Rites and religious customs are religious obligations carried out by adherents of a religious set. When a rite is carried out repeatedly, it becomes a ritual (a norm/habit). Ritual can also be seen or described as prescribed procedure of/for conducting religious ceremonies. Rites and rituals are global phenomena. They cut across religions and continents or races. It is, however, worrisome that Europe and the Western world see most of our religious practices as barbaric and uncivilized, hence this paper aims at correcting global misconceptions about African beliefs, customs and traditions and also harps on the need for Africans to values their own.
Rites and rituals are synonymous with offering of different forms of sacrifices including shedding of blood. However, before progressing further, let me stress that even the Holy Bible clearly stated that “without the shedding of blood, there cannot be remission of sin”. That was why Jesus Christ sacrificed His blood, His life for the remission and forgiveness of the sins of mankind. This is a universally accepted truth especially in Christendom. Cases abound in the Holy Bible where God required blood sacrifice offering for spiritual cleansing or atonement. Rams, sheep and goats were used as sacrificial offerings to God by the Israelites in the Old Testament.
In African Traditional Religion (ATR) which forms part of our beliefs, customs and traditions, rites/rituals play a very key role. Blood of animals and not of humans is often required as a means of spiritual cleansing or atonement. Most times, the magnitude or nature of the offence committed by individuals often determines the dimension of the rite/rituals. Often, it is the blood of goats and rams that is used in most African communities. Aside from this, in some Africans countries including Nigeria, graduation into adulthood or admission into some cults involves one form of rite and ritual or the other. These are fully subscribed to by members of such cults. There are some festivals that are characterized with some forms of rituals. If you are not an initiate, you cannot participate fully. An example is the Ukpako masquerade in Evbiobe Ora, Owan West Local Government Area, Edo State. Only those who have been initiated into adulthood that year are qualified to bear the masquerade and the bearer must be a male. In majority of African communities, male cults are more in number than the females. In Ora, for instance, initiation into adulthood is for both males and females. This is so because the exercise does not involve serious rituals. It is usually done openly and not in secret. But for those cults that are purely secret and ritualistic, the mode of initiation varies. In Ozalla clan, for example, the initiation rite into adulthood is only carried out on the males in Iuleha clan. One of such festivals is Obazu. This is a masquerade worn only by the males. The spirit empowers the bearers to do some extraordinary things and speak to the people through the bearers making some revelations and proclamations. The females are forbidden to see them as this will lead to very dire consequences. Whether you are visitor or not, as long as you are a female, you are forbidden to see it. Travellers plying the road across the clan are pre-informed to be guided during the period of the festival. Even the males taking part in the festivals have to be fully spiritually fortified, as no one with questionable disposition can fully participate in it.
Investigation about the Ovia Religious Society reveals that the adherents spend up to a month in their grove equipping themselves. The grove is not opened to females and non-natives as well as non-initiates. It is not an all-comers affair. In that one month you have to be spiritually cooked and loaded. The period involves spiritual cleansing coupled with performance of different rituals. You need to learn the language, dance and songs unique to the society. All these and many more activities take place in the grove.
We also have the Okhuae deity. There are so many mysteries associated with the Okhuae deity. For instance, the head – Ohen Okhuae – is the only person or authority that wears a crown and dresses like the Oba of Benin but throughout the reign of any Oba, he does not step into Benin land.
The burial and coronation of Obas and some key traditional heads in Nigeria and in some other African countries involve different forms of rites/rituals. This is symbolic of the powers they carry and the roles they play between the ancestors and the living. In Benin, for instance, the Oba does not die but transits. The Oba’s coronation and canonization follow the same the pattern of rites and rituals. For him to ascend the throne, the land must be cleansed and as he journeys to the ancestral land, cleansing also takes place.
The burial of the late Queen Elizabeth II of England involved some rituals. The most sacred parts of the burial rites were not televised. What happened to the ram that was dragged along? It was not showed or revealed to the viewing public. Yet we tend to believe and listen to the West throwing aspersions at our religion and festivals as archaic and barbaric and ritualistic. The presence of the ram in the funeral procession was indeed not for fun. We should be ready and able to tell the world our own story ourselves and not continue to allow others to tell it the way it soothes them, thereby making us feel inferior.
As a documentary officer with National Museum, I came across one returned-repatriated object from England. The description and name given to the object by the British Museum was “a shrine stick”, instead of the original local name of “Ukhure”. With this, no one coming to the museum would see it as a mere stick but as one that carries power and authority.
In concussion, I wish to state and re-state that our culture, customs and traditions are not barbaric. We should learn to tell our own stories. It is the value you place on your product that will determine how much people will price it. We should be very deliberate in packaging and presenting our culture, customs and traditions. The proper packaging of Osun Oshogbo grove has made it a global phenomenon. It now has worshippers from across the world who come every year to pay homage. Sango (the god of thunder) is no longer seen today by the whites as a barbaric concept but a global mystery that they cannot fathom or unravel. The Sango fire-eater display during the Commonwealth Games in Abuja still remains a mystery to the global community. For others to value our cultural identity, we must first identify with it. Let us not continue to be intimidated by the selfish and myopic views and submissions of the western world. Let us try to raise our festivals and cultural practices to a universal level of attraction so as to draw global attention and acceptance. Our culture is our pride.
