The priest shouts and does several somersaults and waves his lion's tail, the Awuja, to emphasize his power. He jumps high. The great fetish is now being possessed by the great Lagoon Spirit. Now he moves around and his eyes dilate, he now speaks in a tongue that no one understands. The Okomfo bring him a potion to drink in a special bowl and they dance around him, moving back and forth . Now the high priest is in full possession of the Spirit of the ancestors and he waves his lion's tail, the Awuja, towards his audience. Now whoever he points to is automatically possessed and moves into the circle and dances without hesitation. This begins to take hold of the audience and soars like a wind through it. Some are dancing in a frenzy and tearing off their clothes. The women priests move in to make sure that no one is hurt. The possession of the spirit is no respecter of persons. It works and subdues any and all. The priest who is considered the great and only true mediator between men and the gods is also the mediator between the family and the ancestors, between the weak and the strong. He will pour libation for the possessed to help them maintain a proper connection with their dead ancestors. They will have to return later with food, goats, and other tokens of respect and hospitality and then perform the proper rituals as mandated by the Holy Priest who in his possession by the spirits has seen the destiny of the possessed who were overcome by the spirit.

This is the ultimate spirituality; for in African traditional life spirituality is the foundation of one's being. One's destiny is bound up in it from the time one is born to the time one dies. And through this ritual of spiritualization the gods are able to transfer a sacred consciousness to the High Priest who can then share it with the people . Hence the priest in his state of spirituality is able to help to ensure that the people are in balance with the gods, the ancestors, and other living persons, families, and nature. The desecration of Africa in the past by the Western European powers seriously and adversely affected the traditional cultures of the indigenous African people and in consequence many traditional beliefs, social vaules, customs, and rituals were demeaned or disvalued as "pagan" or "superstitious." True culture is the what and the how of a peoples' creative survival, and the introduction of European Christianity separated the indigenous Africans from the ancient roots of their traditions and their identity. Traditional African religion is centered around the existence of one Supreme High God. However, the Europeans who spread Christianity in Africa never understood or properly appreciated the African's own conception of the Great Creator. They saw no similiarity between the God they preached and the African's own belief in the One Supreme God and creator who was , king, Omnipotent, Omniscient, the Great Judge, Compassionate, Holy and Invisible, Immortal and Transcendent.

The traditional African belief is that the Great One brought the divinities into being. He, therefore is the maker and everything in heaven and on earth owe their origin to Him alone. He is the Great king above all Kings and can not be compared in majesty. He is above all majesties and divinities. He dwells everywhere. Thus He is omnipotent because He is able to do all things and nothing can be done nor created apart from Him. He is behind all achievements. He alone can speak and acomplish his words. Therefore there is no room for failure. He is Absolute, all wise Omniscient, all Seeing, and all Knowing. He knows all things and so no secrets are hid from Him. If there is rain it is God who wills it and if the fish do not run it is by His will. This Great Creator is the final Judge of all things, but he is able to be compassionate and merciful. He can look kindly and most mercifully on the suffering of man and is able to smooth the rough roads through his divine priests and the ancestors. But the God of the African Traditional Religion is also a Holy God both ritually and ethically. He is complete and absolute since He is never involved in any wrong or immorality.

Traditionally Africans believe that the holiness blinds and can not be approached by mere mortals. He is a spirit and thus he is invisible. How is this God to be approached? He is to be approached directly and indirectly only through his chosen priests. Libations or prayers are the only supplications acceptable. And they are made by his chosen priests in traditional rituals and ceremonies. The priest becomes the keeper of the welfare of the people and subsequently is entrusted with the sacred rituals of worship. The African, therefore does not need to prove the existence of God to anyone. God is self existing and needs no proof. His existence is self-evident and even children know by instinct that the Great One exists. There is a proverb that says, "No one points out the Great One to a child." This God then is given regular and direct worship at regular intervals and the calendar is kept by dedicated priests. However, there is continuous indirect worship on a daily basis through the divinities and ancestors at all times during the day by each family and individual. The ritual altars in the African villages are the indigenous peoples' way of reaching out and praising the Great Creator.

To the Africans they are the boundary between heaven and earth, between life and death, between the ordinary and the world of the spirit. The constant pouring of drink, food and sacrificial animal blood makes them sacred and no one would dare abuse them. Some altars are simple, especially the ones in homes, but some communities and villages have communal altars for the entire village as vehicles for channeling the positive forces from the Great one and the ancestors to the whole community. These are some of the components of the traditional beliefs that the Africans who were brought to the Americas as slaves brought with them . They arrived in this hemisphere with the cultural imprint of the traditions of their elders, and what they retained in fact or symbol is the very essence of contemporary black spirituality. Thus there are many common and latent traditions and cultural behaviors among contemporary African Americans that could be derived from the traditional African beliefs and religious systems. Religion today plays such an important part of the contemporary African America's life that it would be hard to ignore the vestiges of African tribal life.

Indeed today, in spite of the hurt and suffering, the denial of the existence of Black Americans, the denial of equality in all aspects of American life, the Black church is still the only viable social institution which is dominated, operated, and totally controlled by African Americans. It is a tribal instinct which has survived years of change and abuse. The Priest Leader and spokesperson is still the Black Preacher. The intense need to be free motivated African Americans to adapt their Christianity to the African way of life and the tradition continues today. The African traditional religious life has always considered all life to be the sphere of the Almighty, the powerful(the Otumfoo), the Omnipotent(Gye Nyame). He is wise, and all seeing and all knowing. He is the Great Spider (Ananse Kokroko), and the Ancient of Days (Odomankoma).

In the private and public life of the African religious rites, beliefs, and rituals are considered an integral part of life. Life then is never complete unless it is seen always in its entirety. Religious beliefs are found in everyday life and no distinction is made between the sacred and the secular. The sacred and the secular are merged in the total persona of the individual African. Life is not divided into compartments or divisions. Thus there are no special times for worship, for everyday and every hour is worship time. There are no creeds written down because through the traditions of the Elders all creeds and functions are carried in the individual's heart. Each individual by his very nature and life style is a living creed from the time one rises until one retires at night. An understanding of the basic nature of the African religious tradition surely illuminates the meaning of spirituality in the contemporary African American church. In the Black Church to be full of the Holy Spirit is being filled with such inspiration that one can feel as it were the breath of God. It gives one power to do the impossible. In contemporary language it enables some to "do great things for God," to even love your neighbor though that neighbor may be your enemy or your oppressor. The Holy Spirit does not free one from harm. Evil may abound and burdens may be heavy, but the Holy Spirit enables the faithful to say of God: "Though He slay me; yet will I trust Him." Like the biblical Diaspora, the people of the African Diaspora have deep wellsprings of spirituality for they too were taken by force, stripped of their dignity and had their identity blurred by centuries of abuse.. But in spite of this devastation they managed to persevere and to keep in tune with God, even in a foreign land.

