Why African cultural beliefs are often labelled satanic

A video grab shows Speaker Rebecca Kadaga kneeling at the shrine in Busoga where she said she had gone to thank her ancestral spirits for her re-election as Speaker and Member of Parliament. Left, some of the caves at Sezibwa Falls in Kayunga District. The place is often jammed with people praying for various needs, including barren women seeking to conceive and the mentally disturbed family members hoping to get cured. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.

She is not alone. The newly elected Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has caused a furore by paying homage to a traditional shrine in her home village in Busoga.

Ms Kadaga is not the first high profile Ugandan to make such visits. Former vice president Prof Gilbert Bukenya, visited a traditional shrine in Masaka some years back with many Christians, notably Catholics to where he belongs, calling for his resignation.
Today, a good number of Christians and Muslims are doing the same, though secretly. But why this Kadaga hullabaloo?
Charles Lwanga, a Catholic and member of Pope Paul VI Memorial Community Centre in Ndeeba, Kampala, thinks the Speaker was misunderstood.

“Most likely, she visited the shrine to thank her ancestors for enabling her win the hotly contested race for Speaker just like any Muganda can visit his or her clan’s sacred place for blessing or to express gratitude for an achievement accomplished.”

Not into witchcraft
While at the shrine, Lwanga says, Ms Kadaga was neither seen smoking a pipe or calling for the bewitching of her political enemies. “In other words, she was trying to demonstrate to the whole world that her ancestors do really exist and offer blessing when requested.”

According to Lwanga, this is very common in Buganda as well. He gives an example he experienced in his Ngabi (bush buck) clan, where members of Ennyunga sect (sub-clan), to which Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala belongs, adore the Buwende lake side of Rakai District, where some still visit in big numbers for blessings and thanks-giving.

Another Ngabi clan sect, Abalanzi on the other hand, treasure the Kyagubi hill near Villa Maria in Masaka and are often seen converging there, while those of Abasiita too consult their ancestors at Lwemwa hill, also in Masaka District.

Besides, Lwanga thinks some Kiganda words are wrongly mistaken to be satanic. He refers to words such as okusamila to simply mean “praying” and not bewitching as many think, while Masabo refers to places of worship for those who lived before Christianity came and many others who, up to date, have never embraced this faith.

A Christian friend in town, who preferred anonymity, admits having visited a Kiganda shrine (ssabo) in his Bugerere (Kayunga District) home village with a number of relatives way back in 1995.

He says they went there to perform what he calls an important traditional ritual and saw nothing wrong with this.

“We didn’t go there for any bad intention like trying to bewitch others but simply to cleanse ourselves in order to get rid of a strange illness that was affecting many of us and to which no medical solution could be found.”

There are so many cultural sites or shrines in Uganda and all over Africa considered to be sacred and often visited for blessings.

For instance, the magnificent Sezibwa Falls in Kayunga District is often jammed with people praying for various needs, including barren women seeking to conceive and the mentally disturbed family members hoping to get cured.

Across the border in Kenya, sports teams are often seen praying while facing the direction of Mount Kenya before major competitions kick off, thus seeking blessings from such an important landmark they consider important in their culture.

Surely, the theory of considering most African cultural beliefs as satanic is as old as colonialism itself. When the early Christian missionaries first arrived in Buganda Kingdom of Uganda towards the end of the 18th Century, they straight away poked holes in most African traditional cultural practices, terming them evil and even called upon Baganda to shun them.

In Buganda, people believed there was someone supernatural and behind the creation of some outstanding features around such as high mountains, huge trees and rocks.

The ancient religion of the Baganda was monotheistic. They worshiped the creator of all things under various titles: Katonda, “the creator”, Mukama, “the master” and Ssegulu, “the lord of heaven”.
Every morning, his blessing was invoked by the master of the house on all members of the family, particularly on those that were absent. Having a firm belief in the immortality of the soul, the Baganda venerated the spirits of their ancestors.

To the white missionaries, this was wrong and unacceptable. There was only one true God and they (missionaries) wanted all people to learn about the gospel of someone by the name of Jesus Christ.

Most Kiganda cultural objects of the time too fell victim and the missionaries hated them alike. These included drums, shields, spears, bark-cloth, animal skins and gourds. The whites considered them more or less satanic tools.

Reason being that such objects could then be seen (even up to this day) in most traditional and “witchcraft” shrines (Masabo).

Perhaps this explains why at the beginning of Christianity in most African regions, traditional musical instruments such as drums could not be allowed during liturgy.

Actually, following the Vatican II Council reforms, Ugandan traditional music instruments such as drums made history by becoming among the first African instruments to be allowed and used inside the greatest and most prestigious Catholic Church in the world- Rome’s St Peter’s Basilica.

On October 18, 1964, twenty two Uganda Martyrs were solemnly proclaimed saints by late Pope Paul VI in St Peter’s Basilica, where a Ugandan choir, led by great composer Joseph Kyagambiddwa, was allowed to perform. With pulsating rhythm of African drums and other traditional instruments, they took Rome by storm!

Surprisingly, this early Christian missionaries’ negative attitude towards African cultural activities and objects still lives to this day. Today, some Christian churches are preaching against observing rituals such as last funeral rites “Okwabya olumbe”, the initiation ceremony of twins born in families (Okuzina abalongo) and even some cultural dances, which they all see as satanic.

Such churches have persistently instructed their members to shun them.
Such are the irreconcilable differences between some faiths and traditional beliefs.

