Month 5, Day 29: My Problem with African Traditional Religion

Maybe I’m just in yet another mini-depression, but I’m starting to get sick of African religion. I think I was right to pick 30 days as the length of time to spend in each religion. If I had spent any longer on Christianity or Taoism, I probably would have blown my brains out. And I’m already starting to feel the same way about African religion.

Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of things I like about the African traditions I’ve been practicing. I love not having to go to church at designated times. I like the whole “share some wine with your ancestors and reap the benefits” thing. And I like the clever, funny, vomit-related stories about the origins of the universe. But one thing is driving me crazy: the lack of any type of scripture.

I’m a sucker for books. I’m almost certain I own more volumes than my local library. My books are in excellent condition and actually include genres other than mystery and “large print”--unlike my local library.

The point is, I like books. So maybe I overestimate the importance of books in religion, but I think some kind of scripture is important, if not essential, in a religious tradition.

I’m not saying that I necessarily believe that the scripture of any given religion is truly divine, handed down by God to some prophet who wrote all that wisdom down.. In fact, I definitely do not believe that. After reading the entire Bible back in December, I can comfortably say that some books do not live up to the hype.

Still, I like the idea of having some concrete ideas, some prayers, something tangible as a focus for worship. Pouring wine on the ground and chatting with my dead ancestors doesn’t feel like religion to me. To tell you the truth, it feels a lot like being crazy—and I get enough of that feeling in the non-spiritual parts of my life. I’m kind of looking for religion to make me feel less crazy.

So I guess the point is that I’m glad this month is almost over. Although African religions are interesting and even beautiful in many ways, I don’t think they’re right for me. I need some structure and I really need some books.

Month 5, Day 26: Themes in African Religious Traditions

In Africana: The Encyclopedia of African and African American Experience, Robert Baum writes, “Africans do not have a word equivalent to the term “religion”.

That may sound odd, but in African traditions, religion isn’t some outside belief system—like an obligation to go to church on Sunday or a vague notion that you should behave properly or you’ll burn in hell. To most Africans, religious belief is so much a part of daily life that it doesn’t require a word to describe it. Simply put, religion is life.

As the Exploring Africa Website explains, “religious beliefs impact the way people live their everyday lives, from what they eat (or cannot eat), the way they farm, do everyday chores, hunt, make tools and clothes, arrange themselves in families, marry, divide work among family members, educate their children, treat illness and bury the dead. Among indigenous African religions, religious belief and practice are not restricted to one holy day each week . . . but are present in the most common daily activities as well as in special ritual ceremonies.”

It’s kind of a nice idea, isn’t it? Maybe religion would seem like less of a burden and more of a blessing if it were integrated into everything we do. Or maybe life would be even more oppressive. I don’t know. I think I’m getting a cold and I’m starting to ramble, so let me think about this some more and get back to you. I think I should go back to bed.

Month 5, Day 24: Ifa

Ifa is a religious tradition developed by the Yoruba people of Western Africa thousands of years ago—no one seems to be sure exactly how old the practice is.

Ifa has been passed down, mainly orally, from teacher to student over the years, and enslaved Africans brought the tradition with them to the Americas. Today, it’s still practiced widely in both Africa and America.

The beliefs of Ifa can be boiled down to these basics:

•  Everything in the universe was created by a single, unchanging Supreme Being, known as Olodumare.
• Olodumare bestowed the gift of rationality upon human beings (although I’ve got to say, I think he missed a few).
•  Messenger spirits called orisa support human beings, and we can obtain their help by means of special rituals and prayers.
• Believers should practice a strict moral code that includes tolerance, humility, piety, compassion for others, and a prohibition against any type of cheating, stealing, or double-dealing.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve had a hard time finding specific information on African rituals that I can adapt for my own use. Ifa is a definite exception.

I actually managed to find an entire Ifa textbook—a thick volume full of prayers and rituals designed for people who are studying to become members of the Ifa priesthood.

It seemed like a strange book for a Texas bookstore to carry, especially considering the store didn’t even have any books on Buddhism or Hinduism, which are much more popular in the United States than I imagine Ifa would be. Still, I was pretty excited to find it. I even managed to suppress the editor inside me and overlook the punctuation error in the title.

It’s hard to see it in the picture, but the title reads Ifa: The Key to Its’ Understanding. Seriously? Why do people have so much trouble with apostrophes? And yes, I know I’ve jinxed myself now and this post will be riddled with punctuation errors. But let’s just move on.

So I tried reading the book. Wow. Maybe it’s partly the language barrier and the fact that the English translations aren’t great, but man, is it hard to follow!

And I gather that it wouldn’t be much easier to study this book even if you could read the original African text. Apparently, students of Ifa are expected to memorize hundreds of verses within 2 to 6 weeks after beginning their training.

Needless to say, I’m not going to do that. I can barely read this stuff at all—there’s no way I’d be able to memorize it.

Of course, the book did mention one possible solution for students who are having trouble with all the memorization. According to the text: “if the [student] is found to be intellectually below average, it is the duty of the [teacher] to prepare an appropriate Isoye [a medicine used to strengthen memory] . . . in order to increase his intellectual capability.”

Maybe that’s all everybody needs—some “smart” pills.

Anyway, Ifa involves a complex system of divination, using items such as bones, stones, and seeds to seek answers to questions posed by clients about their future.

I’m noticing something. Lots of world religions devote a good deal of their energy to trying to predict the future, and that just seems odd to me. Maybe it’s the residual traces of Catholicism in me, but I always thought divination was a big no-no. I mean, I even felt guilty about going to see the cheesy palm readers at the boardwalk when my friends and I were teenagers.