Like their African cousins, African Americans still have extended families, and they still break out in spontaneous song and joyful music. And they still drum, even in the church. Dancing goes with music as it always has in African culture, and colorful processionals mark the beauty of African American spiritual life. There is a pronounced and evident African residual in African American spirituality that gives it the uniqueness of "soul," and there is a deft synthesis of the sacred and the secular in much African American music just as there is in Africa. Many African American songs reveal the same improvisations found in the music of Africa and also feature the same improvisations found in the African village celebrations. But it is at the Sunday worship service that the perfect welding of God and man takes place in a formal and ritualized setting. There in the black churches African American spirituality achieves its most complete expression in a rich variety of forms. When the Great Spirit , by whatever name, moves among the worshippers some may cry out in release from the accumulated tribulations of the week gone by. Some may testify, bearing witness to the goodness and graciousness of God. Fervent prayer, joyous singing, powerful preaching and the rekindling of the bonds of love and fellowship bring God and humankind together in a festival of spiritual celebration. This is the African American Church at its best. This is African American spirituality transcending its origins in the regeneration of the faith that had its origins at Pentecost.

By Rev Addo a retired pastor WNC Conference of the United Methodist Church who taught Religion for many years at Bennett College, Greensboro NC ADDOX@ATTGLOBAL.NET

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Adultery is also an offence against the religious objects of the husband, including his ancestors. Furthermore, it is a criminal act against the gods, because marriage in the traditional context is a sacred institution sanctioned by them, and any act of unfaithfulness in the matrimonial lift of the couple is punishable by preternatural beings. Right from the beginning of courtship, religious rituals are performed to stabilise and hallow the marriage; ancestors and divinities are consulted and approached for their support. Usually the wife of an adherent of the traditional religion is, as it were, "the wife of the gods" She is commended to the care and protection of the supernatural beings and she must be faithful. Rituals and ceremonies accompany or follow the occasion of wedding. The aim of these is to pray for the welfare of tile new couple, to bless them so that they will bear children and to give them instructions and rules on how to conduct themselves as married people. At these rituals, God and the living-dead of the family may be called upon to witness the occasion and to give their blessings to the new husband and wife.

In traditional Africa adultery is not condoned; it is a breach of societal and religious norms and it breeds an unhealthy and unwholesome relationship in society, a relationship that can ruin the total well-being of the people.

Adultery is viewed with grave concern and is seriously punished. The adulterer may be warned and reported in the first instance by liberally minded people, but persistence in the crime leads to either a fine by the court presided over by the traditional ruler or priest. The adulterer may also be physically attacked or punished with death by poisoning or be made impotent. The death of an adulterous person is seen as a just punishment and is not much mourned.

Among the Yoruba the Ifa oracle warns against adultery as follows:

She destroys the members of the household of the husband,
She destroys the members of the household of the concubine.
Thereafter she destroys herself
and goes on the far journey to heaven.
So declares the oracle to the adulterous woman who is a servant of death.

What is true of one people in traditional religion in Africa, if nor entirely true of another would be almost true. Furthermore, the Ifa system, which serves as the Yoruba traditional religious scriptures, has been researched by eminent scholars and found to he known not only among the Yoruba but also among non-Yoruba in Nigeria and some West African countries like Sierra Leone, Republic of Benin, Togo and parts of seaboard Ghana.

Lying

Lying is an attempt to deceive by speaking what is not true. It is forbidden in the traditional religion, and any perpetration of it is a crime riot only against human beings but also against the supernatural beings. Traditional Africans train their children always to tell tile truth because they believe that a liar is prone to other forms of criminal acts, like stealing. The saying is "He who lies will steal." It is a common evil among some people, hut considered very disgraceful particularly when the truth is known. Like adultery, lying ruins. Both are sometimes regarded as hereditary. Traditional Africans invoke curses on liars, while the divinities too condemn them. Lying is a corporate offence. About lying the oracle Odu Ogunda Bede warns:

....The deceiver went on a twenty-years journey and never returned.
The liar went on a thirty-months journey and never returned.
Thus the oracle warned deceivers and liars when they were going on a journey. They were warned not to deceive or betray others in the foreign land.

Rectitude warned them, but they never heeded the warning. The warning was given because of the future. Vengeance belongs to the Almighty, the King who recompenses everybody according to his deeds.

Liars know the truth but tell untruth. They call red what is white and white what is red for their own purpose, and by lying they injure other people. The Odu Aji-Oghe oracle has this to say about liars and lying:

Those who call efuru efuru,
all right, our Father will be looking at them from heaven
Those who call efuru efuru,
all right, our Father will be looking at them from heaven.
All right, those who call an iroko leaf an oro leaf
all right, our Father will be looking at them from heaven.
All right, those who call a turtle dove a wood dove,
all right, our Father will be looking at them from heaven.
All right, those who call sour what is sweet,
all right, our Father will be looking at them from heaven.
All right, thus declares the oracle to liars and deceivers.

The Odu Onara-meji oracle says:

Lying does not prevent one from becoming rich.
Covenant-breaking does not prevent one from reaching old age.
But the day of death will bring retribution.

Traditional Africans think very much about the hereafter. They know that liars will suffer at and after their death; so they as much as possible keep away from what will lead to such suffering.

Even when human beings are deceived, God sees the liars and knows the truth and will punish them accordingly. Traditional Africans fear the wrath of God which leads to miseries and misfortune. They prefer divine pleasure to divine wrath, and divine blessings to divine punishment. When the Africans say "God will judge," a liar's mind or conscience pricks and a machinery is set in motion within him which makes him confess that he told a lie. He may be asked to swear, and since he knows that swearing falsely will bring about serious repercussions, he will immediately retract from swearing.