Anna Nanteza, a pastor at Nazareth Pentecostal church in Rubaga, a Kampala suburb, says her church believes in people picking their heirs to succeed them when they die and later a brief installation ceremony but only accompanied by prayers and not involving those complicated cultural rites and objects involved.
“For instance, why present the heir with war objects such as spears and shields? Even some attires used such as bark-cloth and fierce animal skins don’t look all that holy,” she reasons.
Nanteza doesn’t even seem to like the act of presenting the heir with a gourd (Endeku), reasoning that since it’s widely used for taking alcohol, this is like encouraging the heirs to turn drunkards as well.
A Buganda tribe clan leader, however, dismisses Nanteza’s thinking, calling it an inexcusable allegation. Livingstone Kivumbi, who heads the Ssiga (section) of the Baganda’s Ngonge (Otter) clan, sees nothing wrong or satanic with all steps performed during last funeral rites and installation of heirs or with any cultural object used. He says such are simply symbolic objects. His explanation, plus that of Lugazi Diocese’s Msgr Richard Kayondo, help throw some light on why certain cultural objects are used during important cultural rites in Buganda.
Bark cloth and animal skins.

Before clothes made of linen, cotton and other materials were first brought to Buganda by the Arabs from the East African coast in the 18th Century, the Baganda used to dress in bark-cloth and animal skins.
In most villages, boys and girls used to move naked, until the age of seven when they would be given small pieces of goat skin. At the age of 15, they would then receive bark-cloth and this is when they would be considered adults. The clothing ceremony was therefore a stage marking the child’s transforming status and thus becoming more independent.
For animal skins, that of a lion considered to be king of the jungle, is used at coronation and certain last funeral rites to remind heirs of courage with which they are expected to govern homes or kingdoms. The lion is viewed in the context of strength, which the new king or head of family is always expected to exhibit. The lion skin is thus regarded symbolically important in the Ganda culture.

Some Cultural objects used in important cultural rites in Buganda

Spears and shield

In Buganda, spears and shields are regarded great symbols of bravery and determination used in the installation of the king and family heirs.

In normal succession ceremonies such as installation of an heir, the items are used to symbolise manhood and leadership. The spear signifies readiness to defend not only territorial integrity, but also all cultural values of the kingdom or tribe.

Drums and gourds
Among the Baganda, drums symbolise authority acquired and are regarded as symbols of various values in traditional life.

There are different sounds of drums for various clans sounded when installing heirs. Besides, whenever a new king is being enthroned in Buganda , one of the very first things he does is to sound a special drum called Mujaguzo - an indication that there is a new king.

Elsewhere, Endeku (gourd) is always presented to an heir and this symbolises the virtue of sharing drinks with visitors. In Buganda, gourds are not only used for taking alcohol like most “born-again” Christians presume, but also for enjoying soft drinks such as banana juice and even water.

Heirs are instructed never to allow visitors to leave their homes when thirsty and in so doing strengthen friendships and co-operation among families and tribes.

African tradition and the church

In Uganda, the Catholic Church has on several occasions made it clear that it has no authority to demolish longtime tribal cultures, reason it even allows families perform last funeral rites for priests and nuns when they die.

“The church prays for the soul of a dead person and strengthens those that are still alive. We don’t stop anyone from organising funeral rites for a dead servant of God. After all, Jesus, whom we follow, made Peter His heir. So the church doesn’t have a problem with earthly heirs or last funeral rites,” said Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala in an interview sometime back.

Kampala Archdiocese has actually had so many cases where Catholic priests and nuns have been installed as heirs in traditionally organised last funeral rites ceremonies once chosen by their families

Religion Vs culture
On the issue of conflict between religion and culture, Rev Fr Anthony Musuubire of Kitagobwa Catholic Parish in Kampala Archdiocese, believes there is a need for inculturation - an effort to make Jesus and his gospel relevant to the people in a given culture. “It’s important to take the traditional customs of African culture and make the best ones fit into Christianity.”

Fr Musuubire quotes the late Pope Paul VI when he visited Uganda in 1969, and he said, “You may and you must have an Africa Christianity.”

He also quotes Bishop Peter Sarpong of Kumasi, Ghana, once saying, “If Christianity’s claim to be universal is to be believed, then it is not Africa that must be Christianised, but Christianity that must be Africanised.”

In Ghana, Bishop Sarpong went as far as composing an Ashanti Mass that inculturates Ashanti traditions in the Eucharist.
The community in the video, The dancing Church, highlights the arrival of the king during the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass.

In traditional Ashanti fashion, women dance at the arrival of the king. So in the Eucharist, Jesus, our king, has come again to us. This is a wonderful blend of inculturation. The blending of the coming of Jesus, the king with symbols used with the Ashanti king, present a moment of great happiness. Other different ways are used to portray Christ as an Ashanti king.

That aside, once while addressing Congolese bishops in Kinshasa, late Pope John Paul II, described the church as being Catholic (universal) and therefore not bound to any cultural entity.

He stated that for the true evangelisation to be realised in Africa, the Africanisation of the church was very vital. In this context, the Africanisation of the church meant creating a church where Africa feels fully Christian and truly African.

Relevancy
In all, it’s believed that the strength of the Christian faith will not depend on the network of schools built or hospitals, not even on a number of parishes or religious institutions, not even on the economic strength and the political support it may gain. Rather, on whether Africans feel that Christianity fulfils their own needs and quest for God in their life situation.