Black Mens Studies. Serie McDougal III
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Engolo, or foot fighting, originated in the Angola-Namibia region of Africa. This martial art reflected the Amabundu people’s spiritual philosophy, Kalunga. Engolo fighters often stood on their hands to throw strikes, mimicking the inverted world of the ancestors. By standing on their hands, Engolo fighters were also drawing on the spiritual energy of the ancestors to assist their kicks, leg sweeps, and evasive techniques (Paul, 1987). In some communities, boys were expected to demonstrate mastery of the tactics of war in mock battles (Black, 1997). Males who were skilled at fighting were also seen as capable of protecting a family or a village in the event of war. Warfare, along with many tradecrafts, was an indication of the transition from boyhood to manhood.
Different peoples typically went to war for reasons related to territorial expansion, control of trade routes, and resources (Falola, 2000). Black (1997) explains that war dancing was a significant feature of the African warrior tradition. Among the Lele people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after a boy proved his manhood in initiation by successfully killing a beast, he was expected to return and dance around his village to the beat of a ukoko drum (Black, 1997). His dance was believed to indicate his physical and mental endurance. Zulu warriors engaged in competitive dancing to keep them in mental and physical shape. In addition to dance, different African ethnic groups also engaged in other cultural wartime conventions. Typically, the enemy was given notice so that they could send women, elders, and children to safety. The Hausa observed a three-day delay so that soldiers could sharpen their knives (Falola, 2000). Among many societies, sacrifices were made for the ancestors and deities in times of war. The Yoruba made sacrifices to Ogun, the orisha (deity) of war and iron, before battle. In addition, diviners were consulted, weapons rubbed with spiritual substances, and amulets possessing divine energies were stitched to garments (Falola, 2000). Spirituality was often central to African warrior traditions.
Fatherhood
Fatherhood was fundamentally linked to reproduction, one of the perceived functions of marriage and a means by which manhood was acquired. Describing common features of pre-colonial West African life, Franklin and Moss (2000) note that fathers were expected to teach their sons discipline, trade skills, and survival skills (hunting, fishing, and farming). Fathers were also expected to steep their children in the history of their people by way of the oral tradition (tales, legends, and songs) (Black, 1997).
Among some ethnic groups, a person had to be married with children to become an ancestor. Because childlessness was so detested, systems of surrogated reproduction were developed (Falola, 2000). The institution of polygamy was in part a reflection of the desire for children. In cases of a barren or sterile marital partner, a family member would procreate on their behalf. Among the Igbo, if a woman gave birth to 10 or more living children, a ceremony was held in her honor. For the ritual, a goat would be symbolically sacrificed while held over her hips, and her husband would purchase expensive elephant tusks for her wrists and ankles (Falola, 2000). Families with many children were honored for some material reasons; children were considered a source of labor and a source of care for their parents in their old age. However, children served two fundamental spiritual purposes (Mazama, 2009a). First, children were expected to honor and remember their parents once they had transitioned to the realm of the ancestors. The most feared form of death was a social death in which one’s children no longer remembered and honored them. Children were expected to conduct the appropriate ←xxxii | xxxiii→funeral rituals to help their parents smoothly transition to the ancestral realm. Specifically, children were responsible for performing rituals of honor and remembrance for their ancestors throughout their lives by making offerings (such as libations) or leading ceremonies of remembrance. Second, children allowed the ancestors to return to be a part of the world of the living. In these two fundamental ways, children allow life to continue (Mazama, 2009a).
Ancestorhood
Having journeyed adequately in this world, in your afterlife, you become much more effective to the community that contained you when you return to the world of the Spirit. When my grandfather, Bakhye, died, he told my father, “I have to go now. From where I’ll be I’ll be more useful to you than if I stay here.” Death is not a separation but a different form of communion, a higher form of connectedness with the community, providing an opportunity for even greater service.
—Malidoma Somé (1998, p. 53)
Death itself was not a finality or an endpoint; it was one part of a cycle of important moments of transformation and rebirth in the process of Ubuntu. Because the fundamental substance of human beings was spiritual energy, their divine spirit, ancestral soul, and physical body were not destroyed at death. Instead, they were dis-integrated and transformed as they were re-integrated to new destinations (the creator, the ancestral realm, and rebirth). Funeral rituals were organized for many reasons: mourning, securing the destiny of the deceased, forming a new relationship with the deceased, and affirming the continuity of life (Martin, 2009b). Remembrance after death is a way of giving ancestors life, and in return, the ancestors offer guidance to the living (Martin, 2009a). Within the rich and varied funerary traditions across the African continent, men often played special roles (Martin, 2009a; Mbiti, 1970). These ceremonies of remembrance were and are often led by the eldest males of families. During funerals, males or sons of the deceased often had specific responsibilities. For example, certain ancestral rituals among the Zulu, Ndebele, Yoruba and many others must be led by the eldest son of the deceased.
Despite their variety and richness, African traditions related to ancestorhood tend to have several common components such as preparation of the body, burial rites, methods of forming a new relationship with the deceased, and ways of affirming life. Ancient Kemites (Egyptians) had elaborate methods of preparing bodies for burial (known as mummification). The Swazi were known for using certain practices such as squeezing the fluids out of the body to slow the process of decay (Martin, 2009b). The Yoruba put clothes on the deceased backward so they might find their way back when they were reborn (Martin, 2009b). Burial rites varied greatly. Different objects, foods, other substances such as medicines and sacrificed animals were offered to sustain the deceased in their transition. Again, practices varied by gender. The Ndebele, for example, sacrificed an ox for men and a goat for women. The ox meat was expected to be eaten by the spirit overnight. Males and females played different roles in traditional Dogon funeral rituals. Hamilton (2010) explains the roles of a particular male caste in Dogon funeral rites:
The Awa society, the society of the masks, is a secret association that consists of circumcised males in a village or group of villages. The Awa is a society of the dead. Their purpose is to put back into order the spiritual forces that were liberated by the first death (Imperato, 1972). Members of the Awa dance with masks during both funeral and death anniversary ceremonies such as the Dama and Sigui. The authority of the Awa is based upon age. Middle-aged men in the Awa society serve as masters of ceremony or dance masters; they are also responsible for seeing to the correct preparation and execution of the masked dances (Imperato, 1971). In addition to this, once the men of the Awa transition into being mulono, or elders, they learn the secret language of the sigi so. (p. 64)
Public grieving was expressed and facilitated through song, dance, and music (Martin, 2009b). In fact, some peoples played certain melodies and rhythms reserved to facilitate the outpouring of emotion at ←xxxiii | xxxiv→funerals. Among different African cultures, these rituals were conducted to establish new relationships with the deceased (Martin, 2009b). Sometimes this occurs months after the original funeral ceremony and other times it occurs after a year or more. The final characteristic of classical African funeral practices was the festive aspects of them, involving a celebration or affirmation of the continuity of community life through music, dance, singing, and feasting (Martin, 2009b). Miller (2010) illustrates how body preparation, ritual, mourning, and celebration play out in the burial practices of the Malagasy:
Once a family has been decided upon the village or town where the Famadihana will take place, there is a calling of the ancestor’s name. Then the next day the family who is sponsoring the event brings the whole town or village to the tomb. This can be up to 700 people or more. As the family walks up to the tomb, the leader of the line is an astrologer followed by men carrying photos of the most important ancestors of that tomb and one carries the Malagasy flag. The Malagasy flag when presented confirms that the ceremony is legally authorized.