The gods do not support lying or falsehood. The divinities of the traditional religion of Africa enjoin their worshippers to tell the truth at all times and promise their support for the truthful. The decree is expressed in the oracle Ejiogbe:

Be truthful, be just!
Oh, be truthful. be just!
It is the truthful that the divinities support.
Be truthful, be just!

Though lying may be a common evil, traditional Africans commit liars to the divinities for punishment. The divine wrath which is unbearable is a great factor in preventing crime.

Stealing

Among traditional Africans it is shameful to steal. It is considered a crime to steal anything in the community. A thief is a disgrace to his relations. Traditional Africans perform rituals to detect a thief and recover the stolen property. They commit the their or the robber to the gods for punishment, and in some cases the thieves are revealed publicly by the gods or made to confess publicly or return the stolen property to a place where it can he seen by the people. This is in consequence of the divine power or wrath which makes the thief suffer physically or internally. He may he subjected to prolonged torture, illness, paralysis, partial blindness, to the point that diviners are consulted for the cause of his misfortune, and when it is attributed to stealing, the stolen goods have to he returned and a propitiatory sacrifice offered.

Stealing tarnishes the reputation and integrity of the family of the thief, and traditional Africans strive very much to protect the good name and image of the family. Even an irreputable family will not want their offspring to be accused of stealing, because criminal acts bring disgrace to the parents, and when people are being considered for positions and titles of honour ill the society a one-time thief and his parents will not be considered for such roles of honour. Reference will always be made to the previous crimes committed by such people. Traditional Africans will never appoint a one-time robber or liar or adulterer as their leader or ruler. The loss of fame in the community and divine punishment and not force serve as a serious and adequate punishment in traditional society.

Stealing is not only immoral or a societal crime; it is also a religious offence punishable by God. The Odu Ogbe-Ale oracle warns against stealing:

If the earthly king does not see you,
the heavenly king is looking at you.
Thus declares the oracle to the one who steals under the cover of darkness,
who says that the earthly king does not see him.
God sees the thief and will surely punish him.
seeing here does not mean mere looking, but seeing for punishment.


Irreverence and unkindness to parents

According to traditional religion, parents, after giving their children good training. nursing them to maturity and settling them down properly in life, expect the children to show true devotion to and care for them, whether the parents are rich or poor, literate or illiterate. Such devotion to the service of tile parents is obligatory and, if given, is one of the best forms of prayer and the surest way to success, peace and satisfaction for the children.

It is believed that whatever a child might become and whatever height he might attain, his parents are responsible and if he fails to honour his parents he is bound to fall from the height and his life will be devoid of peace and satisfaction. Parents should be regarded as gods, acknowledged and "worshipped" It is the will of God that parents should he venerated and revered, and any society where children despise and neglect their parents will not have the blessings of God. God's majesty is violated which parents are dishonoured. It is a capital crime for a child to strike or beat his parents; it is prohibited to curse one's father or mother. Insolence to parents may be condoned, but it is a criminal act. Punishment for irreverence and unkindness to parents includes both the wrath of the parents and the wrath of God, which will certainly cause disaster in the life of the child. In serious cases such a disaster has to be removed from the life of the child through offerings and sacrifices. The Odu Irete Eguntan oracle says:

Respect your mother and your father
that you may live long on earth.
Ifa says, offer sacrifice to your mother and your father,
the sacrifice of care, righteousness and humility,
that you may regenerate yourself
Ifa says, offer sacrifice to your mother and father, the sacrifice of care arid obedience, that their curses may not rest on you.
the curses of your father and mother are the curses of the Almighty.
Ifa says, offer sacrifices to your father and mother,
the sacrifice of love aid of justice,
that you may have rest,
that you may have comfort.

In the same Odu, Orunmila says:

Parents will not labour in vain over me.
I was born because mother's luck was good;
I was born because father's luck was good.
They gave birth to me; my arms were not burnt.
I was not born blind.
I was not born a leper.
I too want to give birth to my own children,
so that I may have descendants.
I want to have houses.
I want to have property.
I want to have money.
Parents will not labour in vain over me.
I came into the world because of their good luck.
I want to do good in my life
Parents will not labour in vain over me.

The above verses teach children true knowledge of service to their parents. Of course, this is not limited to biological parents, but is extended to all elderly members of the family. Any act of neglect of duty towards parents or elderly members of the family is regarded as an act of neglect of duty to God and is punishable by him with misfortune. For fear of misfortune, therefore, children avoid committing this crime and take seriously the duties towards parents and elderly members of the extended family.

To have a good and well disciplined society, traditional religion imposes on parents to ensure that their children are trained to respect elders and not be disobedient to them. If they do so, it will be well with them, as the Odu Iwori Meji oracle says:

If a child respects his father, everything he embarks upon will always be well.
He will be a perfect gentleman.

The Odu Obara Meji oracle condemns disrespect, pride and arrogance in youths:

If a child indulges in stubborn acts,
if he sees an aged priest and slaps him,
if he comes across an aged physician and beats him mercilessly,
if he goes on and meets and ages priest and knocks him down,
thus declares the oracle to the disobedient child.
"Who says nobody could control him?"
Orunmila says: "Don't you know that
there is no long life for any child who beats an elderly priest,
no long life for any child who slaps an aged physician.
Any child who flogs an aged priest is seeking his own death.
Respect for elders means long life."

These verses teach that premature death can he a punishment for disrespect to elders, and since traditional Africans want to live long they want to respect elders. Candidly, traditional Africans see respect for elders a duty, the doing of which pleases not only men but also God. Hence they prostrate before elders, open their caps, remove their sandals while greeting them, and help elders carry loads and run errands fl}r them. The unfortunate acceptance of foreign cultures have to a large extent affected African children in respect for elders and we appear to be moving into a confused and dual culture. It is un-African of a child to say "Hello" to his parents or to shake hands with elderly people.

