Historic events shape the way people view themselves and how they interact with the universe. The Maafa (Afrikan Holocaust) is one such event that has had a tremendous impact on Afrikan people throughout the world. People of Afrikan descent have had to continually redefine themselves in the context of white supremacy. This redefinition process has caused some constructive and less constructive modes of human interaction to evolve within the Black community. The European Psyche, and its creation, the Maafa, has caused Afrikan people to adopt alien rituals that often estrange us from ourselves. We have hair, nail, clothing, and educational rituals that are grounded within the European ideology of white supremacy and it is backed by white terrorism against people of Afrikan descent. This is a Sankofa Moment, a call for the return to fetch ritual that affirm our Afrikanity and its’ various manifestations. This will heal the warrior within us all to stand fight for that which is good right and advantageous for Afrikan people.
Sankofa is an Akan term that literally means, "to go back and get it." It is represented in an Adinkra symbol as a heart or as mythical bird flying forward with its head turned backward towards its tail feathers. In the bird’s mouth is an egg that symbolizes the bird’s essence and its future. Since the bird came from the egg; then egg represents its origins; its sacred substance; its ancestral past or memory. Also from the egg the next generation must come therefore the bird is returning the egg toward its historical past so that the next generation will be aware of from whence it came. Each Adinkra symbol has a specific proverb that is associated with it. The sankofa proverb is as follows, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,"which translates to, "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten." The Akan believe that the past illuminates the present and that the search for self-knowledge is a life-long process and self-knowledge is essential for the future. They believe it is right to study your past so that you may ascend (fly) high in the future. The process of th return occurs in the context of ritual.
(san = "to return") + (ko = "to go") + (fa = "to look, to seek and take")
Among the Zulu of South Afrika (Azania) there is a concept for disorders called ukufa kwabantu that means illnesses of the Bantu or Black people. It suggests that there are certain disorders that only occur to Black people who operate or are a part of an indigenous Zulu worldview. The Maafa is moment of spiritual disruption that Afrikan people must heal from. As we strive to survive with the context of white terrorism we forget ritual and therefore loose our connection for the totality of our being. Given that ritual serves as bridge between the past to the present and the present to the future as well the future back the past then without ritual we are operating in an ungrounded manner. The Zulu suggest that one will experience abaphansi basifulathele-ancestral protection withdrawal when they do not perform proper ritual or umsenbezi. Proper ritual (umsenbezi) promotes healing, protects one from unseen harm and empowers one to live with power, peace and passion. It fortifies one’s sense of being and belonging within their community and it is in community that we experience our greatest value. This is the crux of the Zulu phrase umuntu, ngamuntu ngabantu meaning a person is a person because there are people. Afrikan grounded ritual leads persons of Afrikan ancestry experiencing healing, health and holism.
The Function of Ritual
In the Afrikan worldview all is spirit and sets in life are interrelated. Thus ritual and the psychic healing that it causes requires one to address the elements of spirit. A manifestation of the spiritual assault is called ukufa kwabantu. This attack is unique to Afrikan/Black people because the worldview that holds spirit as central to human existence is most associated with Afrikan people. There is a common Afrikan contention that we are spirits learning to be human rather than human learning to be spiritual. Ritual connects spiritual back to its Essence and this Essence is past, present and future at the same time therefore ritual moves one throughout the totality of being. Without Afrikan-based rituals Afrikan people lose their connection with all there is, was and ever shall be thus they lose themselves. This loss of a sense of self contributes to the psycho-spiritual disorders that many of us encounter. Ritual aligns the various dimensions of self such that one has the power, insight and fortitude to be victorious over any opposition that the s/he may encounter and therefore be able to live her/his purpose/mission.
Ritual of Self and Family
Family and community rituals are moments where bonding can occur between family and community members. Healing of severed relationships with self and others can take place in the context of ritual. Afrikan/Black people must elevate the essence of who we are and our spiritual/physical journey through meaningful cultural rituals. All healthy groups of people engage in such activities. Contrary to distorted historical misinformation, there is a lot to love with respect to Afrikan/Black people. Healers should encourage people to:
· Celebrate Afrikan, Afrikan American holidays and Ancestors (family),
· Develop family and ancestral celebrations that celebrate those that have gone before them,
· Fortify spirit with Prayer, meditation, exercise, healthy food consumption and optimal rest
· Celebrate family and community in the here and now.
Afrikan grounded ritual works to Renormalize Afrikan people back to what it means to be Afrikan. This does not mean that one must wear Dashiki or live in a mud hut, rather it means that one identifies with her/his epigenetic strength and life line. Baba Fu-Kiau (1991/2001), of the Congo region of Afrika, calls this the biogentic rope that is passed down from generation to generation. The European Structured Thought sought to remove or eradicate the Afrikan knowledge of the Afrikan self and the sever this rope. It was their desire to have Black/Afrikan people to adopt a European way of being and to see Europeans as superior to Afrikans. Ndabaninigi Sithole (1959) said of the Portuguese assimilado, “The African is taught under the assimilado system, to think of himself as a Portuguese in Portugal, not as an African. The Portuguese policy aims at killing the African in the African and at replacing him with a Portuguese.” The same could be said for every encounter of Afrikans with Europeans worldwide. One of the primary functions to the ego aggressive European Normative Structure was to establish itself as the pre-eminent normative structure in the minds of those who Europeans sought to dominate. To that end, Afrikans adopt alien rituals that strengthens the oppressor hold on our spiritual elevation. We strive to make our hair look like theirs, we desire to speak like them and have what they have so that we can be or feel more human. Through language and religion imposition among other things such as socio-cultural expression Afrikans become a cheap copy Europeans and by default become anti-Afrikan. Moreover, when we do this we diminish our spirituality and we connect with their ancestral linewhich instituted the system of Afrikan oppression white terrorism. We then become the oppressor diminishing our power found within our Afrikan Essence. Afrikan grounded ritual allows us to Kill the KraKKa within by fortifying our Afrikanity.
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