CULTURE and tradition define a people.
Many places in Africa comprise communities that have lost a lot of knowledge about their roots.
This was caused by the influx of European Christian missionaries, particularly after the infamous Scramble for Africa conference held in Berlin at the end of the 19th Century.
One of the traditional festivals viciously outlawed by the Western missionaries in Zimbabwe was the Bira festival.
This festival is a bank of culture and tradition involving the singing of ancient songs, speaking of ancestral languages, mentioning of family genealogies and ancestors, preparation of traditional alcohol and the sacrificing of cattle, sheep and goats.
It is a festival held at a stipulated period after winter and before the rain season (August to October).
Each family heads back to the home of their forefathers to observe it with culture and tradition showcased and passed down to the observing youth to continue in the same way after the elders pass on.
The churches made it a condition that the converts to Western Christianity must stop participating in the Bira festival labelling it ‘ancestral worship’ or veneration.
Thus the Bira festivals became unpopular among the Zimbabwean converts to Western Christianity.
This caused internal division among blacks in families, villages and whole communities, because their children were helping the whiteman in demonising the ceremony that Zimbabweans held most sacred.
So-called Christian festivals were introduced in place of the traditional festivals. These include Christmas, which supposedly is the celebration of the birth of Christ, and Easter, which is a celebration of the death of Christ.
These festivals actually have no roots in the Bible or in any Israelite traditions.
Biblical Israelites observed three traditional festivals namely; the Passover, Feast of Tabernacles and Feast of Harvest.
The Passover marked the first full moon of the first month of the year and was used as a memorial of the migration of the Israelites from Egypt into Canaan during the time of Moses.
The Feast of Tabernacles marked the first full moon of the seventh month of the year and in it the first ripe fruits were offered to God.
It also marked the beginning of the second half of the year.
Seven weeks after this festival, there was the Feast of Harvest, in which the Israelites would offer the crops they harvested and give thanks.
These were the festivals that Israelites were commanded to observe, including Christ.
Traditional Israelite festivals are not strange to Africa because Africans too historically made offerings to God to mark the beginning of the lunar year and ask for sufficient rains.
Africans also made offerings to thank for their harvest.
The Passover, in particular, involves the roasting of a whole goat or sheep, eating it at night and leaving no remains come morning.
The names and roots of the Israelites, since the time of Joseph until the time of Moses, are also mentioned.
The roasting of the entire goat is found in a traditional Shona festival called Shungu and the mentioning of ancestral names and locations is evident in the Bira festivals.
All these traits are very African and prove a link between the ancient Hebrew people and those of Africa.
After all, the Israelites did come out of Egypt.
However, today we see festivals that are called Christian, yet they have nothing to do with Christ or the Israelites.
For example, the Hebrew Israelites recorded the date of birth solely for counting years and did not observe the holding of ceremonies to honour birthdays.
This was a trait practised by Romans who gave gifts and made merry on their birthdays.
Thus it would be highly unlikely that Christ would have endorsed Christmas.
It has also been calculated that Christ was born shortly before the Passover which falls in March in Israel.
In reality, the Romans chose December 25 to observe their pagan winter solstice festival called Saturnalia under the guise of Christmas.
Christmas is the biggest festival in African Christian countries and celebrating by way of drinking and partying was a known trait of Saturnalia which was held between December 22 and 26.
After crucifying Christ and 310 years of persecuting Coptic Christians, the Roman Empire under Constantine converted to Christianity.
The Romans had failed to conquer Christianity and this was a cause of division. The religion of the poor and oppressed would from this point on become that of the rich and powerful.
Constantine held a conference in Nicaea, Turkey, wherein he called all the bishops from all the churches in the known world to agree on a set of rules that would be followed by all Christians.
This is how the Romans found loopholes to incorporate some of their paganism into Christianity.
Easter also has its roots in Constantine’s Nicaea Conference and not Christ.
The Israelites used death dates simply for recording and they did so with several characters in the Bible.
Never was it required at any time for anyone’s death to be celebrated as an annual event the way in which Christians mark an anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion.
The Romans, under Constantine, set up Easter to replace the actual festival that Christ and the Israelites would have observed annually this time of the year.
That is the Passover, which takes place between March and April in the land of Israel.
This year, the Passover festival begins on March 22 and ends on March 29 after the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Easter will begin on March 25 and end on March 28.
As a result, instead of marking the first full moon of the lunar year in the Northern Hemisphere by sacrificing the Passover lamb, Christians observe Roman Easter. The Passover date is determined by the moon cycles.
This explains why Easter has no fixed dates on the Roman solar calendar, but is simply made to take place within the Passover period.
During Easter, ‘Good Friday’ is the name given to the day that the Romans crucified Christ.
What is so good about a day when an innocent man’s life was taken so brutally, unless the one celebrating it is the killer?
To make a festive anniversary of one’s death-day each and every year ceases to be a memorial service and is in fact a celebration.
This is overlooked by most partakers of Easter.
Easter is also riddled with pagan symbols and commercialism.
Nowadays rabbit symbols, which they call the Easter bunny along with Easter eggs, are sold as dolls and chocolates.
These sell out every Easter because they are bought to be given around as presents.
How have these festivals that have come under the guise of Christianity helped us when they are based on paganism and senseless commercialism?
Are they even comparable to the traditional festivals that re-attach us to our own roots and culture?
It is time for Africans to return to their roots by upholding their culture and observing traditional festivals.
Pagan origins of Christian festivals
‘The Romans, under Constantine, set up Easter to replace the actual festival that Christ and the Israelites would have observed annually this time of the year’
The churches made it a condition that converts to Western Christianity must stop participating in the Bira festival and labelling it ancestral worship.