FEATURES

AFRICAN CULTURE: A CRY FOR HELP

JOSHUA ERUBAMI

Cultural diversity and historical experiences are often the reflection of various forms of religious practices unique to many people and societies. All of its variations- African Traditional Religion, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Zoroasteism, Hinduism and Satanism- are only components of the complex whole of religions that make up the cultural and belief systems of those practising them. The African continent, in its fair share, is inhabited by diverse people exposed to different religious ways during their upbringings.

Long, long ago, in the early ages to as late as the 18^th century, prior to the unlicensed immigration of the Europeans to Africa, the continent was, indeed, a beauty to behold in terms of cultural and traditional dispositions. Although it was not a wholly literate society then -in the western sense-, it boasted of legion structures, paintings, carvings, engravings and other artistic works which would have earned the continent much as tourist attractions in modern times.

While different systems of coexistence such as capitalism, socialism and communism were upheld as dominant paradigms in other climes, the African setting was that of communalism- a system whereby everyone lived together in peace, love and unity; where everyone was his or her brother’s keeper and where goods and services where distributed according to individual needs and desires. In such a system, which also encouraged hard work, honesty and prudence, someone else’s house could be seen as everybody’s house, just as everybody’s house could be seen as anyone else’s house.

Similarly, the upbringing of children is seen as a collective responsibility of the community, irrespective of their kith or kin. These explain why the society was void of much of the social ills such as arm robbery, rape, kidnap, immorality and murder, which have become the major constituents of our modern life. Then, there were measures for checking insecurity, territorial invasion and negligence in any of their manifestations. The various age grades, like in the pre-colonial Eastern Nigeria, played major roles in ensuring tranquility and unity among all stakeholders of the congenial and homogeneous spatial and social setting. There were agreed patterns of dressing, eating mode, manner of greeting, spelt out ways of relating among the opposite sexes and conventional ways of paying tribute to the dead. This, exceptionally, was all important because it was believed that the dead have special ways of interceding on behalf of the living- all these were the ways of life of the Africans, and particularly, Nigerians.

Beyond these there were some phenomena which unfolding was too complex for the typical African society to explain, most of which were metaphysical. Also, there were some yearnings for a much more humane world that will be completely devoid of major imperfections: this may closely describe Plato’s world of form which, according to him, could only be reached by the mind.

In order to have convincing rationalizations for this avalanche of uncertainties, Africans embraced the traditional way of seeing their creator, mainly through the careful observance of nature as well as ancestral venerations. The instrument of worship for these ancestors were largely drawn from already existing societal objects such as clay pots, native chalks, designated clothes and buildings dedicated to that purpose.

Today, it is an axiom that African richness in history and socio-cultural values were also part of her evolution in which shrines, oracles and secret societies were part of historical varieties. In those days, some communities’ oracles, shrines and deities adjudicated justice and controlled the affairs of their people, especially when there were serious crimes, land disputes, banishment and other complicated cases.

The oracles and shrines were also used for taking oaths, passing verdicts and making appeals to supernatural beings for protection, guidiance and fertility. Besides, the chief priests acted as the mouth piece of the gods and are in charge of making offerings and sacrifices as well as pouring of libations on the ancestors.

However, with the coming of the European Christians and the proliferation of churches across the length and breadth of the entire continent, virtually all of these rich cultural values have been jettisoned and relegated into the trash can of history. More so, the traditional mode of worship and the African culture have been redefined and, consequently, accused of being responsible for the evils, diseases and backwardness which are prevalent in the modern world. A colleague once opined that “it was in the process of invoking and offering sacrifice to these inanimate objects called deities-ancestral venerations- that some families were dedicated to the devil”-the yet to be identified personality who is allegedly responsible for the misfortunes rocking humanity.

Conversely, this attack on the African convectional way of worship has taken different dimensions through the outright systemic nullification of the traditional means of worship as occasioned by the demolition of shrines and other means of ancestral veneration. A recent case was the burning of Udeme Staff (the Paramount god) of Umuoji Kingdom in Anambra State, by some Christians, which was captured by our correspondent, Sunny Azuka.

According to Azuka, the Udume was an ancestral oracle worshipped by the forefathers of Umuoji kingdom in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State with a chief priest who acts as its representative. However, on January 7, 2015, some Christians were said to have organized themselves, after a-three-day prayer programme held in Umuoji Stadium, to demolish the shrine and all the objects of veneration of the Udeme god.

An eyewitness, who spoke to our correspondent, said that a group of Christians rose for action- after the three-day crusade, chanting songs while marching straight to Udume Abor Shrine. On getting there, they entered the shrine and made a thorough search for the staff but they could not find it, so, they proceeded to the house of the Chief priest at Ifite, Umuoji, where they found the staff and set it ablaze with a fire that almost consumed the abode of the Chief Priest who was not at home during the public incursion.

Similarly -in 2005- it would be recalled that the Emede kingship tussle witnessed a dramatic twist when the traditional ruler, Johnson Ewhuri II, refused to worship the deity of the kingdom, Oniohise against the wishes of his subjects who insisted that he should respect their tradition and worship the deity or vacate the throne. One would wonder why a man would delve into the throne of a kingdom which tradition he abhors. This very act of neglecting traditions –particularly the African tradition- in all of its values, has left some negative bearings on our cultural sense. 

Allowing foreign traditions to influence a people can leave them vulnerable to neo-cultural imperialism. Similarly, pushing out African traditional practices and demonizing its means of worship, even to extinction, may carry huge risk to our heritage. The big question now is: Should the African culture be revived and, if so, who should do that? Or should the history of a people be separated from their traditional religion and cultural values and is that feasible?

Two lecturers in Delta state University, Abraka, Professor Christopher Orubu and Dr. Emmanuel Ufuophu-Biri, may have answered these questions when they recently took a bold step at condemning the wanton demonisation and outright neglect of the African tradition, particularly the Urhobo culture, under the veneer of Christianity and modern civilisation.

Both lecturers, who spoke at the first Ughievwen Cultural Carnival, staged at Otughievwen headquarters, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State, disclosed that the trend was depriving the Urhobo nation of the economic opportunities of selling its culture and heritage to the outside world. 

Professor Orubo noted that as a people, Ughievwen-Urhobo evolved with peculiar cultural practices and heritages which give its sons and daughters a sense of self identity that cannot be sustained by any borrowed culture.

He, however, lamented that these attractive cultural heritages and values are fading away in the guise of Christianity. He maintained that: “we demonize our culture all in the notion that they are fetish but, even the Pope has entered shrines and acknowledged the sense of faith in God by adherents of the deities worshipped in such shrines”.

As the African culture begs for salvage, we must accept the truth –as Carr puts it- that history is a continuous process of interaction between historians and facts, records and unending dialogues between the present and the past generation; and, because events happen and disappear too often, we only deal with them from statements and traces of records. Since the idea of continuity – in our society where literacy does not constitute a major share- runs through the ancestors to the present and then, to the unborn generations, it might happen that a people will forget themselves and become de-personalized in their own history, if they abandon it.