93

KOFI ASARE OPOKU, WEST AFRICAN TRADITIONAL BSLIGION, 1978

SINGAPORE: FEP INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITED, pp-vii - 182

GEROGE P. HAGAN

West African Traditional Religion is a brief Introduction  to the  student

of African religion.  As ,.;. books on African religions go, it does not break new

ground.  Beginning by clearing up certain misconceptions and fallacies about

African religion, the book goes on to identify and explain certain African

well known beliefs and practices about the relationship between man and the

supernatural which are common, if not to all ethnic cultures in the sub—region,

at least, to many of the major ones.  Of particular  interest are the  following

fiduciary tenets and key  concepts which the writer touches upon in the seven

chapters of the book:

(a)  The existence  of a Supreme Being, the source of creation, who

is credited  in various epithets with being the all"knowing, all-
powerful master, father and  friend, with reference  to whom
everything finds justification-

(b)  The  existence  of a plethora of spirit beings or 'divinities' with
specialized moral and practical functions satisfying man1s natural
needs.

(c)  The idea that human beings in their individuality  possess

identifiable qualities of  'divinity' and realize on earth pre-
ordained roles in fulfilment  of divine mission.

(d)  The notion that society, seen In flux, derives its internal strength
through maintaining its links with the dead, enhances its collective
spirituality through the moral lives of its living members, and
preserves its internal bonds through social  rules and norms for and
in the yet—unborn.

(e)  And supporting these beliefs, "religious praxis11 that places great
emphasis on collective .and participatory rituals as the source of
succour to the individual.

African religion, as the writer points out, has an internal vitality,

continuity, and resilience^  and ethnic cultures, as well as many modern social
practices are shot through and through with the religious beliefs af the people.
In the  transitional rites, which the book treats at length, the community expres-
ses its spiritual obligation to each person as it assists each  individual,already

9a.

sacr.&d a-t births to pass through life as' a being becoming nor'6 sacr'"dy

at each  critical phase  of'his'"or her physical and moral development,

till death comes as a  culminating point bringing the "apotheosis" of

each person as an ancestor.  The living see the dead as achieving

the status worthy of reverential regard, and this is what man in Africa

lives for.  West Africans have subsumed many of these  observances in... '•-'

both Islamic and Christian practices•

Yet, while going to great lengths to demonstrate the  practicality

of West African, religions in the daily and secular or non~religious

concerns of everyday life  (for, indeed, the differences between the

religious and the secular  obtains in West African as in other  cultures),

the book nevertheless fails to point out or lay emphasis on the social

and psychological _mood or attitude which belief in West African religion

evokes towards the vicissitudes of life.  I refer Sere to that mood or

attitude of "joy in living" so characteristic of the West African and

which in the  condition of slavery  fortified  the African with the will

to survive, and  created the Negro-Spirituals.  It is this mood of joy,

provident  in times of dire need and suffering and pain, which attracts

the African to the b_osc>ffl of his culture and to his traditional religion

whenever dark clouds gather.  This mood of joy removes the sting of death:

the dead  are mourned with  sorrow not unmixed  with joy, and their  exit

from human life is accepted with an attitude  of hope and fortitude. •

The spirits of the dead  come back .and continually  feed  the springs

of life  ensuring  that life is worth living in spite of its pains.

It is this mood  of joy which  constitutes the  creative fount  in

African  culture, enriching  society with  song, dance and new ritual _  -

drama and urging the intellectual  search  for meaning, philosophical

insight, and the discovery of practical solutions to man's anxious

queries  about the human condition.  African religion is an  important

source of traditional knowledge especially on the human physical and

mental condition, and traditional medicine and therapeutics are

practised  under its umbrella.

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An-aspect  of this religious mood  of joy is that West  African

religion is typically not ASCETIC.  Self"denial, sexual abstinence,

and abstinence from  certain  foods are occasionally practised  as part

of funeral or puberty rites; but they are scarcely  seen as a mode of

gaining greater  spiritual gifts or qualities, except, as the book

points out, as part  of the regimen  for the training of traditional

priests in certain cultures.  In fact in many West African  societies

religious abstinence  or asceticism  might be  considered  no more a

virtue  than voluptuousness  in expression  of religious  fervour vice-

Another  aspect  of traditional religion which  calls  for some

analysis in an introduction on West African religions- is the pattern

of ritual action of the devotional and supplicatory type*  There are

fascinating dramatic elements  in such ritual enactments which have,

in recent times, attracted  some attention  from some students of

African  drama.  But the distinctly religious elements in the  drama

of African worship  calls for  cross-cultural  comparison and analysis

if we .are to capture in practical forms of expression the common

elements in the African's relation to the divine.  Some brief descrip-

tions  of a few forms of worship should have  found some, place in the

book.

