Someone tell Talai elders African traditional rituals don't mix with the bible
The time for Africans to embrace their own cultural traditions without shame, explanation or second guessing themselves is now. I make cultural, not political, reference to a dawn ceremony in which it is reported that Deputy President William Ruto was blessed, crowned or cleansed by Nandi elders of the Talai clan.
Internationally, there is a movement that is calling out slave traders and their symbols installed in western societies as memorabilia. The world is now realising that some of these people are not worth remembering, because of their heinous crimes associated with slave trade and other gross abuses of the rights of African and indigenous American and Australian people.
The tail end of that activism, and if it is to be given a permanent place, would be for Africans to practice some of their useful cultural traditions without fear. It was therefore unnecessary for retired Anglican Canon James Baasi to explain that the ceremony was not witchcraft or a ritual.
The fact of the matter is that it was a ritual. Rituals are merely a series of activities of religious or cultural nature performed in a predetermined manner to a certain purpose. Every cultural tradition has its own rituals that signify that the ceremony has taken place and in line with the specific traditions in question. Consecration of bread and wine is, for example, a specific ritual of a Catholic mass. Washing of bodies from the inside to the outside, shrouding them, followed by prayer and burial at the first given opportunity are specific rituals of an Islamic funeral.
In certain cultural traditions, the birth of a baby was followed by the ritual of a certain number of ululations. It was therefore not necessary to ask questions such as the gender of the child as the ululation ritual confirmed the gender. Among the Kikuyu, for example, four ululations announced the arrival of a girl, while five indicated it was a boy. In many Kenyan cultures, grandparents bless grandchildren by spraying milk on the children and the same on their chests or various versions of that.
GIVEN BIBLE
It was therefore disappointing to hear that the DP was handed a bible. Does a bible signify the legitimacy of a cultural ceremony? There is no doubt the bible is a deep philosophical book, but so is the Quran, the Torah, the Tripitaka, the Agam Sutras and many other religious reference books. The bible is also, in the Old Testament, a detail anthropological data logo of a Middle Eastern people known as the Jews.
It causes confusion when a bible is thrown into the mix of a cultural ritual, making it unclear whose traditions are being honoured. Is it those of the Jewish people or those of the Nandi? The legendary Nandi Orokoiyot, Koitalel Arap Samoei was probably turning in his grave. While culture is dynamic and can borrow from other traditions, culture symbols cannot cross traditions.
This means that while Nandi elders can borrow and incorporate a Christian ritual in their traditions ceremonies, physical symbols of another tradition are not interchangeable as their meaning changes within different cultural contexts. A priest or sheikh from the Nandi community, for example, cannot show up at a church or a mosque with a colobus monkey skin hat to offer a religious service, as symbols are not interchangeable.
It also therefore then begs the question, can one be a traditional elder and a Christian minister at the same time? Traditional elders are the keepers of customs of a certain community. They are drawn from certain age sets or groups. Religious leadership on the other hand defies the age set system and keepers of religion can be drawn from any culture and or tradition or age set.
There is no doubt that religious conversion is closely associated with slavery, cultural appropriation and the immense looting and transfer of African heritage to the western world. These heritage is proudly stored and showcased in museums. Whereas the debate on repatriation and reparation seems never ending, there is absolutely no reason for Africans to confuse what is left of their own traditions with religion, as these are much for difficult to appropriate.
While the world is trying to fight the memory battle for Africa, let us embrace our traditions without causing confusion. One can chose what to use what rituals to apply as need be, depending of intended impressions, target audience and the desired results. If one chooses their culture, they are right. If one chooses their religion, they are right too.
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