 |
AFRICANA
STUDIES The Five Major African Initiation Rites Prof. |
There are five major African initiation rites which are fundamental to human growth and development. These rites were originally established by African ancestors while they were living in order to link the individual to the community and the community to the broader and more potent spiritual world. Initiation rites are a natural and necessary part of a community, as are arms and legs natural and necessary extension of the human body. These rites are critical to individual and community development, and it should not to be taken for granted that people automatically grow and develop into responsible, community-oriented adults.
The process of initiation concerns undergoing a fundamental set of rites to start a new phase or beginning in life. It marks the passing from one phase in life to the next more mature phase. Initiation fundamentally has to do with transformation, and has been a central component of traditional African cultures since time immemorial. The details of the rites vary among the different societies, but these rites are nevertheless basic components of the society as they help guide the person from one stage in life into the next stage of one’s life and development, that is, from birth to death and beyond.
The five rites are birth, adulthood, marriage,
eldership, and ancestorship.
A rite is a fundamental act (or set of rituals) performed according to
prescribed social rules and customs.
Each of these
rites are a key component that are a part of traditional African cultures. Some societies have more elaborate and
extensive ceremonies than others, but these five themes are the thread that
links families and villages in traditional Africa and provide the necessary
structure for individual growth and development. The 5 rites briefly described below represent
an integrated initiation system that has given indigenous African cultures the
stability and longevity to provide a model of consistency and
inter-generational unity. They represent
a complete set of devices that prevent the inherent conflicts between various
age groups or the systematic ill treatment of women, children, or elders. These problems are commonplace in western
cultures, but they are virtually unknown in indigenous African cultures. These African cultures were not “perfect” as
all human societies have problems, but they do provide a viable example in the
modern world of how to solve social conflicts and contradictions and give
individual the societal support to discover and fulfill their life mission and
unique contribution.
RITE OF BIRTH
The Rite of Birth is the first of the major
African initiation rites and it involves initiating the infant into the world
through a ritual and naming ceremony. Nearly all African cultures hold that the
infant has come from the spirit world with important information from that
world, and is bringing unique talents and gifts to offer to the community. The infant, in fact, is believed to have been
commissioned to come to the world and accomplish a particular mission or
project, and often has a great message to deliver.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the family
and community to discover the infant’s unique mission through consultations
with a diviner and to have rituals and a birth chart done. This is done to clearly determine the new
community member’s mission in order to guide him/her through their life
path. The infant’s name is given after
the determination of the mission and it is a reflection of the infant’s personality
or the life mission itself.
RITE OF ADULTHOOD
The Rite of Adulthood is the second major
initiation rite and it is nowadays the most popular among the set of
rites. Most people today assume that
“rites of passage” only refers to initiation into adulthood, and they are often
not aware that adulthood rites are only one set of rites within a larger system
of rites. Adulthood rites are usually
done at the onset puberty age (around 12-13 years of age in many cultures) and
they are to ensure the shaping of productive, community-oriented responsible
adults. There is nothing automatic about youth being productive members of
society, nor is there anything particularly difficult about transitioning from
a child to an adult. This transition to
adulthood is exceedingly difficult in Western societies because there are no
systems of adulthood rites to systematically guide and direct the young person
through this important stage in his or her life cycle.
In Western culture adulthood is seen as a status
achieved at the age of 18 or 21, or simply when the person graduates from high
school. Unfortunately, in most cases
there is no fundamental guidance or transformation from a child to an adult
that is required or expected. This
“leave it for chance” approach to adulthood development is the root of most
teenage and youth “adult” confusion, chaos, and uncertainty. When the youth reach a certain age, somehow
they are expected to magically transformed into an “adult,” eventhough they
often receive very little guidance.
On the other hand, African societies systematically
initiate boys and girls. They often take
the young initiates out of the community, and away from the concerns of
everyday life, to teach them all the ways of adulthood: including the rules and
taboos of the society; moral instruction and social responsibility; and further
clarification of his/her mission or calling in life.
RITE OF MARRIAGE
The Rite of Marriage is the third major
initiation rite and it represents not only the joining of two families, but
also the joining of the two missions of the new couple. In other words, the marriage rites are
performed for not only the coming together of male and females to procreate and
perpetuate life and the coming together of families, it is also an institution
that helps both the husband and wife to best fulfill their mission and
objectives in life. Unfortunately, in
Western society a vast number of marriages fail as they are often based upon
the couple “falling in love” and thereby entering the relationship in an
unbalanced state. Individual often “fall
in love” quick and “fall out of love” just as quickly, as soon as they recover
from the emotional “love at first site” syndrome. African society, on the other
hand, does not emphasize individual looks and lust as the primary motivation
for marriage, but rather the basic focus is on building families and
communities. The focus is on the
collective more than the individual. A person
is not generally considered an adult until they have married and had children.
