OPINION | Allow us to seek the blessings of our ancestors

Despite some apparent differences among the various religious denominations and formations on whether to take up the offer, under level 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations worshippers are free to attend services in their churches, synagogues, temples and mosques.

I do not know if the practitioners of African religion, whose spiritual leaders are traditional healers, have sought and been granted an audience with the government, to share their views on how the pandemic should be handled.

I also do not know whether they have formally conveyed their wishes to be allowed to worship under the prevailing conditions of the national disaster.

What I am certain of is that many of the adherents to African religion are keen to perform religious and cultural rituals which connect them spiritually with God through their ancestors.

Many of them approach the royal residences to inquire whether they can hold such rituals.

African worship is not performed in buildings, except for when worshippers have to gather in the family’s main hut, or when consulting traditional healers in their consulting rooms.

Yes, prayers are said, songs are sung and dancing is done in the main hut at certain stages of the ritual, but not exclusively.

Depending on the ritual, the site of worship can be the cattle kraal, the courtyard, a sacred hill, a river pool, a forest or the sea.

All of these ways of African worship do lend themselves to the demands or dictates of the lockdown regulations.

The numbers can be controlled. The congregants’ contact details can be recorded.

Physical distancing can be enforced. Hands can be sanitised and face-masks can be worn. Screening for signs of possible infection can be done, and those found to be infected can be quarantined, tested and isolated.

The great majority of worshippers among Africans are Christians.

They celebrate their faith openly without fear of judgment or criticism of any kind. Yet, at the same time that same majority practice African religion.

They venerate and celebrate their ancestors as the link between themselves and God.

Regrettably, a number of them do so surreptitiously and under cover of darkness.

The explanation lies with the indoctrination to which Africans were subjected by the early missionaries when Christianity was introduced.

The converts were told that the veneration of ancestors was heathenism and demonic worship, which was bound to condemn them to a life of hell after death.

As schools and employment opportunities were tied up with the Christian teachings, failure to abide by the rules of the church was likely to lead to a denial of an education and employment.

Such was the power of the missionaries and colonial administrators that upon baptism or if a child went to school without being baptised, the child was given a European name which was termed a Christian name.

Having shaken off the yoke of oppression and colonial subjugation, it continues to be a puzzle that Africans still find it necessary to hide their indigenous religious beliefs — even from each other.

In times of trouble, we slaughter animals and brew beer (and even buy the white man’s liquor) as offerings to our ancestors, asking them to rescue us from our misery. Equally, when we are in fortune we make the same offerings, thanking ancestors for the blessings they have bestowed upon us, asking them to continue to do so.

Leaders of all kinds — traditional, religious, political, business — encounter each other at the places of traditional healers, under cover of darkness, to seek advantage over their rivals for leadership positions.

The people we seek to emulate, that is, whites and others, go about worshipping God in the manner of their ancestors. They prosper. They continue to lead and oppress us economically, even as we are free politically.

We should be asking ourselves the question, “Why?” and I am certain that the answer has to do with the fact that we are ashamed of what God made us to be.

We despise the ways of our ancestors. Surely, our God cannot be too pleased with us.

As I believe in the Xhosa saying, indukw'entle igawulw'ezizweni (You can always learn from others to improve your situation), I am a practising Christian who believes unreservedly in ancestral veneration.

Christ himself tells us that he did not come to this earth to destroy good customs.

It is up to us as African converts, not our converters, to determine which of our customs are bad.

We are in need of our ancestral blessings. Let us allow ourselves to seek those blessings in the manner of our ancestors without apology.

Phathekile Holomisa (Ah! Dilizintaba) is a traditional leader of the Hegebe clan, an ANC MP, deputy minister of justice & correctional services, and honorary president of Contralesa. He writes in his personal capacity.