Speaking evil of elders

Traditional African government is theocratic, and the rulers are regarded as divine representatives, and so all reproachful words against them are prohibited. Conspiracy or disrespect against rulers is regarded as a serious offence and is seriously dealt with. There can, of course, be a move against a ruler who is regarded as a tyrant and whose reign proves to be disastrous for the people Traditional rulers are sacrosanct, and anyone who disobeys them or is rude to them is either fined, admonished or expelled from the ruler's domain, and finally the offender is committed to divine punishment. On absolute loyalty and implicit obedience to rulers the Odu Oturupon Meji oracle says:

The crown judges the head that wears the crown.
The lips of the philosopher challenge the philosopher.
The overwise refused to respect the king.
Thus declares the oracle to the disobedient:
Sacrifice they were asked to offer
in order that the sword of the king might not suck their blood
They refused; they offered not the sacrifice.
Orunmila exclaimed, "It is forbidden."
I exclaimed, "It is forbidden."
O exclaimed, "It is a taboo.
I exclaimed, "It is a taboo."
Orunmila said that the earthly king
is the representative of the heavenly King.
Orunmila exclaimed, "Left with me.."
I exclaimed, 'left with me,
the sword sucks the blood
of those who defy the king."
To the king belongs authority.
To the king belongs the sword.
Then, take it easy, I say, take it easy,
lest one's self-centred wisdom
push one against the king's sword.
Then take it easy, I say, take it easy.
I have sacrificed, I have propitiated.
I have kept the law of the king.
The king could not but view me with favour,
The king could not but view me with favour.

The position of the rulers and authorities is similar throughout Africa. They are both political figures and religious functionaries. They derive their authority from the Supreme Being, and so any disobedience or conspiracy against them is seen as a crime against society and against God. In the past execution was the punishment for recalcitrance against the rulers. Anyone who seduced the wives of the rulers would be executed. The kings were fathers, judges, counsellors and priests.

Conclusion

It is obvious that before the introduction of other religions there were criminals and criminal acts. In dealing with them, force was abundantly made use of. Even so, there is no evidence that crimes were totally eliminated. The use of force was effective to some extent, but other more effective means were used. These include poisoning to cause life-long suffering like insanity, impotency, incurable diseases such as elephantiasis, swollen scrotum4 blindness and lameness, all of which can render one useless in a community and serve as a deterrent to others. The use of these instilled fear in criminals.

Traditional society in its original form was solid, because k was built on a strong moral base provided by the traditional religion. This religion inculcated good behaviour in people which could make a nation truly great. Divine wrath and punishment were made real. The law of retribution was emphasised. Today insincerity, dishonesty, hypocrisy, bribery and corruption, treason, felony and all sorts of evil thrive in Africa because religious people do not take the precepts of their religions very seriously. They are more concerned with industry, city life, material things and education. Without true religious perception it will be difficult to eradicate crime in any Society.

by Chidi Denis Isizoh Taken from Orita XXVI/1-2 (1994), 54-66.

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IF WE WERE to piece the pieces together of our legend of creation it could be found that one important creation of the Creator,the Odomankoma, is the Woman. By all considerations, she comes closer by her natural functions to the characteristic meaning of Onyankopon the one-Great-one-have-to-need-nothing. If you have God you have everything'. Barely similarly it is also said that if you lose your mother, you are finished...' She is one to have, indeed.

When we bumped in with the Woman as an individual of our world, she was already old. She was, and continues to remain the Aberewa,which translates as the 'little tired one.' She is known to have procreated all. In addition, she it was who brought all her kind, including her kin from the World without the Sun Asamaado to the World under the Sun Ewiase to live. She remains the most powerful individual in the home for all time, although in time she ceded her leadership position to her brother.

She is so accepted and revered by all. Her wisdom and intuitive powers borne out of her life's experiences make her a near-god, a sort of a witch, much loved and much hated, relatively. When fortune reaches her home, she is the happiest of all. But when misfortune strikes, she remains the unhappiest as she is considered as the devil, the witch every body would wish to avoid. Nevertheless, she continues to be the Aberewa of the home, the much caring individual.

She is the most tried person of the home. She has seen many good days, and bad days, equally, and considers their consequences as motifs in the pattern of life. She knows that without them life ceases to be colourful and exciting. She is stoically philosophic. No doubt the woman of the Asante traditional home is known to be the wisest of all. Not even the legendary Kwaku Ananse of our folk tales can match her in sheer knowledge of things that are, and are to be. As a result, she is much consulted in things physical and metaphysical.

UNFAILING ADVICE

Her advice never fails. She turns the devil out of her door with soft-spoken words. She saved the dying king by advising that he should be doused with water to soften the coat of leopard skin that was choking him. These may sound like folk tales, yet their association with the wise Old Lady is significant of her caliber and stature. All the family possessions in land and other properties are known to her. She cuts short penetrating enquiries of her past with straight forward answers. She tells the history of her people to suit the temperament of the moment, hence there is much legend juxtaposed and mixed up with real history of her time.

No doubt, she is the link between the living and the dead whose memory she must honour at all times. She provides them with the necessary cover in the fond belief that the dead reward good deeds, as they equally punish bad conduct. She lives the past, and lives the present. She is very religious and very neat, a mark of sacredness of her sacred self, and her sacred duties. To her the dead are living at Asamaado, where they bid their time to come up to our world to live. She believes that they could even come home at will as some visitors to test her magnanimity. So single-handedly she cooks the food that is fed to the Black Stools on festive occasions. She is restrained by the limitations of her womanhood to pour libation of wine to the dead ancestors. She, however, knows the processes, and teaches same to her sons, and their nephews, and grand nephews down the matrilineal line.

She knows all the dead ancestors by name, and by face which she easily identifies in any new-born baby her daughters and grand daughters nay bear. She is, therefore, instrumental in suggesting the name a particular child should bear. If she fails, she is sure to call that child by known epithets supposedly of the particular ancestor by whose form that child has come. She is known to be quite fascinating in such matters.

ASSURANCE OF CONTINUITY

The birth of the female in all Asante traditional homes is greeted with much jubilation. It is an assurance of continuity of the family line, that is sure to last the ages. Much more important, it is the sign that the dead ancestors will not rot at Asamando; they will surely be afforded to come up to live in that cyclic order of living to die, and dying to live. The factor has been the BOGYA (Blood) the transient material of our make, which the female kind provides to compliment with material of our make, which the female kind provides to compliment with the Sunsum (the Spirit) which the husband provides to 'create' the baby. It is an eddyfying belief which is true to our physical and spiritual make, that explains our hold on to life, and the characteristic immortality of the soul that makes us live even after death. This particular Asante traditional religious belief cannot be faulted. It easily collaborates with all other religion beliefs that holds the soul to be immortal.