In this  connection  the  trance possession phenomenon should have

•received more than passing references in the book; for the wide

distribution of the phenomenon in the sub~region, as a religious

phenomenon and  also as an accepted  channel of spontaneous and  induced

Communication between spirit beings and man (as a means of knowing

what  is hidden and giving divinity  a  practical presence which enhances

the bond between men and  the supernatural) should  excite  in~depth

comparative studies.

In  contrast  to trans-substantiation which is the  core of Catholic

devotion, and  trans-figuration which  is typical of some other religions,

one might describe the trance, with apology, as a 'trans-

personification1  of deities, in the  sense that  it is a condition in

96.

which deities reveal their powers, personality  traits and  social

significance  (through  'capturing'  a human person and altering some

of his personal  characteristics  ~ voice, looks, and manner  of walking

etc.) for society  to receive  them and pay  them homage  as perceptible

persons-  In the book the  trance  is mentioned  only  as a means of

receiving a call to the priesthood; it is not treated as a union

between divinity  and humanity, nor as an important  element  in ritual

worship.

The writer  clearly points out that, in terms of religion, West

African  cultures had an open system-  New gods were often added and

old ones often  'de-ritualized'  as they lost their  creative and

functional energy, which was often apparent  in the  failure  of a deity

to select a priest  for his rituals or to manifest  itself through the

trance phenomenon-

When a new god  entered a society, new  cultural and  social

practices made their appearance with the establishment  of new cult

groups.  The  impact of Tigari and Koofiri cults in parts of the Akan

areas of Ghana is the most recent  example  of this phenomenon.  Such

new  cults could cause  considerable  changes in social mobility patterns.

And this is why  traditional  cults are important  to the understanding

of the  social impact of the gods.  Failure to elaborate  on cult

organization is obviously  one  of the major  gaps in the book*

Almost invariably, every new god while modifying  its host

society  also often adapts to the host-  One  sees one example of this

phenomenon in  the origins of Shango, the Yoruba deity  of thunder.

Though Shango was originally  evil it took on the  attributes of another

deity to become  one of the  greatest deities of Yorubaland:

"the high moral attributes  given to Shango  originally  belonged
to an ancient Yoruba solar divinity, Jakuta  (which means  'One who
fights with  stones' or  'One who hurls stones'), to whom  thunder
and lightning were attributed,  and from whom the prohibitions
against stealing, falsehood .and poisoning  originated.  Jakuta's
attributes were, in the course  of time, taken over by Shango,
who now represents, to the Yoruba, the wrath  of Olorun (God)

97.

a role which was played by Jakuta In the past.«....««

"The "Take over", however, has not been complete, for the

priests of Shango still observe the sacred day of Jakuta in Oyo,
although the rituals are performed as part of the worship of Shang*"
pp. .69, 70.

This process of the enculturation of a new god Is not unique to African

religions•  The enculturation of the revealed God of the Jews In Europe

followed broadly the same pattern*

As" a book for beginners, West African Traditional Religion will find

a place on the shelves of many scholars of religion, for a synoptic view

of African religions and on the  correct- attitude to adopt towards the  .  .,..•

study of African religion.  For that reason alone .care ..should have been taken

to avoid certain exaggerations bordering on very serious errors.  Thus the

writer goes too.far to the other end when he says:

"There is thus a continent ~ wide uniformity of idea's in traditional
religion in Africa, but this must not be seen in terms of uniformity
imposed through proselytizing, force or crusades; it must be seen in
terms of common Ideas and practices pursued by many African peoples*"
(pp. 69, 70)

I think any attempt to submerge the striking differences""In religious

practices on the continent robs Africa of the richness of her culture.

Elsewhere also the writer says of Akan society:

-. "There are, however, patrilineal clans in which membership is

derived from 'the male line.", (p. 99)

The statement |er__se is tautological; but correctly understood to mean

Akans have patrilineal clans, it is incorrect or at least debatable.