RITE OF ELDERSHIP
The Rite of Eldership is the fourth major
initiation rite and it is an important component of the initiation system,
because it is the elders who represent tradition and the wisdom of the
past. In African culture, there is a
fundamental distinction that has to be made between an “elder” and “older”
person. An older person has simply
lived a longer life than most of people, but it not considered one who deserves
high praise and respect. This is because
the older person’s life has not been a positive example for the community. An older person could be a thief or drunkard,
an evil person, or could be someone who never married and had children, and
thus these examples would certainly prevent a person from being considered a
respected elder.
An elder, on the other hand, is someone who is given
the highest status in African culture because s(he) has lived a life of
purpose, and there is nothing more respected than living a purposeful
life. The life of an elder is centered
in the best tradition of the community, and is someone who has gone through all
of the previous three rites, and is a living model for the other groups in the
society to emulate. An elder is given
the highest status and along with new infants because these two groups
represent the closest links to the wisdom of the spirit world.
RITE OF ANCESTORSHIP
The last of the five major rites is the Rite of
Ancestorship, which concerns passing over into the spirit world. This final initiation rite is an extension of
the elder/older distinction because the status that a person has in life is the
same status that they bring with them when they pass on. There is virtually no African society that
believes that when a person dies this ends all ties and communication with the living. Rather, African philosophy from one culture
to another agrees that the spirit of the deceased is still with the living
community, and that a distinction must be made in the status of the various
spirits, as there are distinctions made in the status of the living.
One of the most important distinctions is the difference between an older person who dies and who is seen as nothing more than a “dead relative,” and a respected elder who passes on and is revered as an honored “ancestor.” The dead relative dies without honor and is someone who is not remembered as a great person or someone who should be followed or emulated. On the other hand, a respected elder who passes on becomes a respected ancestor and is given the highest honor. This group of ancestor wield great power and are often called upon in matters of trouble or uncertainty to help influence a favorable outcome. Thus, ancestors are respected elders who have passed away and who continue to serve as an extension of the family and community.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
The above general outline of the African initiation rites is a summary of the complete system of rites that have enormous implications for Black communities in various parts of the diaspora. These communities are struggling to find solid and lasting solutions to long standing problems, resulting from centuries of slavery and colonialism. The solution to these deep-rooted problems is to learn and apply the fundamental philosophies and principles that have created harmonious traditional African societies.
The five major initiation rites can be implemented
in any Black community that seeks to find solutions to the problem of a large
number of people in the community who lack direction and purpose, and who lack
a commitment to build and develop the community. The fact is that in order to produce a
society that is focused on the best interest of the community requires a
broad-based system that is designed to produce community-oriented responsible
adults.
A few practical suggestion include the following:
Rite of Birth: a birth chart should be
made for each infant or young person in each family. This is necessary in order to determine their
personality, talents, and gifts. If this
chart is done before the new baby is given a name, then the name will always
remind the person of what their mission is in life whenever his/her name is
called. When a person’s name reflects
their life’s purpose then this is a powerful tool to help keep the person
focused on their life’s work.
Rite of Adulthood: the adulthood rites have
to be seen in a larger context. Most
programs are well meaning but the problem is often that the mentors of the
numerous adulthood “rites of passage” programs have not been initiated themselves. It is obvious that one cannot teach what one
has not been taught. The African proverb
is that “one who learns, teaches.” The solution to this contradiction is for
there to be more focus on programs or organizations for men and women to deal
with their own issues of a lack of self-development and lack of a purposeful
life, so that they could be better examples for the youth. In other words, the principles that are
taught must be applied to the lives of the mentors and adults, otherwise the
programs have no credibility or long term effectiveness.
Rite of Marriage: the solution to the
epidemic of serial marriages – where many individual marry and divorce
multiples times during the course of their life – is to change the approach
from off-balanced individuals “falling in love” to the more balanced and stable
approach of culturally-centered families forming a mutual bond. The problem for many Black people is that
they often adopt anti-social Western ideas and thus see in-laws as their
opponents. If more marriages were formed
between individuals that have both been through the birth and adulthood rites,
then more unions would work because both individuals would have a clear focus
in life and would also know how to best support the other partner’s mission. They would be marrying the person and
their mission.
Rite of Eldership: every Black community
should establish a council of elders to help guide that particular
community. There are a number of
examples of African societies govern by elders (gerontocracy) because of their
collective and accumulative wisdom. This
is an important philosophy that should be adopted because a council of
elders could be consulted in a variety of
matters, ranging from family or marriage disputes, community-wide
issues, naming of buildings and community centers, and directing resources to
supporting important projects. The
guidelines of choosing the council members should be clearly established and
members chosen by vote. Without a council
of elders most Black communities will remain disorganized and lacking
direction and effective leadership.
Rite of Ancestorship: every Black community that
establishes a governing council of elders should also chose a group of local
and national ancestors whose life represented a purpose focused on helping (in
some way) to build and develop the community.
This local group of honorable ancestors should be chosen to be
remembered because of their great example and contributions, and thus their
life should be honored. Too often when
ancestors are remembered during community ceremonies a distinction is not made
between respected ancestors and dead relatives, or another problem is that many
times famous ancestors are remembered but local ancestors are
overlooked during these ceremonies.
Every healthy community must have local (s)heroes