CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.
While paganism is embraced by the larger portion of the African races,
it is by no means the religion of the land. Missionaries representing
nearly every phase of religious belief have made their appearance in
the country, and gained more or less converts. Mohammedanism, however,
has taken by far the greatest hold upon the people.
Whatever may be said of the followers of Mohammed in other countries,
it may truly be averred that the African has been greatly benefited by
this religion.
Recent discussions and investigations have brought the subject of
Mohammedanism prominently before the reading public, and the writings
of Weil, and Noldeke, and Muir, and Sprenger, and Emanuel Deutsch,
have taught the world that “Mohammedanism is a thing of vitality,
fraught with a thousand fruitful germs;” and have amply illustrated the
principle enunciated by St. Augustine, showing that there are elements
both of truth and goodness in a system which has had so wide-spread an
influence upon mankind, embracing within the scope of its operations
more than one hundred millions of the human race; that the exhibition
of the germs of truth, even though “suspended in a gallery of
counterfeits,” has vast power over the human heart.
Whatever may be the intellectual inferiority of the Negro tribes (if,
indeed, such inferiority exists), it is certain that many of these
tribes have received the religion of Islam without its being forced
upon them by the overpowering arms of victorious invaders. The quiet
development and organization of a religious community in the heart
of Africa has shown that Negroes, equally with other races, are
susceptible of moral and spiritual impressions, and of all the sublime
possibilities of religion.
The history of the progress of Islam in the country would present
the same instances of real and eager mental conflict of minds in
honest transition, of careful comparison and reflection, that have
been found in other communities where new aspects of truth and fresh
considerations have been brought before them. And we hold that it shows
a stronger and more healthy intellectual tendency to be induced by the
persuasion and reason of a man of moral nobleness and deep personal
convictions to join with him in the introduction of beneficial changes,
than to be compelled to follow the lead of an irresponsible character,
who forces us into measures by his superior physical might.
Mungo Park, in his travels seventy years ago, everywhere remarked the
contrast between the pagan and Mohammedan tribes of interior Africa.
One very important improvement noticed by him was abstinence from
intoxicating drinks.
“The beverage of the pagan Negroes,” he says, “is beer and mead, of
which they often drink to excess; the Mohammedan converts drink nothing
but water.”
Thus, throughout Central Africa there has been established a vast total
abstinence society; and such is the influence of this society that
where there are Moslem inhabitants, even in pagan towns, it is a very
rare thing to see a person intoxicated. They thus present an almost
impenetrable barrier to the desolating flood of ardent spirits with
which the traders from Europe and America inundate the coast at Caboon.
Wherever the Moslem is found on the coast, whether Jalof, Fulah, or
Mandingo, he looks upon himself as a separate and distinct being from
his pagan neighbor, and immeasurably his superior in intellectual
and moral respects. He regards himself as one to whom a revelation
has been “sent down” from Heaven. He holds constant intercourse with
the “Lord of worlds,” whose servant he is. In his behalf Omnipotence
will ever interpose in times of danger. Hence he feels that he cannot
indulge in the frivolities and vices which he considers as by no means
incompatible with the character and professions of the Kafir, or
unbeliever.
There are no caste distinctions among them. They do not look upon the
privileges of Islam as confined by tribal barriers or limitations.
On the contrary, the life of their religion is aggressiveness. They
are constantly making proselytes. As early as the commencement of the
present century, the elastic and expansive character of their system
was sufficiently marked to attract the notice of Mr. Park.
“In the Negro country,” observes that celebrated traveller, “the
Mohammedan religion has made, and continues to make, considerable
progress.” “The yearning of the native African,” says Professor
Crummell, “for a higher religion, is illustrated by the singular fact
that Mohammedanism is rapidly and peaceably spreading all through the
tribes of Western Africa, even to the Christian settlements of Liberia.”
