The Queen, the Rites, and the Bible

I was one of the attendants of the ABLI-Ghana Forum 2015. There was lots of good stuff to share, but I found the seminar on “Traditional Rites in a Transformed Society” especially fascinating. Needless to say, Rites of Passage are important parts of the African way of life – they mark important milestones in an individual’s development. It starts with giving names to the new born, the rite of puberty (when a person becomes officially adult), and the rites of marriage and death. These rites are performed by traditional priests, presided over by tribal chiefs (kings).

The seminar on Traditional Rites was led by Mamanga Agbalisi, the Queen Mother of Akpini Traditional Area. For her, the experience of growing up as a daughter of a tribal king was a privilege, but also a painful one. It was a privilege, because she found it endearing to grow as a princess; painful because she had no control over her life as tradition dictates her path. For example, she was not able to choose whom to marry or with whom to associate with. She then outlined the ordeals and atrocities especially those experienced by women in tribal areas. For example, when a husband dies, the wife gets her hair shaved with a dull knife, she sleeps with her husband’s dead body for days, drinks the water with which her husband’s dead body was washed and is forced to marry her husband’s brother. Believe it or not, there are thousands people who are living in such conditions in modern Ghana.

Nevertheless, tradition has something to offer. It gives identity, community and creates a sense of belonging. The question she was asking was: what tool can we use to make the traditional life relevant to “modern” life? The Queen pointed out the answer is the Bible. In her experience as a traditional authority and public speaker, she has not come across any better tool that internally transforms traditional life without dismantling it. The Bible is a unique resource to help tribal people to maintain their sense of community, and still enable them to understand themselves as unique individuals capable making their own decisions.

She then promised to personally open up doors for church leaders and tribal chiefs to negotiate changes and continuities. As a practical step, she brought two Christian tribal chiefs to attend her talk. They will be key individuals with regards to bringing other traditional leaders into closer contact with mainstream society. In such a dialogue, she stressed, the centre of authority should not lie in tribal chiefdom, nor in church leadership. Instead, the Bible should dictate which part of the traditional life should change and which part should be maintained.

The resolution was that the traditional way of life should conform to the Bible, the Church and traditional chiefs must work together to bring about transformation to the people living in tribal areas, and theological and academic institutions should work hand-in-hand to ensure Ghanaian Christianity stays true to the Bible whilst maintaining its African flavour.

I’m personally thrilled to witness that ABLI is not a forum in which elites practice intellectual gymnastics. It instead is evolving into a movement that youth, working class, high officials from the government, people living in tribal areas, academics and individuals from the corporate world can all identify with.