So maybe the sticks and stones and predicting the future parts of African religion just aren’t for me. I’m still on board with the rest—at least until this month is over.

Month 5, Day 21: Pouring Libation

Although I’m definitely enjoying learning about African traditional religions, I do have one complaint: Despite the fact that all the sources emphasize the importance of ritual in African faiths, there’s virtually no detailed information available (at least to outsiders) on what exactly those rituals should look like.

Sure, you can find plenty of detail about the life passage rites of certain African peoples—especially gory details about things like ritual circumcision. But since I prefer to bypass circumcision this month (call me crazy), I’ve been a little disappointed to find so little information about simpler, everyday rituals.

Luckily, I did manage to find some detail about one common African religious ritual—the pouring of libation. So that’s the ritual I’ve chosen to perform. And I’ve got to say, I kind of liked it (except for the apparent waste of booze, but I guess I shouldn’t look at it as a waste, right?).

You can pour libation for various reasons, but it’s always done as a way to communicate with the spirits of your ancestors. You pour the libation in some special spot—near a shrine dedicated to your ancestor, near a tree, on the ground. Apparently, it doesn’t really matter, as long as the place is special in some way to you and your ancestors.

What liquid you choose to pour depends on what you hope to accomplish. As the Africa Speaks Website explains, “Water is for cooling and heating and creating or reconciling relationships. Liquor is fiery and is usually used to rouse, cement, ignite, protect and perform strong purification. Wine is mid-way between the two and is good for friendly relations, creating comradry [sic] between man and spirit.”

I chose to use wine, since the purpose of my libation ritual was to express a little friendliness toward my ancestors—maybe more than I did when they were alive—and to thank them for their help in the gradual improvements that have been taking place in my life over the past few weeks.

The process of the ritual is pretty simple—at least as far as I can tell. I gather that it can be far more complex when it’s carried out by someone with actual religious training, but obviously, that’s not me, so I kept it straightforward and easy.

First, you say a prayer to “awaken” the ancestors and get their attention so they’ll be there with you for the purpose of the ritual. You’re not supposed to bother them just for the fun of it. You have to have a reason—even if it’s only to say thank you or to ask for their support.

You pour the liquid at the designated spot. I picked the ground beneath a really gnarled and ugly tree in my backyard—it seemed old, like my ancestors, and it’s still standing and growing, despite lightning strikes and storms, so it’s strong, also like my ancestors.

You’re supposed to talk to the spirits of the ancestors as if you’re talking to a living person. That was easy enough for me. I talk to everybody the same way—even my dogs. So I said my prayer, thanked my ancestors, and poured the wine.

Once that’s all said and done, Africa Speaks says you have to close the libation ritual with Ase. Although it doesn’t give any specifics, the Website says Ase is just a spiritual declaration, along the lines of saying “Let it be done” or “Let it be so.” I imagine many religions would view it as saying “Amen.”

Easy enough, right? All it takes is a few minutes, a short prayer, and a cupful of booze. I kind of like that. Of course, now I have to go out and buy more wine, but I guess I shouldn’t complain. Twelve dollars for a bottle of cheap merlot is a small price to pay for the goodwill of my ancestor spirits.

Month 5, Day 20: An African Prayer of Blessing

For the past few years, my life has pretty much sucked. I moved away from my hometown and all my friends and family, I got divorced, the economy tanked, and my work dwindled down to virtually nothing.

I’ve struggled to figure out what I want and how to get it. I’ve had trouble seeing the big picture because I’ve been so focused on the little details of daily survival. Basically, I’ve felt like I was cursed.

But over the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing some signs—little hints—that things might be turning around. My life is still far from perfect, but I’m (almost) starting to feel hopeful again.

Maybe it’s this project. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m African at the moment and my ancestor spirits are stepping in to help me out. I don’t know. Whatever it is, I’m feeling better. I’m feeling—dare I say it?—blessed. Well, at least a little bit blessed.

So, I thought today I’d share my newfound optimism by posting an African prayer of blessing. I hope it works for you as well as all this African traditional religion seems to be working for me:

O Lord, O God, Creator of our land, our earth, the trees, the animals and humans, all is for your honor. The drums beat it out, and people sing about it, and they dance with noisy joy that you are the Lord.

You also have pulled the other continents out of the sea. What a wonderful world you have made out of the wet mud, and what beautiful men and women! We thank you for the beauty of this earth. The grace of your creation is like a cool day between rainy seasons. We drink in your creation with our eyes.

We listen to the birds' jubilee with our ears. How strong and good and sure your earth smells, and everything that grows there. The sky above us is like a warm, soft Kente cloth, because you are behind it, else it would be cold and rough and uncomfortable. We drink in your creation and cannot get enough of it.

But in doing this we forget the evil we have done. Lord, we call you, we beg you: tear us away from our sins and our death. This wonderful world fades away. And one day our eyes snap shut, and all is over and dead that is not from you. We are still slaves of the fetishes of this earth. When we are not saved by you.

Bless us. Bless our land and people.
Bless our forests with mahogany, wawa, and cacao.
Bless our fields with cassava and peanuts.
Bless the waters that flow through our land. Fill them with fish and drive great schools of fish to our seacoast, so that the fishermen in their unsteady boats do not need to go out too far.

Be with us youth in our countries, and in all Africa, and in the whole world. Prepare us for the service that we should render.