From ancient times, African societies have marked the transition of the life cycle, from birth to death, with rites of passage.
Through these “journeys of the spirit,” people are able to transcend the everyday concerns of life to connect with their own spirits and with the spirit world.
Rites of passage have value for both the individual and the community. Ceremonies that mark the stages of life provide clear definitions of society’s expectations of the individual, and they give him or her a sense of identity and belonging.
From the moment of birth, an African child is connected to family, community and the ancestors. Many different ceremonies are performed to reinforce these connections and to prepare children to become the custodians of the culture of their people.
Because infant mortality remains high, the people of many African cultures are extremely superstitious during the first few years of a child’s life, and carry out rituals to protect it from hazards.
The Himba of Namibia never leave a baby on its own or even put it down, lest the child is stolen away by some malevolent spirit. The Wodaabe of Niger do not name a child before its 12th birthday so that he or she cannot be identified by the spirit of death.
For Maasai babies, however, names are so important that they are bestowed by village elders soon after birth. In all African societies, childhood is a time for learning responsibilities and skills that enable children to contribute to their communities.
It is, nevertheless, also a time for children to develop creativity through imaginative play. Children are encouraged to take an active part in communal ceremonies and thereby begin their first steps on a journey that encompasses all the realms of human experience.
As they enter the adult world during their teenage years, African youngsters undergo a variety of initiation rituals. These rites provide individuals with instruction about what will be expected of them during the next phase of their lives.
The common experiences that they undergo during the initiation period also bind the individuals together and reinforce the idea of community.
In all initiation ceremonies, a select group of elders takes charge of the sequence of ritual events. To begin their training, initiates often enter a special place, a sacred forest or a ritually built house. It is there that they lose their childhood identities and gain their adult selves.
After a period of instruction, the initiates undergo an encounter or ordeal that marks the climax of their initiation and the beginning of their new lives.
Many African societies also make additional transitions as the individual progresses through a series of stages in life, with roles and responsibilities clearly defined for each age level.
Among the Massai, for example, a male moves from role to role – from young cattle herder to bachelor warrior to married family man to elder of the community – through a series of ceremonies extending over 25 years.
All of the males of the same age in a community participate as a group in the communal ceremonies that mark each transition.
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