Journey to the stars: The dimensions and symbolic processes involving ash between reconciling parties to a conflict

12 Mar, 2023 - 00:03 0 Views
Journey to the stars: The dimensions and symbolic processes involving ash between reconciling parties to a conflict Stars

The Sunday News

TODAY we bring to a close the stories that brought together the moon and the ash into numerous African rituals that sometimes ended with pomp and ceremony. In the cited examples, the importance of the moon has been underwritten, much as that of ash was equally underscored. Largely, the applications were practical and always explained in terms of underpinning beliefs and thought that provided the staying power behind the subsisting cultural practices.

As we approach the commencement of a process, where ideas relating to ash are pertinent, it is just as well that we end on a note that will bring to the fore and centre, once again, an instance where ash and its perceptions take a pivotal role in the much-awaited reconciliation process that is long overdue.

The timing of the process faltered because of contending demands. This was because of competing demands on the lives of rural folk whose participation in the process is critical. Rural folk operate a calendar that is seasonal. Their economies and therefore their survival are intimately linked to the agricultural season that, in turn, relies on the rain season. When it comes to making a choice, agriculture understandably comes first.

We are here making reference to the  Gukurahundi episode. As that happens, we cannot fail to see ash coming to play a critical role in the process that hinges on its application in terms of its symbolic meaning. The starting point is conflict that characterized the Zimbabwean political landscape soon after attainment of independence where thousands of people lost their lives. The most important aspects of the envisaged process hinge on the use of ash in the performance of long-established Ndebele reconciliation rituals.

Conflict in this context has been symbolized as burning wood firebrands. The heat that is produced is the most important aspect that plays the role of a conflict metaphor. Fire burns. Fire consumes. At the same time, fire cleanses. It is these considerations relating to fire that come into play in driving the process that seeks to heal conflict. Africans understood certain processes as depending on a litany of linear actions that, by virtue of their inherent symbolism, spoke louder than words. The sequenced actions usually guaranteed success when participating parties were committed and dedicated to the successful conclusion of the process for the good that flows out of a resolved conflict. A restorative process lies at the heart of efforts by Africans who are a cooperative people who rely on cooperative endeavour for the good of their communities.

There were key elements that drove the process to its logical conclusion. Parties to the conflict subscribed to the underlying beliefs, metaphors, and symbolism as both were socialized into and inculcated the same ideas regarding reconciliation and healing within the given community. They and their community acknowledged that conflict left unresolved had a negative impact on the body politic of the community and its social costs were high. Conviction about the negative effects of unresolved conflict and the processes to be instituted was critical.

The one critical player who drove the process was an arbiter. This was an individual of high and impeccable standing within the community. The underlying principle here was that the two parties to the conflict could not, on their own, drive the process to a successful and sustainable conclusion.

This idea may also be identified when less prominent issues such as marriage negotiations were entered into. The groom-to-be’s people appointed someone they trusted to be their emissary.

Likewise, the bride-to-be’s people did the same. Yet there was no conflict in the transactions that were about to take place. Of course, wealth was at stake and the emissaries entrusted with the delicate processes walked a tight rope.

Once a mutually agreeable arbiter had been identified and commissioned, the process ensued and it was here that ash played its definitive and symbolic role in the process of reconciliation and subsequent healing and restoration of what were raptured relations.

The individuals who sometimes were in no talking terms were taken at the time when the sun was about to set to stand on the midden (ash dump) outside the homestead. Linking the end of conflict to end of day was symbolically important. This was an important condition that had to be met when certain rituals were performed. Temporal timing was of the essence in terms of position of the sun and the cyclical tatus of the moon. The process had to be as near to full moon as possible. At that stage, lunar potency was at its peak. It was time when efficacy was more or less guaranteed.

The process required to be freed from the negative energies of the homestead. Hence, the location was outside the home on a midden, the place where every day women deposited ash from the fireplaces.

The ash cooled and, in that condition, represented, expressed and symbolized a resolved conflict. The tripartite elemental constitution stood on pacific ground.

The two parties to the conflict were at the very outset asked if they were irrevocably committed to the process of reconciliation that had both human and spiritual dimensions. The conflict, so it was believed, transcended the two worlds, that of the living relatives of the conflicting parties and that of their ancestral spirits. Both were important stakeholders.

In the absence of total and irrevocable commitment to the process, the arbiter’s hands were tied. He did not proceed with a process that was a sham and therefore unlikely to subsist. The arbiter had brought a piece of gourd and water to the site where peace was to be brokered and reconciliation attained. He took some ash and placed it in the gourd that, in comparison to a potsherd, was more symbolic of peace. A potsherd was a product of firing following the process of moulding.

He went on to stir the contents comprising the mixture of water and ash. Do note that there were no discussions about the genesis of the conflict. Further, there was no witch hunting to identify who was guilty and who was not. The two who now sought to end their unsustainable relationship of hostility, tension and negatively relating to each other, knew that. This was probably a wise move and witch hunting would scuttle the process and see to the resumption of the status quo.

Ash came into play then. The three stood on peaceable ground that symbolized ended conflict. Cold ash characterized the ground where the two and their arbiter stood. More ash in the form of the mixture in the broken gourd was to play some complementary role. It was a series of actions that touched upon and embraced the two realms of life-the spiritual and the living.

The first to have a go at it was asked to take a sip and spit the water and ash mixture on to the ground.

The second sip was ingested. The second person followed the same procedure. There were many symbolic actions at play. The first sip was targeted at the ground that symbolized the spiritual realm.

The mixture that was deposited on the ground carried the signature of the person who did the spitting. His saliva symbolized and represented him. Through that process, he was informing his ancestors about the process he was engaging in.

The second person performed the same ritual and the two were informing their ancestors and symbolically bringing their efforts into joint endeavour. The mixtures that represented them were deposited on the same peaceable ground with ash. Besides, the mixtures being squirted from their mouths were mixtures of double-edged peace. The ash, as explained, represented, symbolized and expressed ended conflict. Water too carried the same quality. Water can douse hot flames of conflict, that is to say, it can bring about an end to conflict. The burning firebrands may be allowed to burn until they are exhausted or alternatively, water may be poured on them to douse the fire and symbolically end the conflict.

Professor John S Mbiti

Water, ash and timing as dictated by both the moon and the sun came into play to symbolically end a conflict that brought together the living, their relatives and their living dead as Professor John S Mbiti the Kenyan scholar would have expressed it.

Africans acknowledge the perversity of spirituality in all aspects of their lives. Reconciliatory measures were no exception. To them reconciliation that preceded healing was not an entirely physical or material process. Both its success and sustainability hinged on the incorporation of the spiritual dimension. Parties to a conflict were children of the ancestors who were brought into the winning formula. The ancestors that were consulted and informed to underwrite the successful conclusion to a conflict were as important as the living parties to the process and the conduct of the process itself. The product was as important as the process itself.

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