home. Those who are aware of someone’s homosexual behaviour, including pastoral and
medical persons, have to accuse such a person within 24 hours; otherwise they can be
condemned up to three years in prison.
People are convinced that the law will pass with 99 % of the votes and that President
Múséveni will sign the bill into law. After intense and international pressure and threats to
stop international financial assistance, Uganda’s minister for Ethics and Integrity, James
Nsaba Buturu, confirms on December 9, 2009, that the bill will be adapted and that the death
penalty will be changed into a sentence for life for serial trespassers.
Initially Mr Buturu affirms that the law will be passed even if this means that Uganda
withdraws itself from international treaties like the universal declaration of human rights and
that by doing so will miss international assistance. Mr Buturu says that a sentence for life is
clearly advantageous for the condemned in that they receive a chance to alter their behaviour.
On January 8th 2010 he affirms that he will not withdraw the bill, notwithstanding the fact the
President Múséveni hinted that the bill was too tough. Bahati says that Uganda should not
allow schoolchildren to be recruited for homosexuality. In August 2011 the cabinet judges
that the present laws are sufficiently clear to make homosexuality illegal. International
organisations think that once the bill is passed, President Múséveni under international
pressure will apply his veto.
Múséveni (Daily Monitor)
b. Amnesty International reports in those days that it suspects that gays are being arrested,
tortured and abused by the authorities. Some gays leave Uganda or go into hiding. Kapya
Kaoma tells that the effort to depict homosexuals as a threat to the African family, endangers
certain people’s lives.
c. American right-wing Evangelicals Rick Warren and Scott Lively on the contrary incite
homophobia by equating homosexuality with paedophilia. In this way they form public
opinion in Uganda. They maintain that gays are twelve times more inclined to molest children
than heterosexual men. Gay teachers are seven times more inclined to molest their pupils and
to be responsible for 25% of child abuse. Forty percent of abused children is the victim of
those who practise homosexuality.
These affirmations appear later to be false. At the same time some pastors of the evangelical
churches accuse one another of homosexuality.
In April 2009 a Ugandan Newspaper prints the names of presumable homo’s. It gives tips
how to recognise homosexuals. In October 2010 another paper (Rolling Stone) publishes a list
of one hundred top homosexuals with their photographs and their addresses. It advised the
public to hang them. Later when people called the paper to account, the redaction gave the
excuse that they wanted to assist the police to arrest them.
When David Kato, the best-known gay-activist and others accuse the paper, the high court
orders the newspaper to stop publishing the pictures of homosexuals. On 26 January Kato is
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murdered. His skull has been clubbed with a hammer. Local authorities, however, maintain
that it is a case of robbery. His photograph too had been in the Rolling Stone.
Newspaper Rolling Stone.
In Wikileaks an American diplomat is of the opinion that the hatred against homosexuals
serves to divert the attention from the country’s political and economic problems. MP Bahati,
pastor Martin Ssempa and minister James Buturu appear to be responsible for promoting the
wave of intolerance. The diplomat even maintains that, even if the bill is never passed,
homophobia in Uganda will prevail for years. Martin Ssempa, a pastor at Makerere university,
organises anti-homo protests. He preaches that many homosexuals are paedophiles who
should be punished severely. He does his utmost to ensure that homosexuality will never be
legally accepted in Uganda. Canon Ridge, the pastor of the Christian Church in Las Vegas
(USA), supports Ssempa in his efforts to stem the spread of aids.
International leaders of government among whom Barack Obama lodge protests and threaten
to withhold development aid. The US warn that such a move could "complicate"
approximately £240m in annual aid to Uganda. Churches and human rights activists send
letters to Múséveni saying that the Christian churches have the task to present the love and
mercy of Christ. The disputed bill will render their mission not only difficult but even
impossible.
d. Attitude of the Anglican Church.
After some private talks with officials of the Ugandan Anglican Church, the archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, says the following: ‘In general the proposed bill is
shockingly severe. I cannot imagine that the proposed bill is supported by an Anglican after
all our community has been saying for dozens of years. The proposed death penalty makes
pastoral work among gays impossible, since pastors are obliged to accuse their own
parishioners.’
But splits appear in the Anglican community. The bishop of Karamoja, Joseph Abura, writes:
‘Ugandan parliament, the watchdog of our legislature, go ahead and edit anti-homo
legislation. Only then we behave responsibly towards the youth and our country. Canada and
England are in no position to call us to account. We are the masters of our own house.’
The Anglican Church in Uganda seems to be against the death penalty, but the archbishop
Henry Luke Orombi does not give his opinion. The pensioned bishop Christopher Sseyonjo
does not hesitate to give his verdict about his opposition to the proposed bill.