For this reason, the female member of the Asante traditional home is grilled right from child hood in disciplined life to respect the man, the male counterpart. She is taught in all the arts of husbanding the husband, who makes the belief in the immortality of the soul real in the children they bear. And the more disciplined the man and more hard-working, the better his choice for a husband, This explains why in the traditional Asante home, the arranged marriage is better preferable to any, which at best is described as marriage by accident. But any mishap that marriage may bring is believed to be averted by the training that is given to the children at home, where order is the first law.

The female is brought up in the family secrets, which she is taught to uphold. It is the family's life-line. It could be an inherited treasury in the form of gold nugget or gold dust, gold beads or even something as precious as that in which the family soul could reside. The family black stool, the very first black stool of the ancestors is held in such high esteem that wherever the family moves to, is carried with them by the women folk, preferably the eldest. They are the mothers of men, and, by implication, mothers of their property.

OLD LADY

In effect, the owner of the treasury, and the black stool, is the female kind, referred to in our discussion as the Old Lady of the home. She is also identified with the Queen mother, the Obaa Panin, who is ever present in any traditional royal home of Asante. The Queen mother is the virtual owner of the Stool, who has the inherent right by her royal birth to cede to anyone of the members of the family whenever the incumbent king dies.

There is precedence to follow, however. Yet, in certain instances, her word should prevail, or there would be no king to elect.It is not without reason that the woman in our traditional homes is also known as the Mother of Kings, and the Mother of Heroes. Though she cannot be king herself because of the limitations of her biological make-up, she makes, and controls, the king who holds her in high esteem in her role as the traditional advisor of the king. It could be said with certainty that behind every good king is the grand old Queen mother.

Indeed, in Asante traditional order, the Queen mother rules as King in the absence of the king, short of sitting on the male kingly stool. This is especially so with Asantehene whose stand-in, in time of his death, is the traditional Mamponhene. But his position as the Nwisiahene the Orphans' chief, ends as soon as the dead Asantehene is buried. The Asantehemaa takes over(her stool) as the virtual king till a new king is nominated.

Again, whenever the incumbent king fails t exercise his kingly powers in one way or the other, the Queen has the right of her position to stand in (to exercise that singular authority) as a means to protect the family's honour and common property. With Asante, royal duties are never left unattended to. The Queen mother does it herself or her appointee is charged to do it, and expeditiously.

YAA ASANTEWAA

This was the example of Yaa Asantewaa, the Queen Mother of Ejisu who had that rare privilege to declare war with the British by challenging Governor Hodgson's claim to the Golden Stool. King Prempeh I, the Asantehene was then in exile, together with his father and mother who was then the Asantehemaa. Asante was without her king and her Queen mother and most of the other chiefs including the chief of Ejisu.

The prospects of suffering exile was not endearing enough to most of the rest of the Asante chiefs who at the time did not see any hope of victory in another war with another British. A great number of them, as a result, kept mute. But not Nana Yaa Asantewaa who shot forward with the courage she could muster to make it impossible for Governor Hodgson to take her stool away, the soul of Asanteman. She called upon all the willing chiefs to stand up and fight. She suffered exile subsequently. Yaa Asamtewaa in that rare position had been king (of the Golden Stool) more or less, by showing the way to the battle fields of the 1900 War.

COURAGEOUS QUEEN MOTHERS

It was an impressive stand indeed, but quite characteristic of Asante cultural order which earlier on had brought to the fore such courageous Queen mothers as Juaben Serwaa and Kokofu Freman Toatuo.In their respective times, they had to double as Queen mothers and kings in their own right to answer the call to duty. The truth about it all is that the MALE Stools are their property,which must be seen to be owned by them, and protected at all times whether or not the incumbent king is present. By that stand, they give true meaning to the adage that "they are made kings who own the stool, and not those who long to be kings..." It is that traditional right which the Asantehemaa has exercised to have her son nominated for installation and enstoolment as the next Asantehene. Earlier in the 1880s or thereabouts, the then Asantehemaa, Nana Yaa Akyea, had her son who became Nana Prempeh I nominated and enstooled King of all Asante.This was done in succession to another son she nominated but died rather too early to be crowned king on the Golden Stool.

The woman in Asante traditional order has endured. The family unit has also endured to endow us with generations of kings, and generation heroes of men and heroines of women. Our beliefs have been our strength.If the Odomankoma (God) created things here and in the ancestral world, He also created the Woman to bear the family and lead it, and care for it, and win it, for herself and for all. Asante, in particular, has been richer by that tradition.
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In traditional African society the sacred and the secular are inseparable. There is no comparmentalization of life. What religion forbids or condemns society also forbids and condemns, and similarly society approves those things which religion approves or and sanctions. An offence against God is an offence against man, and in like manner an offence against man is an offence against God, since man is a creature of God. Either offence is criminal.

In other myths of man's origin,the woman is always or nearly always mentioned. In many cases even the name of the first woman is given in the myths, and some myths mention only the name of the woman and not of the man. A lot of the myths say that the first human pair was lowered by God from the sky to the ground (earth), such as the myths of the Akamba, Turkana, Luo, Luhyia and others in Kenya; these of the Baganda and Banyoro in Uganda; these of the Tutsi in Rwanda; of the Bomba and Ila in Zambia; these of the Yoruba and Ibo in Nigeria, and many others.

In a few myths, it is told that the woman was made by God out of the man's body, or after the man had been made. Perhaps behind these myths is the wish and practice on the part of males (men) to dominate women. For example, the Kwotto (of Nigeria) say that God made the first human beings out of the earth (soil). God made (created) first the husband, and when He had become tired, lie then made the wife (woman) who turned out to be weaker than her husband
(7).

Fire is an important element in human life. In some myths it is the women who either invented or discovered fire. Women are also credited with inventing or discovering foodstuffs and their preparations. Thus the cooking skills of the woman are attributed to her from mythological times. She is thus not only the bearer of human beings, but also their cook who provides them with nourishment.

