Page 148 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

african religions 33

law rulers were able to unite tribal elements into a coher- pate in, although often undercover. Although possession
ent whole. The kingdoms of Wagadu (Ghana), Mali, cults can be found in many regions, we will focus on the
Songhai, Kanem, and Bornu and the Hausa emirates situation among the Hausa. In a 1975 study, the anthro-
were all centralized states that adopted Islam to their pologist Ralph Faulkingham notes that the Muslim and
advantage. “pagan” Hausa in the southern Niger village he studied
However, the introduction of Islamic government and believed in the same spirits. Both believed in the same ori-
law also provided an excuse for religiously sanctioned gin myth for these spirits as well. According to the myth,
rebellion against rulers who were not living up to the Allah called Adama (“the woman”) and Adamu (“the
strict tenets of Islam, according to various religious mili- man”) to him and bade them to bring all their children.
tary rulers. In the 1800s, militant Muslims objected to the They hid some of their children.When Allah asked them
halfhearted Islamic faith of their rulers and led holy where those children were, they denied that any were
wars against those whom they considered lax in the faith. missing, whereupon Allah told them that the hidden chil-
These nineteenth-century jihads were common among dren would belong to the spirit world.These spirits may,
the Fulani peoples.They upset the balance that had pre- on occasion, take possession of those living in the every-
vailed since around the thirteenth century between local day world.
rulers, who adhered to Islam, and their subjects, who Indigenous theology linked dead ancestors to the spir-
continued to practice traditional religions. Although the its of place in a union that protected claims and rela-
Fulani tend to be pastoralists, there were a number of set- tionships to the land. Spirits of place included trees, rock
tled Fulani who had intermarried with Hausa or other outcroppings, a river, snakes, and other animals and
settled peoples. One result of these religious wars was objects. Rituals and prayers directed toward the spirits of
that Fulani rulers replaced local rulers in the areas where family and place reinforced communal norms and the
the rebellions took place. authority of the elders in defending ancient beliefs and
practices. In return for these prayers and rituals, the spir-
Christianity in Africa its offered protection from misfortune, adjudication, and
Christianity reached Africa in the first centuries CE, before divination through seers or shamans, who worked with
it entered Europe. The Coptic Church (in Egypt), for the spirits to ensure good and counteract evil.The Hausa
example, go back to the first century of Christianity and incorporate those beliefs into their Islamic beliefs.
still exists today. It, like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, The majority of Muslim Hausa who participate in the
is a Monophysite church; that is, it teaches that Christ spirit possession cult, called the Bori cult, are women and
had a single nature rather than two distinct (human and members of the lower classes; as one rises in social
divine) natures. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a standing, one’s practice of Islam tends to become more
large hierarchy of saints and angels, many monasteries strict and more orthodox. The Bori rituals among the
and convents, and a strong worship of Mary, Gabriel, Hausa appear to be rituals of inversion; that is, traditional
Michael, and Ethiopia’s patron, St. George. There are societal rules are turned on their heads. People who are
many African saints, including Tekle Haimanot and possessed may behave in ways that would not be ac-
Gabra Manfas Keddus. There is also belief in demons cepted in other circumstances. The Bori cult is widely
and other evil spirits, as well as in witchcraft and pos- understood as being a refuge from the strongly patriar-
session. chal ideal of Hausa Islam.Thus both women and effem-
inate males find some respite there. Indeed, the Bori cult
Possession Cults provides a niche open to marginal people of all kinds,
Possession cults are one feature of traditional African reli- not simply women or homosexuals. Butchers, night soil
gions that both African Christians and Muslims partici- workers, musicians, and poor farmers are welcome there.