Later on the Anglican Church speaks as follows:
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The church appreciates the aim of the bill, because it wants to protect the family, since
 in Uganda only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid.
 there exists a prohibition of and a penalty for homosexual behaviour, because gays
endanger the traditional family.
 one should forbid international agreements that disagree with the proposed bill.
 one should prohibit those organisations which propagate homosexual behaviour.
The Anglican Church therefore makes the following points:
 We need to protect the legal trust in medical and pastoral caretakers.
 We need to protect boys against homosexuality by forbidding promotion material for
homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle.
 Homosexual practices have no right to be protected legally.
 School materials concerning sexual education should be in line with the values and
laws of the country.
 One needs to consult more broadly i.e. consult people and organisations outside the
existing legal scope.
 One needs to study the loopholes in the present legislation concerning homosexuality.
e. The Catholic Archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Lwánga, speaks in December 2009 about
the legislation and maintains that the proposed bill is unnecessary because the present-day
legislation is sufficient. He explains that the proposed bill is against the basic Christian
values. He expresses his unease about the death penalty. He further says that homosexuals
should be encouraged to turn themselves into heterosexuals.
In the meantime the Vatican entertains friendly relations with Uganda and in December 2009
praises Uganda on account of its climate of freedom and respect for the Catholic Church.
Three days earlier, however, the Vatican attaché at the United Nations expresses his
reservation, saying that Pope Benedict is against the unjust discrimination of homosexuals.
Still later the Catholic Church is represented at an ecumenical gathering and supports the
contested bill. In that way it gives the impression that the archbishop has changed his
position. But in fact the archbishop supports nor rejects the opinion of the gathering.
This wavering attitude of the Catholic Church is not to her credit. One gets the impression
that the archbishop does not understand the nature of homosexuality nor how to adopt a good
pastoral policy towards gays. It is to his credit that he does not condemn gays outright, but
there is no question of understanding or compassion.
f. In February 2012 Bahati reintroduces his proposed bill but this time without the death
penalty. He is optimistic that the bill will pass. No external pressure nor any dirty trick will
stop the Ugandan parliament to protect the children of Uganda. Simon Lokodo, the Ugandan
minister of Ethics and Integrity, says: ‘The threat of Western countries to withhold financial
assistance, is pure blackmail, neo-colonialism and oppression (Reuters 29/9/2012).
g. Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Desmond Tutu condemns Uganda’s proposed law against homosexuality, saying
there is no scientific or moral basis ever for prejudice and discrimination – and accuses the
Ugandan president of breaking a promise not to enact the law. The proposed law extends the
prohibitions and penalties in a country where homosexuality is already a crime, to include
acts such as "suggestive touching" in public. In a statement Tutu says: "When President
Múséveni and I spoke last month, he gave his word that he would not let the anti122
homosexuality bill become law in Uganda. I was therefore very disheartened to hear last week
that President Múséveni was reconsidering his position."
President Yówéri Múséveni first said that he would not sign the legislation, then at the
weekend that he will delay it pending more scientific advice. Tutu equates discrimination
against gays with the horrors of Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa: "We must be
entirely clear about this: the history of people is littered with attempts to legislate against love
or marriage across class, caste and race. But there is no scientific basis or genetic rationale for
love. There is only the grace of God. There is no scientific justification for prejudice and
discrimination ever, nor is there any moral justification. Nazi Germany and apartheid South
Africa, among others, attest to these facts."
"In South Africa, apartheid police used to rush into bedrooms where whites were suspected of
making love to blacks. They would feel if the bed sheets were warm, crucial evidence to be
used in the criminal case to follow. It was demeaning to those whose 'crime' was to love each
other, it was demeaning to the policemen – and it was a blot on our entire society."
Tutu goes on to plead with Múséveni to use the debate to strengthen the culture of human
rights and justice in Uganda, and to clamp down on sexual exploitation rather than
orientation. ‘To strengthen criminal sanctions against those who commit sexual acts with
children, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. To strengthen criminal sanctions against
all acts of rape and sexual violence, regardless of gender or sexual orientation,’ he says. ‘And,
if needs be, to strengthen criminal sanctions against those involved in commercial sexual
transactions – buyers and sellers regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Tightening such
areas of the law would surely provide children and families far more protection than
criminalising acts of love between consenting adults.’ Desmond Tutu cites the following
words of Nelson Mandela: ‘Nobody is born with hatred in his heart. As we learn to hate, we
can also learn to love. Nobody with a bit of common sense can say that his rights weigh
heavier than those of someone else.’
h. The BBC reports on 24 February 2014 that Uganda's leader signed into law a bill
toughening penalties for gays but without the clause criminalising those who do not report
them.
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It includes life sentences for gay sex and same-sex marriage, but the proposed sentence of up
to 14 years for first-time offenders has been removed. Lesbians are covered for the first time
and those found living in a same-sex marriage can be sentenced to life imprisonment. A
challenge to this law is brought by 10 petitioners, including academics, journalists, both ruling
and opposition MPs, human rights activists and rights groups. Their argument is that the bill
was passed without the necessary quorum.
i. Uganda's Constitutional Court annuls tough anti-gay legislation signed into law in
February 2014. It rules that the bill was passed by MPs in December without the requisite
quorum and is therefore illegal.