The life of the first human beings is generally depicted as having been in a form of paradise. God provided for them, in some cases they lived in the sky (heaven) with Him or lie was on earth with them; God gave them one of three important gifts: immortality, resurrection (if they died) or rejuvenation (if they grew old). However, this paradise got lost, the earth and heaven separated, God went to live up in heaven while men lived on the earth, the three gifts got lost and in their place there came diseases, suffering and death. There are many myths which address themselves to this change of human fortune. Some speak about a message which God sent to people, but which either did not reach them or was changed by the messenger on the way, or the messenger arrived just too late to find that a faster messenger from God had brought another message. Myths of the lost or changed or later arrived message are very widespread in eastern, southern and parts of western Africa. The carrier of this message (generally one of immortality, resurrection or rejuvenation) is often the chameleon; while the carrier of the contra message is often the lizard, the hare, the weaver bird or the frog.

In some cases the myths speak of a test which God put to the original people. They failed. So the misfortunes of death and suffering, of God's separation from men came about. Other myths explain that this occurred as a result of jealousies and quarrels within human families. Still in other myths, the cause originated from animals, like the hyena which, being (always) hungry sought and ate the leather rope that had united heaven (sky) and earth
(8).

There are, however, considerable myths which put the blame on the women. Thus, for ex9mple, it was a woman who in Ashanti myths (of Ghana), while pounding fufu (national food) went on knocking against God Who lived in the sky. So God decided to go higher up. The good woman instructed her children to construct a tower by piling up the mortars one on top or another. The tower almost reached God, leaving a gap which could be filled with only one mortar; Since the children had used up all the mortars, their mother advised them to take the bottom-most mortar and fill the gap. As they removed this mortar, the whole tower tumbled down and killed many people. In one of the Pygmy (Bambuti) myths, it is told that God gave the first people one rule: they could eat the fruits of all the trees, except from one tree. The people observed this rule, until a pregnant woman was overcome by desire and persistently urged her husband to get the forbidden fruit for her. Finally he crept secretly into the forest, plucked the fruit and brought it to her. However, the moon was watching all this and went and reported it to God. God became so angry that lie sent death to the people as punishment.

While the woman is in these and some other myths blamed for the misfortune that befell the first human beings, she is clearly not the main nor the only culprit. Indeed the myths that put the blame on her are proportionally few. They indicate that she shares in the cause and effect of suffering, misfortune and death in the world. She is a human being like men and children. She is also raced with the mysteries of life at the other end -- just as she shares in the mysteries of life's beginning, so she shares in lire's end.

Through the myths of origin, we get a picture of the woman as someone placed by God in a special position. She shares with Him the creative process of life. In some ways her position and her role in these myths eclipses the position of the husband (male). She is in a real sense the mother of human beings, the dispenser of life, howbeit as an agent of God. At the same time the woman shares in the misfortunes, suffering and death which in various ways came into the world.

We shall now consider the woman as seen and depicted in African wisdom, in the proverbs of the ages.

2. WOMEN IN AFRICAN PROVERBS

Proverbs are infinitely more numerous than myths. We find them by the hundreds and thousands in every African people (tribe). They address themselves to many themes and areas of life and knowledge. They are very concentrated in the sense that they put a lot of thoughts, ideas, reflections, experiences, observations, knowledge and even world views, into a few words. We shall here quote only a few proverbs and try to capture what they intend to put in a few words.

a) Women are extremely valuable in the sight of society. Not only do they bear life, but they nurse, they cherish, they give warmth, they care for life since all human life passes through their own bodies. The following proverbs bring these points out clearly.

"Wives and oxen have no friends"
(9). This indicates that a wife is so valuable that she cannot be given over to even the best friends of her husband. For that reason, another proverb reminds us that: "A woman must not be killed"
(10). She is the mother of life, and to kill the woman is to kill children, to kill humanity itself. The woman should be handled with respect and not be treated as if she were a slave. So another proverb asks the husband: "Did you buy me with elephant tusks?"
(11), if the husband is ill-treating her. She reminds him that he really cannot buy her, she is not a commodity for sale like elephant tusks or slaves.

Even an aged woman is a blessing to men. So another proverb says: "It is better to be married to an old lady than to remain unmarried"
(12). There are areas of human life which only the woman can fulfil. The unmarried man is lacking something, as one proverb explains: "It is at five that man succeeds"
(13). The Maasai who use this proverb explain that a successful life needs "a wife, a cow, a sheep, a goat, and a donkey". This would mean, that even if one is rich, one is not successful as long as one lacks a wife.

The value of the woman begins already when she is born and not when she gets married. So it is stated: "A babygirl means beautiful cows"
(14). Already at birth the woman is destined to be married. In traditional African society this entails a bride-exchange in form of cattle, services, foodstuffs, family ties, or other expressions of the marriage contract. Furthermore, the woman will bear children and thus enrich her husband and the wider circle of relatives from both sides. So the Tsonga and Shangana people of South Africa (Azania) say: "To beget a woman is to beget a man"
(15). This saying carries with it the hope and expectation, that after marriage, the wife will bear both girls and boys.

b) The woman who is not married has practically no role in society, in African traditional world-view. It is expected that all women get married. So a proverb states: "an ugly girl does not become old at home"
(16), which means that the looks of a girl should not stop her from getting married. Otherwise this would deny her the role of womanhood.

This thought is bound up with the value of bearing children. The childless woman goes through deep sorrows in African society. So it is said, for example: "The woman who has children does not desert her home"
(17). This means that bearing children gives the woman the security and joy of a family, of being taken care of in her old age, of being respected by the husband and the wider society. So "the woman whose sons have died is richer than a barren woman"
(18), is intended to say that people will excuse a woman for losing her children through death, but the one who does not bear is hardly 'excused'. Consequently people say: "A barren wire never gives thanks"
(19) - nothing else is as valuable as children. If a woman has everything else, except children, she would have no cause or joy to give thanks. The sentiment is expressed in African societies, that the more children one has the better. So the Ghanaians say: "A serviceable wife is often blessed with the birth of a tenth child"
(20). Parental blessings often run along the lines of: "May you bear children like bees! May you bear children like calabash seeds!" Today's economic and educational pressure will force a change in these sentiments, where parents reel the need to reduce the number of children they can support and educate adequately. Nevertheless, African society is carried away by the proverb which says: "The satiety of a pregnant woman is off-spring"
(21). This means that motherhood is a woman's fulfillment.

c) The mother or wife is probably the most important member of the family, the centre of familyhood. So it is said by the Akamba of Kenya for example: "he who has not traveled thinks that his mother is the best cook in the world." This proverb, while attacking a narrow horizon in life, shows how central the person of the mother is. This sentiment is aired in another proverb from the Gikuyu of Kenya: "The baby that refuses its mother's breast, will never be full"
(22). Other people may feed the baby or the person, but their food would never satisfy as well as that provided by the mother.