From Senegal to Lagos, over two thousand miles, there is scarcely
an important town on the seaboard where there is not at least one
mosque, and active representatives of Islam often side by side with
the Christian teachers. And as soon as a pagan, however obscure or
degraded, embraces the Moslem faith, he is at once admitted as an equal
to their society. Slavery and slave-trade are laudable institutions,
provided the slaves are Kafirs. The slave who embraces Islamism is
free, and no office is closed against him on account of servile
blood.[28]
Passing over into the southern part, we find the people in a state
of civilization, and yet superstitious, as indeed are the natives
everywhere.
The town of Noble is a settlement of modern times, sheltering forty
thousand souls, close to an ancient city of the same name, the Rome of
aboriginal South Africa. The religious ceremonies performed there are
of the most puerile character, and would be thought by most equally
idolatrous with those formerly held in the same spot by the descendants
of Mumbo Jumbo.
On Easter Monday is celebrated the _Festa del Señor de los Temblores_,
or Festival of the Lord of Earthquakes. On this day the public plaza
in front of the cathedral is hung with garlands and festoons, and the
belfry utters its loudest notes. The images of the saints are borne
out from their shrines, covered with fresh and gaudy decorations. The
Madonna of Bethlehem, San Cristoval, San Blas, and San José, are borne
on in elevated state, receiving as they go the prayers of all the
Maries, and Christophers, and Josephs, who respectively regard them
as patrons. But the crowning honors are reserved for the miraculous
Crucifix, called the Lord of Earthquakes, which is supposed to protect
the city from the dreaded terrestrial shocks, the _Temblores_.
The procession winds around a prescribed route, giving opportunity
for public prayers and the devotions of the multitude; the miraculous
image, in a new spangled skirt, that gives it the most incongruous
resemblance to an opera-dancer, is finally shut up in the church; and
then the glad throng, feeling secure from earthquakes another year,
dance and sing in the plaza all night long.
The Borers, a hardy, fighting, and superstitious race, have a showy
time at weddings and funerals. When the appointed day for marriage has
arrived, the friends of the contracting parties assemble and form a
circle; into this ring the bridegroom leads his lady-love.
The woman is divested of her clothing, and stands somewhat as mother
Eve did in the garden before she thought of the fig-leaf. The man
then takes oil from a shell, and anoints the bride from the crown of
her head to the soles of her feet; at the close of this ceremony, the
bridegroom breaks forth into joyful peals of laughter, in which all
the company join, the musicians strike up a lively air, and the dance
commences. At the close of this, the oldest woman in the party comes
forward, and taking the bride by the right hand, gives her to her
future husband.
Two maids standing ready with clothes, jump to the bride, and begin
rubbing her off. After this, she is again dressed, and the feast
commences, consisting mainly of fruits and wines.
The funeral services of the same people are not less interesting. At
the death of one of their number, the body is stripped, laid out upon
the ground, and the friends of the deceased assemble, forming a circle
around it, and commence howling like so many demons. They then march
and counter-march around, with a subdued chant. After this, they hop
around first on one foot, then on the other; stopping still, they cry
at the top of their voices--“She’s in Heaven, she’s in Heaven!” Here
they all fall flat upon the ground, and roll about for a few minutes,
after which they simultaneously rise, throw up their hands, and run
away yelling and laughing.
Among the Bechuanas, when a chief dies, his burial takes place in his
cattle-yard, and all the cattle are driven for an hour over the grave,
so that it may be entirely obliterated.[29] In all the Backwain’s
pretended dreams and visions of their God, he has always a crooked leg
like the Egyptian.[30]
Musical and dancing festivities form a great part of the people’s time.
With some of the tribes, instrumental music has been carried to a high
point of culture. Bruce gives an account of a concert, the music of
which he heard at the distance of a mile or more, on a still night in
October. He says: “It was the most enchanting strain I ever listened
to.”
It is not my purpose to attempt a detailed account of the ceremonies of
the various tribes that inhabit the continent of Africa; indeed, such a
thing would be impossible, even if I were inclined to do so.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] Prof. Blyden, in “Methodist Quarterly Review,” June, 1871.
[29] Dr. Livingstone.
[30] Thau.