In June 2014, the US impose sanctions on the East-African nation, including travel
restrictions on Ugandan officials involved in serious human rights abuses. The US
discontinues or redirects funds for certain programmes involving the Ugandan Police Force,
National Public Health Institute and Ministry of Health, and cancels plans to conduct a US
military-sponsored aviation exercise in Uganda. It is the latest effort by US officials to
challenge Uganda's Anti-homosexuality Act.
Several European nations - including Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden - had
earlier cut aid.
Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo says the government is still waiting the
attorney general's advice about whether to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. He
adds that the ruling shows to Western donors that Uganda's democracy is functioning very
well and that they should reinstate any aid they had cut.
In the past the Ugandan authorities defended the law by saying President Yówéri Múséveni
wanted "to demonstrate Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure and
provocation".
Pastor Martin Ssempa, a vocal backer of the anti-homosexuality legislation, tells the BBC his
supporters will be asking parliament to investigate the impartiality of the judiciary. Our
reporter says: ‘If the state does not challenge the ruling, it could re-table the bill in parliament
where the ruling National Resistance Movement holds the majority in the house.
In 2013 Ms Nábagesera comes up with the idea of publishing Bombastic. When she asks for
stories on Facebook, she is flooded with over 500 contributions. Crowd-funding pays for its
printing. An editorial team of eight Ugandans worked on the inaugural issue and foreign
volunteers also pitched in helping to build the website www.kuchutimes.com, which
Nábagesera says attracts so many visitors that it is ‘almost crashing every two days’. ‘We got
a lot of support from around the world.’
Bombastic is launched in December 2014 as MPs are vowing to introduce a new anti-gay bill
as a ‘Christmas present’.
The free 72-page glossy publication features personal essays, commentaries and poems by
‘proud’ lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) Ugandans, some using
pseudonyms.
Politicians stoke anti-gay sentiment. Ms Nábagesera writes ‘One colleague was beaten in
broad daylight after appearing in the newspapers.’ ‘People have lost housing, jobs, families,’
she says. She adds that in the last four years, the local media played a "big role" in the
intimidation and harassment of LGBTI people, after naming and shaming them. In 2011 gay
activist David Kato - a close friend of Nabagesera - was beaten to death with a hammer a few
months after a tabloid paper published his picture under the headline 'Hang Them'.
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‘So we said: Let's give them a Christmas present,’ said Nábagesera. A total of 15,000 copies
of Bombastic were printed and distributed by hand to some unlikely potential readers. ‘We
took lots of copies to parliament, government offices, everywhere,’ says Nábagesera.
Conclusion:
Several factors assail the life of gays in Uganda:




The old legislation dates from colonial times,
There is a denial of the past and the present concerning the gay presence in
Uganda.
International pressure hardens Múséveni’s position. He wants to affirm his
independence towards the ever colonial Occident.
Ignorance on the part of ecclesial and civil leaders concerning the nature of
homosexuality.
There is not only question of discrimination but also of judicial persecution and even death
for suspected homosexuals.
Church leaders have no idea how to approach gays. The leaders remain stuck in judgmental
attitudes. They lack a pastoral approach so as to assist gay men and women. The evangelical
mandate should push them to defend the marginalised homosexuals like the compassionate
Jesus did so for the marginalised of his time.
The Daily Monitor newspaper reported on March 3rd 2015 on a cabinet reshuffle:
‘Appealing to a majority of Ugandans who are repugnant of homosexuality (MPs are
representatives of the people and majority do not support it), President Múséveni appointed
Mr David Bahati, the Ndorwa East legislator and a leading anti-homosexuality activist, to be
in charge of planning at the Finance ministry. Mr Bahati has been rewarded for his drive
against gays and promoted to minister of finance!’
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Chapter XIV
Shaman
In several chapters we mention the word shaman. In Congo they call this person, male or
female nkanga (singular and plural). In Uganda the Básogá call that person omúlágúzí. For a
healer they use the term omúyíghá or omúgángá. The verb okúgángá means to heal. This
seems to indicate that the Congolese term nkanga originally means healer. The Congolese
term nkanga can in fact mean healer, visionary, diviner or shaman. A shaman is the contact
person with the ancestors. In South-Africa they use the word isangoma.
Formerly the colonialists and the missionaries translated the said local terms by ‘witchdoctor’
which is an insult to the office bearers and to their profession. A nkanga uses his gifts to help
or heal people or show them the way through life. There is a different word, the Lmng
word blki, (omúlógó in Lúsogá) to indicate a witch or witchdoctor who, with magic or
physical means, makes others ill or even kills people.