The place of the mother is further indicated by comparing her with other women or wives, whether she is alive or dead. The Swahili of East Africa say categorically: "The step mother is not a real mother"
(23). This sentiment is shared by other peoples and is expressed in various ways. For example: "Somebody else's mother, however good to you she may be, she can never be better than your own mother", or "Your step mother is not your mother", or "A sheep does not lament the death of a goat's kid"
(24), all from the Acholi of Uganda. Their neighbours the Lugbara put it this way: "There are no two mothers", or "There is not another mother"
(25). From southern Africa we hear: "The mother's breast cannot get leprosy"
(26). All these and many other proverbs are indications that the mother's role cannot be one hundred percent duplicated: she provides (or should provide) the best love and tenderness, warmth, care, bodily and emotional nourishment, and much more. All this begins already, when the person is inside the mother's womb and lasts (or should last) until the mother has died or indeed, it continues when she dies and becomes a spirit, a living dead. It also means that the love, the care and tenderness should be reciprocated by everyone towards his or her own mother, since everyone has a mother. So we hear proverbs like: "A chi]d does not laugh at the ugliness of his mother"
(27), from the Lugbara of Uganda; or "The mother of the big he-goat has no horns"
(28), from the Akamba of Kenya. This last proverb indicates that all the "big" men (like artists, generals, presidents, bishops, doctors, professors, inventors, singers, scientists and so one) are each born of a woman, of a mother who may not herself be regarded as a "big" person in society. She may not "have horns", but she gives birth to a "big" person in society.

d) Women are human beings and as such they also have their weaknesses. African society knows those weaknesses and speaks about them. One of them is jealously, especially when several wives live in a polygamous family. Three proverbs from the Lugbara of Uganda illustrate this weakness: "The tongue of co-wives is bitter", "The tongue of co-wives is pointed" (which means that the co-wives can sting each other with their talking), and "A co-wife is the owner of jealousy"
(29). Such domestic problems can affect the husband who has the task of pleasing each wife. So a Uhanajan proverb says: "Polygamy makes a husband a double-tongued man"
(30). The husband's role is not easy if the co-wives do not get on well with each other. He may be seen to favour one more than the others. In this case he could be rebuked with a proverb like: "This polygamist ploughs one field only"
(31). This could indicate that in fact the husband provokes the co-wives to show jealousy, when they realise that he favours one more than the others.

The fact that jealousy may arise in polygamous families is not basis enough to condemn polygamy as such. There are many happy polygamous families just as there are even more unhappy monogamous families. Indeed, there are proverbs that show and urge respect for polygamous families. For example: "Uncriticised, are you the senior wife?"
(32), used by the Lugbara, to remind people that the senior wife is the focus of highest respect in the family, but she too is not perfect and if need be can also be criticised. In any case she has more respect by being a co-wife than she would have if she were the only wife (in a monogamous family). It is said in Kenya: "Axes carried in the same bag cannot avoid rattling", to mean among other things, that it is not so terrible if co-wives "rattle" with each other. Indeed, a proverb from the Tsonga of southern Africa can be applied to support the "value" or "necessity" of co-wives: "A pole is strengthened by another pole"
(33). If women in African society would have found polygamy to be unbearable, the custom would have long ago. One proverb reminds us that in such families there are mutual support and love and care: "The way to overcome cold is to warm each other"
(34).

e) There are also prejudices shown to women in African societies. It is amazing, that similar prejudices are found in other societies of the world. I give here some examples of proverbs of prejudice or judgement towards women. Among the Tsonga-Shangana people of southern Africa, some women earn the remark: "This woman is fire", or "This woman is a deceitful and ferocious crocodile"
(35). Even the beauty of women may earn them remarks like: "Do not desire a woman with beautiful breast, if you have no money!"
(36), to mean that beautiful women are expensive to win and maintain. The Gikuyu in Kenya say: "Women, like the weather, are unpredictable", and "Women have no secure gourds, but only leaking upside down ones"
(37). The second of these means that "women are given to letting out secrets. You can't trust women with secrets". In a beautiful expression the same point is made using the proverb: "Woman, remember that the mouth is sometimes covered with a branch"
(38), to mean that she cannot keep a secret.

It is thought that women ruin men. So the Maasai remind us: "The prostitute can make you useless"
(39), of course without saying what men do to women! The Maasai also accuse the women of being short-sighted by saying that: "A woman cannot see her palm"
(40). In Uganda the Acholi complain that: "Women have no chiefs"
(41), to mean that "women cannot allow another woman to be superior. In another sense, a chief is not a chief to his own wife or wives, or even to other women". Naturally, when the men occupy so many of the superior positions in society, what more is left for women? The woman is often blamed for disputes in a marriage. So there are proverbs in Tanzania for example, which say: "A lazy wife does not miss going to her parents frequently", or "The good wife at her husband's home, the other one is at her parents' home"
(42). But what happens to lazy men, or do they not exist? Women are also accused of domineering their husbands (whatever the realities may actually be): "No man is a hero to his wife"
(43).

