IN the previous episode we stated that we are connected to Mwari, our God through our ancestral spirits.
Our line of ancestors traces our roots back to the Creator.
This is why Africans always refer to their ancestral spirits, vadzimu. The spirit lives on after our physical body dies. Our lineage is African. Western Christianity rejects our African spirituality as defined in the context of our vadzimu.
How can we link with God through foreign prophets such as Jesus and Mohamed? Through believing? What is there to believe? Our physical reality grades all the way back into the spiritual all the way to Mwari Musikavanhu.
Christianity would have us connect to God through Jesus Christ as a matter of faith. But we are saying we connect to our Creator through the line of ancestors as a matter of fact. Our spiritual beliefs are based on fact; Christian beliefs are fiction, at least to us Africans. No amount of faith can change us from being what we are, Africans. Our African spirituality is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of fact. We have no ancestral connection with Jesus; how then can we connect to God through him?
Here we continue to explore the various dimensions of our African spirituality. In previous episodes we have attempted to describe some of the dimensions of our African spirituality. We made reference to the avenging spirit of a person who has been wrongfully killed, the ngozi spirit seeking justice.
We also referred to mudzimu, the spirit of a dead person which returns to look after the interests of living relatives. The mudzimu spirit of a departed person protects the living from various mishaps including illness, accident or other misfortune.
When one experiences an unexpected calamity, Africans will say ‘ah, midzimu yadambura mbereko’. This literally means the ancestral spirits have broken the wrapper that holds the baby to the mother’s back.
When one survives a nasty accident, Africans will be heard to say ‘ane midzimu yakasimba’ or ‘midzimu yaramba’ meaning the concerned person’s ancestral spirits are strong or have refused that the tragedy befall the person. Our ancestral spirits protect us from all manner of evil.
The belief in the protection afforded by ‘vadzimu’ is illustrated by a saying that ‘mudzimu wemumwe haurarirwi panze’. Translated the expression says one cannot engage in a dangerous practice just because someone else has previously survived that practice.
One could be eaten by a hyena after sleeping in the open in a place where others have slept and experienced no harm. The implication is that vadzimu have different capacities to protect their relatives. Clearly some ancestral spirits are more powerful than others.
Dangerous places have been given the names like ‘pamudzimu ndiringe’ implying that one really needs protection from ancestral spirits to survive the dangers at such a place. Shona speakers are often heard to say ‘chinosara chinomudzimu wacho’ meaning that nothing can survive without the intervention of the ancestral spirits.
The above expressions point to the universal belief among Africans that they are protected from misfortunes by their ancestral spirits, vadzimu.
Now the Christian religion has tried to destroy this fundamental spirituality among Africans, but fortunately, with limited success. In this respect we are in danger of losing the urbanised youths; they are less connected to African cultural traditions.
Attempts by Western Christian pastors to discredit our spiritual heritage have largely failed. The argument that belief in ancestral spirits is ungodly must be rejected with the contempt it deserves.
Africans are connected to Mwari, God through their creator. Midzimu or ancestral spirits are our intermediaries.
Another aspect of African spirituality is evidenced by people swearing by their ancestors. It is common to hear a person whose statement has been challenged defending the truthfulness of his statement by saying ‘ndinopika naMai vangu varere pachuru’. This translates to: I swear by the spirit of my mother who is buried on an anthill.
The belief is that the mother’s spirit knows the truth and would cause harm to one who is lying.
Again the above emphasises the strong belief in the influence of our vadzimu, ancestral spirits, in our daily life. Before an African leaves home on a journey or a hunting trip or say to attend court, s/he invokes the support and protection of the ancestral spirits.
The request to the ancestral spirits is preceded by clapping of hands in a particular way. Tobacco snuff of the type called ‘bute’ or ‘mudhombo’ is placed on the ground.
The person then calls on the ancestral spirits by name starting with the great grandfather (tateguru), the grandfather and then the immediate father if deceased pleading for their intervention.
I understand Catholics would call upon the saints to intercede on their behalf! So how does the African approach become demonised and evil?
Other ancestral spirits of the family or clan (dzinza) may also be invoked one by one, to provide the required protection or blessings (makomborero). This is all an expression of our spirituality.
The request to the ancestral spirits is equivalent to the Christian prayer. In the African context, the ancestral spirits pass the request on along their chain all the way to Musikavanhu, God the Creator.
In African religion, the ancestral spirits are the guardian angels. Each person has many guardian angels from both the father’s and mother’s ancestral lines.
Only those late departed relatives whose spirits have been formally admitted into the family through the bira/umbuyiso or kurova guva ceremony can be expected to look after family members. They become ‘vadzimu’.
This is why Africans take the kurova guva ceremony very seriously. These ceremonies are conducted at weekends and during public holidays to facilitate attendance by family members who work away from the family home base.
Kurova guva is therefore an African religious ceremony that anchors the spiritual relationship of the living and the dead. Its deliberate demonisation by Western Christianity is an abomination; Africans consider the negation of our spirituality as sacrilegious.
Individuals who fail to conduct the necessary ceremonies usually suffer isolation and misfortune. When they consult diviners or genuine prophets, they are advised to mend their relationship with God through their ancestral spirits.
So we have seen that African religious and cultural practices are intimately tied up with our spirituality. We shall continue to explore more dimensions of our spiritual identity as part of efforts to consolidate our spiritual identity, independence and sovereignty.