Roczniki Teologiczne, 2005, T. 52, z. 9

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Przeglądaj Roczniki Teologiczne, 2005, T. 52, z. 9 wg Temat "Africa"

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    Rytuały pochówkowe starszych kobiet u ludu Konkomba z północnej Ghany
    Zimoń, Henryk (Wydawnictwo Towarzystwa Naukowego Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 2005)
    Among the African peoples an important social and religious role is played by funeral rituals, which belong to so-called rites of passage associated with the change of status and social position of man. Among the Konkomba people of northern Ghana the rites of first funeral and second funeral are the most extensive of all the rites of passage. The present article describes and analyses the rites of burial (likpuul) of elderly women. These rituals differ in the richness of the rites and in their social significance from the simple burials of adults, children or infants. The first funeral of elderly women consists of burial, purifying rites and farewell rites. The Konkomba perform burial rites of elderly women in a solemn manner. About 300 people participate in them. Many people are obliged to take an active part in particular rites. An expression of regret and uneasiness after the death of important members of the community as well as the prestige and the social standing of elderly women in the patrilineal and gerontocratic community of the Konkomba people are the dances and songs which are accompanied by big drums and which are supposed to farewell those dead women. Young, unmarried men, girls and younger adult people of both sexes participate in the dances. The number of the dancing groups testifies to the prestige that the dead old woman had. A lot of time is devoted to the preparation of the dead body for the burial. Colourful materials with which the dead body is covered show the respect towards the dead woman. Four men, using water, say goodbye to the dead woman and apologise to her for all the troubles and problems which were caused to her by the living. The farewell words say about divination, which takes place during the second funeral. After the grave is covered with earth, a calabash symbolising the dead woman is broken in the place where the head lies and it is covered with earth. In the case of a woman’s death the mourning period of the first funeral lasts for four days. On the fourth day, the house where the dead woman’s body lay is ritually purified. Also, ritual washing of the dead woman’s clothes and materials brought by the ritual partners or relatives is performed. The first funeral is finished in the evening of the fourth day with a ritual of farewell to the dead woman (lisaachong). It consists of killing a hen in front of the exit hut of a homestead, sacrificing a cooked meal of yam and cereals to the dead old woman, which takes place within a homestead, and to the ancestors, which is done in front of the exit hut. According to the beliefs of the Konkomba the sacrifice of food on the last evening means the dosing of the mourning and farewell to the spirit of the dead woman who, from that moment, ceases to threaten the community. Burial rituals emphasize a change of the status of the dead woman who, through her death. was temporarily excluded from the society. Particular rites do away with the negative consequences following death and they make it possible for the dead woman to pass over from the visible community of the living to the invisible community of the dead. Besides, they help an individual and a community to accept the new state; they reorganize and integrate the family, lineage, clan and supraclan group. It is only the old people (male and female) who in view of their age, social status and children can reach the status of ancestors after they die. A necessary condition for the change of their status is the performance of rituals of the first and second funerals.
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    Uwarunkowania współczesnych chrystologii afrykańskich
    Grodź, Stanisław (Wydawnictwo Towarzystwa Naukowego Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 2005)
    Christological academic research in Africa is rather recent. Yet, the Africans have kept searching for answers to Jesus’ question: “Who do you say I am?” from their first encounters with the bearers of the Good News. Most of these answers were hardly noticed by the missionaries because of dominating colonial perspective and attitude towards non-European peoples that unfortunately affected the missionaries, too. The answers noticed were usually rejected as unorthodox on the grounds that African cultural elements and values were unfit for expressing Christian theology. The new search for African identity that emerged in the changing global political and ecclesiastical context of the mid-twentieth Century coincided with a growing understanding that attempts at perceiving Christ from an African perspective were not only gracious concessions on the part of the Church developed in the Western culture but an undeniable right and duty of the Africans. They themselves have to find who Jesus is for them. Many problems of Christians in contemporary Africa stem from the fact that Jesus Christ was presented to them as the answer to questions someone else had asked in another context. These answers have not been helpful in discovering in what way Jesus is the Redeemer and Saviour of the Africans. For that reason Jesus has still been perceived by many Africans as “a stranger” or “a guest” in the African world. However, as one of the African theologians said, it is not faith in Jesus Christ that poses problems for Africans but the way of perceiving Him. Africans do not reject the image of Jesus brought to them from the Western world but want to have a chance to formulate their own answer(s) that will help them to encounter Emmanuel, “the God with us”.