Men complain that they cannot understand women. So the Ghanaians say: "When women increase in wealth, they are silent. But when they fall into trouble, the whole world gets to know." In another saying we hear that: "In a town where there are no men, even women praise a hunch back for being the fastest runner"
(44)

There are men (and women) who fear women, considering them to be dangerous. So we hear proverbs like: "To marry is to put a snake in one's handbag", and even to take up contact with women is an evasive undertaking: "One does not follow the footprints in the water"
(45), which means that "following a woman is like footprints in water", because "the way soon vanishes". It is even claimed that words of women have no legal value, they are not reliable: "Women have no court"
(46). They even ruin men: "Marriage roasts (hardens)"
(47), is said to mean that a man's heart hardens after marriage, because of his wife. Even beautiful women get a share of prejudice: "Beautiful from behind, ugly in front"
(48), a proverb which warns that a person may look attractive or say nice words at first, but after marriage turns out to be really ugly.

f) In spite of these and other prejudices, there are many beautiful things said about women. Some of these we have already encountered. Men will fight over women - to show how much they value the women concerned. So in Ghana we hear that: "Two bosom friends that vie one and the same lady have chosen a common read to be each other's enemy"
(49). Compared to a man, the woman is more precious: "The woman is a banana tree (which multiplies itself); the man however, is a cornstalk (which stands alone)"
(50). It is also from Ghana where we have the beautiful comparison and mutual complement between the wife and the husband: "Woman is a flower in a garden; her husband, the fence around it"
(51). So the women need all the protection that men can give them. For this reason the Lugbara say: "The man dies in the wind, the woman in the house"
(52). The woman and the man belong together, can and do love each other, they need each other. In Lugbara proverb we are told: "The woman is the rib of man"
(53), a statement which is parallel to the Biblical creation story in Genesis 2, 21-22. The Akamba warn against the danger of remaining unmarried: "He who eats alone, dies alone" -- he leaves neither wife nor posterity to remember him in the world of the living.

3. WOMEN AND PRAYERS

In traditional African life women play a significant role in the religious activities of society. One of the areas where this role is prominent, is in offering prayers for their families in particular and their communities in general. In many areas there were (and still are) women priests (priestesses); almost everywhere in Africa the mediums (who are so important in traditional medical practice) are nearly always women; those who experience spirit possession are in most cases also women. Traditional healing is a profession of both men and women and it is more often the women practitioners who handle children's and other women 5 medical needs. In this paper we have space for only a few prayers which illustrate how actively involved are the women in the spirituality of African Religion. The examples are cited out of my own book
(54), so that there is no need to indicate the source each time.

A women's morning prayer runs:"Morning has risen; God, take away from us every pain, every ill, every mishap; God, let us come safely home"
(55). [n this prayer the woman brings before God her family and hands it over to God, believing that He will keep away all evil. It is a Pygmy prayer.

A litany for a sick child is offered by women, addressing it specially to the departed members of the family who are thought to exercise healing power especially by conveying the request to God. It comes from the Aro of Sierra Leone. Mother prays: "0 spirits of the past, this little one I hold is my child; she is your child also, therefore, be gracious unto her". The other women chant: "She has come into a world of trouble: sickness is in the world, and cold and pain; the pain you knew, the sickness with which you were familiar". The mother prays on: "Let her sleep in peace, for there is healing in sleep. Let none among you be angry with me or with my child". The women take up their chanting: "Let her grow, let her become strong. Let her become full-grown. Then will she offer such a sacrifice to you that will delight your heart"
(56). In this prayer we see how close the women feel to the spirit-world. They enter into it, they solicit help from it. The physical and spiritual world mingle here in a harmony of 'going' and 'coming'. The women depict here a deep sensitivity towards the invisible and spiritual realities.

A woman whose husband is away fighting in war, prays for his protection and safe return. She prays not just for him alone, but for others who are with him. Like all similar prayers, it is a on-sided prayer, favouring one side. It comes from the Banyarwanda. "Let him be saved with those who went with him! Let him stand firm with them. Let him return from the battle with them..."
(57). In this way the women participate in fighting on the side of their husbands. The husbands would certainly feel encouraged to get this form of spiritual support from their wives.

Recognising that menstruation is intimately linked to the passing on of life, many African peoples perform a ceremony in Ghana, the Ashanti mother of the concerned girl prays that she may grow to full maturity and bear children. This is the wish of every mother for her children. "Nyankonpon Tweaduapon Nyame (God) upon whom men lean and do not fall, receive this wine and drink. Earth Goddess, whose day of worship is a Thursday, receive this wine and drink. Spirit of our ancestors, receive this wine and drink. This girl child whom God has given to me, today the Bara state has come upon her... Do not come and take her away, and do not have permitted her to menstruate only to die"
(58).

In many parts of Africa it does not always rain enough. Rainmaking ceremonies are performed, at which sacrifices, offering and prayers are made to God, beseeching Him to give more rain or to let it rain. Here is one such prayer made by Maasai women (Kenya. and Tanzania). The woman leader intones one part, while other people present for the occasion sing or recite the other:

Leader: "We need herbs on the earth's back! "

Women express gratitude to God,after childbirth. Then they know that life comes ultimately from Him and is sustained by Him. The following prayer is said by Pygmy women in a ceremony of dedicating a baby to God. The mother and father lift the baby towards the sky and pray: "To Thee, the Creator, to Thee, the Powerful, I offer this fresh bud, new fruit of the ancient tree. Thou art the Master, we thy children. To Thee, the Creator, to Thee, the Powerful: Khmvoum (God), Khmvoum, I offer this new plant"
(60).

The sorrows of being childless go very deep in the wife. There are many prayers for help in such situations. From an affected woman of the Barundi, we feel with her the agony of her spirit, when she prays: "0 Imana (God) of Urundi, if only you would help me! 0 Imana of pity, Imana of my father's home, if only you would help me!... 0 Imana, if only you would give me a homestead and children! I prostrate myself before you, Imana of Urundi. I cry to you: Give me off-spring, give me as you give to others! Imana, what shall I do, where shall I go? I am in distress: where is there room for me? 0 Merciful, O Imana of mercy, help this once!"
(61).

Death also brings with it its own sorrows and problems, and many prayers are offered in such times. The following prayer pours out desperation with the same forcefulness as the previous prayer: "My husband,you have abandoned me. My master is gone and will never return. I am lost. I have no hope. For you used to fetch water and collect firewood for me. You used, to clothe and feed mewith good things... Where shall I go?"

It is clear, that women both participate in the religious activities of society and make their own contributions forthe spiritual welfare of their lives, their families and of society at large. The prayers are small window that opens into their spirituality which indeed is the spirituality ofall human beings. As they share with God in the great mysteries of passing on life, so they share also in giving human life a spiritual orientation. They are truly flowers inthe garden. They give life beauty, scent and seed.
by Mbiti excepted from(Chidi Denis Isizoh

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