Functionality of African Traditional Religion (ATR): Defilement of Njelele

22 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday News

Cultural Heritage
AFTER fifty three instalments we today come to the end of the articles on the Matobo Cultural Landscape. Of late we have been dealing with African spirituality, or more specifically that of the BaKalanga and related groups. We end this series on a spiritual note by observing the functional nature of African Traditional Religion (ATR).
With regard to the worldview of the African, religion serves the interests of man. This is to say there must be direct benefits to the supplicants. Direct benefits must accrue from religion. The living dead, an important component in the ATR chain, are chastised when they sleep on the job. When the ancestral spirit was summoned to come home during umbuyiso there was a clear reason for that; to come and look after his/her progeny. African Traditional Religion is utilitarian, with the interests of man at its centre.

Once we have interrogated the role of ATR we shall refer to recent visits to the Njelele shrine by groups of supplicants from Mashonaland. The phenomenon will be better understood when the functions of ATR have been understood. We did indicate that Njelele and related shrines were approached for rain-making prior to the onset of the rainy reason, normally in August-September.

That was arguably the most important function of the shrines. As we indicated in earlier instalments Mother Earth is barren unless fertilised. Rain performs precisely that function. Barren Mother Earth cannot sustain life. Continuity of the human species and indeed other species is guaranteed by food provision, itself dependent on a fertile Mother Earth, fertilised by rain.

Some couples faced problems of failure to conceive. The Njelele Shrine in particular was approached by such couples who sought spiritual intervention. Sometime they were told which gynaecologist to approach for help. Not so long ago narrated the story of one man who approached a religious shrine so that he could have a male child. Indeed, in the case that we cited, a boy child was born and was appropriately named Malebeswa.

Clearly, ATR is in the service of ensuring the perpetuity of life on Earth. The instinct to perpetuate one’s species comes effortlessly. Rain-making, as part of religious rituals, is at the centre of ensuring human life is sustained and continued. One just cannot begin to talk about reproduction where there is no food and therefore no life. To cause life-giving rain to fall is an important function of ATR.

There are many conditions or situations that are life-threatening. Diseases are a threat to life. Within the context of ATR there are special persons who are endowed with healing gifts. Usually these are people who are spirit mediums and possess spiritual gifts that enable them to diagnose, by various means, the cause of illness. Through interaction with the spiritual beings, cures are revealed to them. Herbal and other formulations are revealed and administered to the sick who may get healed.

Witches, in their malevolent operations, seek to counter the whole process of continuity and the multiplication of humans  hence the saying ukwanda kwaliwa ngumthakathi. Going unchecked witches and wizards will cause not only sickness but also death within a community. Traditional healers’ function was to counter them and keep them in check.

Africans believed in the existence of a spiritual component or realm, in addition to material reality. Given this duality, they believed there was close interaction between the two components. The material body may be adversely affected by what goes on within its spiritual domain and vice versa. ATR mediates the interaction between the two and results in improved health of an individual. It is within this context that one can talk of spiritual healing where bio-medicines are not used.

War situations are a threat to life and limb. War is thus perceived as the antithesis of continued life. We did indicate that the colour red associated with blood and therefore loss of life was not used at Njelele. The shrine brokered peace to avoid or stop a war that destroys life. The rain-making qualities of the shrines complement their peace-giving role. In both instances, the goal is to ensure continuity of the human species and indeed, other species.

Prophesy is one of the characteristics of ATR. Those men and women who are spiritually endowed are able to foretell the future. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Some spirit persons or mediums are able to foretell the future through the use of diagnostic devices such as “divination” bowls, or bones, among several similar devices. Some people only need to summon the spirit that possesses them, then transcend their physical reality and enter the spiritual realm where they are spiritually enabled to see the future. For people seeking fortune this is important so that they may make more fortune/wealth and protect existing ones.

Where a problem is encountered it must be interpreted, its underlying cause(s) identified so that appropriate remedies may be applied. All these were functions performed ATR. ATR was at the very core of human life and its perpetuity. It was relevant in defending the polity and rulers relied on it to buttress their kingdoms and ensure their rule was not threatened, but instead, blossomed.

Now that we have some idea regarding the functionality of ATR, so what was the issue regarding the people who descended on the Njelele shrine, a move which irked the communities of Matabeleland? The Njelele shrine used to have a vast catchment area which traversed the colonial boundaries. Supplicants came from South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and even Namibia. In Zimbabwe it was largely the southern part and the middle parts of the country which had supplicants going to the Njelele shrine. In the northern parts the national and regional mhondoro spirits played the spiritual role. In any case, the north was well watered and needed no spiritual intervention to make the rain fall.

Whenever the pilgrims went to the Njelele shrine they did so in a representative capacity. The amawosana/manyusa, always accompanied by men to provide security, were sent by a particular community to whom they later reported the instructions or advice given at the shrine. The arrangement ensured small groups went for consultations.

What irked the people of Matabeleland was not that the pilgrims were coming from Mashonaland. There is traditional protocol that attends the visits to the shrine. There is a keeper who leads the pilgrims up to the hill. There are times of day when this is done; it just cannot be any time nor do the pilgrims get there on their own.

Further, the spiritual component has a political dimension to it. Here we are not talking about local or central government. We are referring to the traditional leadership who are the custodians of our cultural heritage, including religious heritage, and indeed the natural heritage. Further, there are ritual purity matters that are at stake. The young were thus excluded from trips to the shrine. The elderly, in particular women beyond menopause, were involved in spiritual matters pertaining to Njelele. Where too large a group is involved this kind of ritual purity is difficult to achieve.

Njelele is a peace shrine and matters relating to war are taken elsewhere; to shrines such as Dula. All this knowledge about the shrines and their spirituality must be known and more importantly, upheld. These were some of the issues that were ignored in the said contentious visits. The people concerned travelled (never mind who sponsored them) to grave sites in Mozambique (close to the border with Zambia where General Tongogara, the Zanla commander, put out a rebellion at Chifombo which saw many killed).

The hundreds of people, said to have included ex-combatants (on the Zanla side only), spirit mediums and traditional chiefs (including Chief Ketso Mare from Matabeleland South and Chief Malaki Masuku’s representative), once at the targeted sites, picked up stones which they brought back home. The stones were taken to the Matopo National Park and deposited not very far from the Matobo Police Station. Later the grave stones were retrieved and taken to the shrine. This was the first travesty of spiritual protocol.

Material from a grave is spiritually defiled; be it grave stones, grave soil or any material for that matter as long as it is retrieved from a grave. Such material should never be taken to Njelele, unless one is deliberately bent on defiling the shrine. The large and frightening numbers of persons and the long convoy of cars and buses is not the way the shrine is visited. The shrine keeper inevitably feels threatened and cowed. He cannot give honest advice about prohibitions and relevant protocol.

The traditional chiefs were not consulted hence they raised alarm and expressed total disgust and indignation with the manner simple protocol was thrown overboard. If the pilgrims were going to consult on matters political there is nothing wrong with that given the background information we furnished above relating to the role and functions of the shrine. Perhaps they were inquiring about the political future of Zimbabwe that is perfectly in order. However, the one motive for the visit given was ritual purification as some of the members of the group are said to have spilt blood during their political and or military careers. The spilt blood is allegedly haunting them, hence recourse to Njelele for spiritual remedy.

Sadly, the goal of cleansing was not achieved as the shrine is not capacitated to deal with war-related spiritual pollution. If anything, the shrine was defiled in the process and, as far as we know, it has not been cleansed successfully to this day. We are aware that attempts at cleansing the shrine, albeit fruitless, were made.

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