Sometimes a nkanga abuses his gifts or his position to harm people for financial gain. But
then he abuses his vocation and professional skills.
A diviner designates someone as the cause of death and destruction in the community. The
village community regards the work of a diviner as a positive contribution, because ‘a snake
that is spotted, will not bite a second time' (2174PK). In case of illness or death, the culprit
must be found in order to prevent further deaths.
A nkanga has an important and a privileged position in a community. It is a well-known
secret that even heads of government consult diviners before taking important decisions. One
day I entered the shrine of a great shaman in Uganda, in Búdhágáalí.
Búdhágáalí Falls.
An official made me sit down on a big mat. When my eyes got used to the obscurity, I noticed
next to me a gentleman in a very expensive suit. When I asked him where he came from, he
answered that he had been sent by a government minister to consult the diviner.
A diviner, a shaman and a healer become possessed by an ancestral spirit who transmits
information to heal the sick, to prevent disasters or to localise the person lost in the forest. As
indicated already the diviner or the healer can be a man or a woman.
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Wherever I did my cultural researches, I took good care to establish friendly relationships
with the local healers, shamans and diviners.
The diviner clad in bark-cloth, smoking a pip..
In the beginning they showed some reserve, but as soon as they were convinced of my sincere
interest in their charisma, we used to become good friends. They allowed me to be present at
their healing and prayer sessions. The healers, shamans and diviners have a profound
knowledge of the oral traditions of their people. They are convinced of their calling to see to
it that people stick to traditional prescriptions, rituals, customs and practices. We can call the
diviner/shaman the traditional priest.
A. Ways of becoming a shaman/ healer/diviner:
1. By inheritance:
At the death of a shaman, his eyes and head used to be covered with a hat. At the burial,
people used to leave a finger of the dead sticking out of the grave, so that the power and
charisma of the shaman would not get lost but will be passed on to another person. The late
shaman was the protector of the clan. The clan must continue to be protected.
A late diviner/shaman may appear to someone of the same clan and ask that person to be his
successor. That person will construct a shrine or sacred hut near his home, because it is there
that he will receive instructions from the deceased diviner. He will be informed by them about
powerful healing plants, roots, bark and leaves. But in order to be able to heal, one needs to be
initiated.
2. By initiation:
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The person invited by a late healer cannot be a diviner, but will be a healer of illnesses caused
by witchcraft. If the sick person is healed, he/she may ask the healer to be initiated. That will
cost money, certain objects and animals.
Healers employ traditional medicine and fetishes. Some people do not have confidence in
these practices, because, like in official hospitals, not all illnesses can be healed by the
traditional medicine.
3. In coma:
It happens that someone lapses into a coma on account of a serious illness. When that patient
is on his deathbed, a deceased may appear to him/her. The appearance makes the patient talk
in an unknown language. But once healed, the patient begins to divine and to disclose the
malicious secrets or intentions of his/her fellow villagers.
4. By meeting a deceased in the forest:
Others receive the divining gift after meeting a deceased in the forest. There they meet the
spirit of an ancestor. Once back in the village they see things which others do not see and hear
what others do not hear. In that case they have received the gift of clairvoyance. This
happened to a man from Lifumba (Waka/Congo). The man in question was inspecting his
traps in the forest. All of a sudden he heard someone cough. He noticed then that two
antelopes had been taken from his traps. When he asked himself who could have done so, he
saw a man standing in front of him. The man said: ‘My dear friend, do not be afraid. Take this
bottle, it will enable you to treat and heal people.’ The hunter returned home and started
treating people.
For this category of healers their divining tool is either a bottle, a mirror, a basin with water or
a calabash. With such a tool he can discover the presence of an illness and the correct
medicine for treating it.
5. By opening the eyes:
Other men and women take upon themselves the profession of healer or diviner after a healer
has opened their eyes so that they can see invisible things or actions. In that case it is an
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ancestral spirit who imparts them that gift. Before this happens, the person in question will
feel a cold sweat and a heavy head even during the day. He may perceive a variety of spirits.
Here an example:
One night a deceased grandfather appears to his grandson in a dream. After waking up, the
grandson expresses his amazement. That same day during his nap, he sees his grandfather
anew. The latter informs him how to treat certain illnesses. The grandson consults a diviner
to initiate him by opening his eyes. The diviner takes the candidate to a stream to clean him
by bathing him from top to bottom, The bath must remove the bad spirits and make room for
good ancestral ones who have the power to impede the influence of witches.
After the bath both men return to the village without looking backwards. The candidate moves
directly to the diviner’s house where songs, drumming and invocations addressed to the
ancestors reinforce his gift of clairvoyance. At the house the future healer undergoes a steambath: a pot with boiling water is put on a dais between his legs. The diviner draws stripes of
white chalk on the candidate’s forehead and on his temples. He then covers him with mats
and blankets. The future healer inclines himself bare-chested over the pot of boiling water.
The diviner sings to awaken the spirits that live already in the candidate’s body. The latter
has to tell whatever he is experiencing. The diviner asks him to reveal the name of the spirit
who gives him the charisma of clairvoyance. The disciple starts talking in the dialect of that
ancestor. When the man stops talking, the diviner removes the mats and the blankets and
administers him eye drops so as to open his eyes even further and so facilitate his divination.
The administration of the eye drops is called the splitting of the eyes. In the middle of the
night the diviner takes his disciple back to his home. He carries a few gifts like a mat and a
few chickens. Arriving at the home of his disciple, the diviner pours out some wine and throws
some money on the ground in honour of the ancestors who reside there.
Now the disciple can start treating sick people. From then on he understands the messages of
his grandpa. This grandfather has become his divination spirit.
B. The working-methods of a shaman/diviner:
1. As already mentioned the shaman or diviner who has been initiated, works with the help of
a magic object that can be a bottle, a calabash, a mirror, a basin filled with water, the skin of a
wild cat or a small basket. There before his treatment the client or patient must depose his
payment. Before paying the patient rubs the banknotes over his skin. Only the divining spirit
that informs the shaman/diviner, can diagnose the cause of the sickness or of the accident.
The spirit communicates directly e.g. from the basket with the patient. If the patient does not
understand the message, the diviner will give some further explanations. Some healers receive
their messages via whistling that seems to come from different directions. Because Bantu
languages are tonal and people use whistling while hunting, the patient has no great difficulty
to understand the meaning of the whistle. Otherwise the healer will explain what happens.
2. Before the diviner or shaman starts his work, he puts on his professional dress. In Congo
he/she puts on skins of civet cats and in Uganda this is a bark-cloth.
The diviner draws a horizontal line of white chalk on his temples and a vertical line between
the eyes. Often the diviner smokes a pipe to favour the contact with the ancestors who gave
him the divination charisma. Some diviners use a mirror or a basin of water to perceive the
person who brought on the illness, the death or the accident.
3. Other diviners have the gift to discern fetishes buried in the compound of the patient. They
will dig up those fetishes and bury protecting fetishes at the entrance of the house to ward off
the evil influence of witches.
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The famous diviner of Búdhágáalí (Uganda) in his professional attire.
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Conclusion:
In the above, I have tried to describe African ways, some aspects of African spirituality and
the Catholic Church’s general inability to admire, to assess them at their true value and to
make use of that ancestral legacy. God’s spirit still blows over the chaos, inviting us to open
up to the God’s presence in other religions. Some church leaders and teachers recommend
dialogue with Buddhism, Hinduism and bring to the church the ‘dreamings’ of nations and
peoples such as the native American, the Australian Aboriginal, The New Zealand Maori and
the Canadian Inuit. (Dr. Kania of Oxford University, in the Tablet of 6 September 2008).
But what about the culture and the traditional religion of some 150 million Bantu? The
undoubtedly learned professor Dr. Kania, like so many others, passes them over in silence. I
have written this book to break that persistent silence.
Church’s leaders are seemingly afraid to wipe the scales off their eyes and see the spiritual
beauty of God’s creation in his human creatures all over the world, Africa included.
In the last twenty years Pentecostal Churches with bases in North America are taking over the
ecclesiastic landscape in Africa and South America. Young people are attracted to their
healing sessions, are drawn in by their Bible sharing and by their lively gatherings. The
traditional churches are apparently too deaf to pick up the mood, to read the signs of the times
and to let God happen! The traditional churches are bound hand and foot to their past forms
and formulas. When we hold onto past forms, we tend to lose contact with the sacred in the
presence. Dogmas are no longer vivifying, if they ever were; they have created immense
problems; they have led to divisions, wars and massacres. Traditional morality is nearly
exclusively restricted to an Augustinian outlook on sexuality, containing prohibitions instead
of proclaiming the joy of being liberated, of being alive together with others, alive with
respect to every living creature.
Whilst, in Europe, Christianity is the prerogative of the aging, in Africa Christianity is
embraced by the poor who struggle to reach the Promised Land. In Europe, being a Christian
is a private affaire; in Africa, one cannot be a Christian without belonging to a community.
The local church is a communal search for life, for survival, for freedom and for joy.
Through and by this African way of being a follower of Jesus, Western Christianity may
manage to survive. The world churches are changing the landscape. The weight of
Christianity will reside in the South: Latin America, Africa and Asia. They will reinterpret
Christ’s message and make it attractive again for indifferent Europe. It will be another kind of
church, more fragmented but more dynamic. It may liberate people from materialism, from
individualism, from spiritual poverty and from our innate racism. A racist Christian does not
exist. You are either a racist or a Christian. You cannot be both at the same time. We are
experiencing the birth pangs of a new Christianity. We do not know what the new baby will
look like. But be sure: the new baby will look different from its grandfather, different from its
father and mother. The baby will be new and bring new life and life to the full (John 10, 10).
My standing invitation is not to be afraid and to undertake any form of true dialogue as Jesus
himself had the habit of doing. The legacy of the Prophet Jesus is the proclamation of God’s
love and compassion for all of us. I pray that God opens our eyes, our ears and our hearts to
discern His sacred presence not only in the European legacy of past ages, not only in different
individuals but also in the hearts of other cultures and their religions today.
Jesus is our great model of dialogue. He was open to the marginalised of his world: the tax
collectors, the strangers, the hookers, the Samaritans, women, children, lepers and the sick.
He knew and felt that his mission would not be appreciated by everybody. He had to suffer on
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account of it like so many in the churches suffered (Mateo Ricci and Roberto de Nobili) and
others still suffer when promoting inculturation based on respect for people’s ways of life. In
the past the promoters of inculturation suffered by being silenced, censured, ignored and
banned from teaching posts in seminaries and universities, in short by being side-lined. But
they are in great company, in the company of Jesus himself. In my admiration for their
stamina, I’d like to encourage them to continue to uphold the human dignity of all people and
peoples.
‘I’, He says, ‘am going to make something new. It has started already. Do you not perceive
it?’ (Isaiah 43, 19).
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Index
Abáswezí: 58, 63, 64, 95.
abstinence: 2, 3, 106, 107.
Africa: 2, 5, 10, 13, 16, 23, 27, 54, 72, 73, 75, 77-81, 84-86, 88, 94, 98, 101, 105-109, 116,
121, 124, 129, 132.
African: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8-10, 12-14, 16, 18, 27, 36, 38, 39, 43, 54, 55, 57, 61, 67, 68, 72, 73, 76,
79-82, 84-86, 88, 90, 94, 97, 104-107, 109, 112, 115, 117, 118, 122, 129, 132.
afterbirth: 43, 44, 104 (see also placenta).
Albino: 73.
ancestor: 1, 5, 6, 16-18, 27, 39-45, 47, 48, 50-53, 59, 62-65, 68, 72, 77, 87, 90-92, 94, 96, 97,
99, 103, 105-107, 115, 124, 126, 126, 127.
Anglican: 92, 118, 121, 122.
Arab: 118.
authority: 2, 9, 28, 54, 77, 97, 98, 101.
baby: 1, 29, 33-38, 41-44, 49, 50, 54, 58, 61, 63, 64, 85, 90, 101, 101, 104, 129.
bachelor: 20, 29, 109-115.
banana: 16, 17, 30, 39, 42, 45, 47, 52, 53, 64, 68, 91, 105, 106.
Bantú: 3, 5, 6, 9, 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 27, 28, 34, 42, 53, 65, 67, 69, 71, 72, 77, 81-83, 90, 97,
101, 106, 107, 114, 127, 129.
baptism: 7, 42, 53, 54, 82.
Basnkusu: 3, 13, 16, 42, 46, 47, 49, 60, 65, 76, 80, 85, 132.
Básogá: 3, 10, 13, 18, 28, 30, 40, 42, 48, 49, 59, 65, 68-70, 72, 90, 105, 106, 112, 114, 124.
bewitch: 44, 48, 56, 57, 65, 72, 86, 104, 111.
Bible: 7, 8, 13, 19, 40, 59, 97, 103, 109, 131, 136.
birth: 8, 17, 18, 34-37, 42, 43, 54, 63, 67, 86, 90, 95, 99-101, 110, 111, 117, 129.
bishop: 6, 11, 20, 55, 56, 69, 77, 107, 109-111, 121, 122.
blessing: 1, 14, 27, 39-45, 48, 49, 51, 57, 58, 60, 65, 68, 75, 77, 81, 89, 108, 109.
boy: 17, 35, 39, 42, 44, 48, 51, 67, 69, 71, 76, 90, 91, 100, 101, 111, 112, 116, 120.
brush: 80, 90.
catechist: 5, 9, 14, 43, 53, 76.
Catholic: 5, 7-9, 54, 55, 57, 75, 80, 84, 90, 105-109, 115, 116, 120, 129.
celibacy: 2, 8, 79, 106-109, 115.
chalk: 129
child: 1-4, 8, 13-21, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30-32, 37-39, 41-53, 56-59, 63, 67, 72, 73, 80-83, 85, 86,
88, 89, 92-95, 98-100, 102, 104, 106, 107, 110-116, 116, 118, 120, 121, 129.
clay: 50, 71.
church: 4-13, 18, 26, 41, 42, 49, 53, 55, 57, 58, 67, 74, 75, 79-86, 90, 105-109, 115, 117-120,
123, 129, 130.
confession: 77, 78.
Congo:3, 5, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 27, 28, 34, 35, 39, 40, 42-44, 46-49, 58-61, 65, 67, 69, 73, 76,
79-81, 85, 88, 95, 101, 102, 106, 109, 112, 113, 124, 126, 127.
Congolese: 16, 20, 34, 49, 53, 72, 80-82, 85, 86, 97, 98, 124.
cow: 18, 19, 31, 32, 35, 60, 82, 90, 97.
dance: 13, 46-48, 62, 63, 81, 89, 93, 95, 101, 103.
daughter: 14, 16, 18, 19, 23, 41, 51, 60, 92, 93, 98, 99, 104, 115.
death: 1, 16-19, 21, 24, 27, 31, 34, 37, 46-50, 52-54, 59, 63-65, 67, 72, 73, 84, 87, 90-92, 9496, 105, 115-118, 120, 122-127, 132.
dialogue: 1, 4-6, 9, 10, 12, 78, 79, 84, 86, 108, 129.
diviner: 41, 50, 52, 58, 65, 66, 72, 79, 92, 93, 95, 124-127.
dog: 1, 13, 17, 28, 30, 33, 39, 44, 45, 60, 64, 65, 72, 87, 89, 97, 119.
drum: 1, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 45, 50-52, 58, 62, 63, 66, 80, 81, 95, 97, 100, 102, 127.
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ecclesial: 8, 9, 111, 117, 125
elder(ly): 5, 26-28, 30, 43, 49, 53, 73, 75, 79, 99-101, 105.
Eucharist: 14, 47, 53, 73, 76, 80-83, 105, 107.
fable: 1, 5, 16, 18, 26, 27, 30, 69, 70, 100.
father: 3, 4, 7, 11, 14, 16-19, 26, 29, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42, 50, 51, 53, 59, 66, 67, 70, 75, 78, 79,
81, 82, 92, 93, 95, 97, 100, 101, 104, 108, 110-112, 116, 129.
father-in-law: 19
fish: 1, 11, 15, 29, 31, 37, 39, 41, 44, 45, 47, 61-63, 99, 100, 102, 16, 111, 112.
gay: 116-123.
girl: 2, 19, 20, 23, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 42, 44, 46, 48, 51, 59, 60, 69, 90, 92, 101, 103, 104.
globalisation: 8, 81, 86, 87.
gospel: 1, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 72, 78-80.
grandchild: 14, 39, 40, 50, 52, 81.
grandfather: 14, 42, 90, 91, 101, 127, 129.
grandmother: 42, 57
grandparents: 43.
grandson: 91, 101, 127.
healer: 8, 10, 22, 41, 72, 73, 92, 93, 103, 105, 106, 108, 124-127.
herb(icide): 13, 68, 74, 77, 94, 106.
homosexual(ity): 2, 3, 107, 116-123 (see gay).
husband: 22, 24, 25, 29, 34, 41, 42, 50, 57, 58, 62, 63, 74, 80, 87, 88, 93-95, 102-105, 110113.
inculturation: 2, 14, 54, 75, 78, 79, 105, 106, 130, 131.
Jesus: 3-9, 11-13, 15, 17, 21, 27, 37, 40, 42, 47, 52, 64-66, 73, 76, 78, 80, 81, 83, 84, 92, 94,
95, 105-107, 117, 123, 129, 130.
Kenya:75, 79, 85, 108.
Kintú: 16, 17, 69, 105.
Lianja: 16, 64, 101.
leper: 1, 18, 19, 47, 73, 74, 101, 129.
life: 5-10, 13-20, 23, 25-30, 32, 33, 39, 41-43, 45, 48-50, 55, 56, 59, 65-67, 69, 70, 73, 77, 7981, 84-86, 88-90, 92-95, 97, 103, 104, 106-108, 110, 111, 113, 115-117, 120, 122, 124-126,
131, 132, 135.
magic: 4, 50, 74, 75, 77, 126, 129.
Mary: 55, 78, 87, 94.
marriage: 1, 20, 23, 29, 41, 82, 83, 106, 110-112, 115, 117, 120-122, 132.
Milingo: 110, 111.
missionary: 1, 5-8, 13-15, 17, 69, 72-74, 77, 79-82, 88, 92, 111, 118, 126, 136.
mother: 8, 11, 12, 15, 17, 19, 26, 28, 29, 33, 36-38, 40, 43, 49-51, 53, 59, 60, 62, 63, 69, 76,
89-95, 98, 101, 102, 104, 107, 110-112, 129.
mother-in-law: 42
Mobútu: 46, 67, 98.
Mng : 2, 13, 16, 20, 28-30, 33, 34, 36, 37-44, 47, 49, 51, 54, 63, 64, 71-73, 90, 99-101, 103,
104, 108, 112-115, 132.
Múséveni: 118-123
myth: 16, 17, 64, 71, 78, 100, 101.
ochre: 17, 103.
old: 8, 10, 14, 19, 21, 25, 30-32, 34, 36, 48, 49, 59, 61, 65, 69, 73, 77, 886, 89, 90, 97, 99,
100, 113, 125.
palm nuts: 17, 18, 33, 112.
palm tree: 17, 18, 33, 102, 111, 112.
parent: 3, 20, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 38, 40-44, 49, 50, 67, 68, 82, 83, 86, 89, 92, 93, 95, 98, 99.
pastoral: 8, 12, 14, 15, 20, 29, 56, 77, 80, 81, 88, 110, 120-122, 125.
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patriarchy (patriarchal): 2, 12, 15, 18, 97, 101, 104, 105, 111.
penis: 101.
placenta: 44, 104 (see also afterbirth).
plant: 6, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 33, 38, 42, 43, 45, 61, 62, 68, 74, 106, 111, 127.
plantation: 17, 30, 61, 62, 105.
Pope: 9-11, 86, 107, 110, 118, 122.
possessed: 2, 10, 43, 60, 68, 104, 105, 107, 126.
pregnant: 17, 18, 42, 50, 57, 59, 63, 64, 90, 103, 110, 111.
priest: 4, 8, 9, 12, 58, 63, 64, 72, 76-78, 80, 85, 95, 105-109, 115, 125.
prophet: 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 27, 79, 94, 129.
proverb: 1-3, 5, 9, 13, 15, 16, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 35-37, 42, 60, 70, 71, 88, 95, 98, 100, 102,
104, 106, 109, 111-115, 132.
resurrection: 2, 53, 63, 64, 90, 95.
riddle: 1, 5, 16, 31, 32, 95, 100.
ritual: 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 42, 44-46, 52-56, 60, 65-67, 69, 72, 80, 83, 90, 108, 127, 136.
rite: 53, 55, 66, 83, 84, 91.
sacrament: 4, 7, 53, 54, 76, 77, 83.
sacrifice: 15, 46, 47, 53, 58, 66, 67, 69, 97, 108, 109.
sex: 2, 12, 48, 51, 104, 106, 107, 114, 116, 117, 122.
sexual(ity): 2, 3, 44, 48, 51, 72, 106, 107, 114, 115, 120, 121, 129.
shaman: 2, 3, 105, 106, 124, 125, 127.
shrine: 1, 42, 50, 53, 58, 66, 69, 79, 89, 105, 116, 124, 125.
sign: 1, 3, 7-9, 11, 17, 34, 42, 45, 48, 62, 72, 78, 84, 87, 89, 98, 101, 118, 121, 122, 129.
son: 4, 5, 17, 50, 51, 63, 67, 73, 81, 81, 92, 95, 100, 110-112, 116.
son-in-law: 16, 23, 41.
spirit: 1, 3, 4, 6-9, 13, 15-18, 39-42, 44, 45, 47, 48, 51, 52, 54, 56-70, 75, 76, 78, 81, 84, 90,
91, 95, 96, 103, 104, 106, 109, 124, 126, 127, 129.
spiritual: 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 57, 75-78, 88, 107, 129.
spirituality: 1, 2, 8, 13, 83, 90, 129.
story: 1, 2, 5, 13, 15, 16, 18- 25, 27, 31, 33, 46, 57, 61-65, 76, 78, 79, 86, 87, 90, 92, 93, 95,
99, 102, 106, 109, 111, 112, 122.
talking drum: 1, 34, 35, 37, 39, 97, 100.
tortoise: 18, 23, 30, 101.
tree: 3, 13-19, 21, 27-30, 32, 33, 38, 39, 44, 45, 49, 54, 58, 62, 63, 65, 66, 69-71, 87, 89, 92,
93, 96, 101-104, 106, 111, 112.
Uganda: 2, 3, 13, 16, 18, 20, 28, 30, 32, 34, 40, 42, 44, 48, 50, 58, 59, 61, 64, 65, 68-71, 73,
75, 76, 79-81, 85, 90, 92, 95, 106, 112, 114, 116-124, 127, 128.
umbilical cord: 1, 42, 43, 103.
urine: 18, 50.
Vatican Council II: 10, 77, 83, 86, 109.
Vatican: 109, 110, 117, 122.
visionary: 48, 105, 124.
Wáítítí: 3, 63-66, 92.
wife: 15-18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 29, 32, 33, 38, 41, 42, 47, 50, 56, 60, 62, 67, 73, 74, 80, 87, 88,
104, 106, 107, 109-116.
witchdoctor: 67, 72, 73, 124.
woman: 2, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20-22, 24, 25, 27-30, 35, 37, 41, 43, 44, 48-51, 58, 59, 61-64,
67, 72, 73, 78, 81, 87-89, 93-95, 97, 99-107, 109-111, 120, 123, 124, 126, 129.
135
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