Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents two African language quizzes. The words that are featured in these quizzes are from the following traditional African languages (given in alphabetical order) Akan, Chichewa (Chewa, Nyanja), Igbo, Kinyarwanda, KiSwahili (Swahili), Lingala, Wolof, Yoruba, and Zulu.
This post also includes statements about the country/countries where these languages originate and links to online information about these languages.
The content of this post is presented for to increase information in the United States and in other non-African nations about traditional African languages.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/02/five-name-quizzes-from-my-no-longer.html "Five Name Quizzes From My No Longer Active "Alafia Names" Website" for another pancocojams post on Black culture quizzes.
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PANCOCOJAMS AFRICAN LANGUAGES QUIZZES
Instructions: Select the best answer that completes these statements.
The answer code is given below.
Pancocojams African Quiz #001 Words from traditional African languages
`
1. "Ase (ashe)" is a Yoruba word that means
a) aches and pains
b) ashes
c) Africa
d) spiritual force that flows through everything/power
2. "Harambe" is a Swahili language word that means
a)harems
b) All pull together
c) hello
d) celebrate
3. “Waaw” is a Wolof word that means
a) wait
b) yes
c) where
d) when
4. "Kente" is an Akan language word that refers to
a) the name Kenneth
b) a man's religious hat or cap
c) type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips
d) ancient African writing
5. In the Igbo language, “chi” means
a) birth
b) teeth
c) long life
d) a guardian angel
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Pancocojams African Quiz #002 Words from traditional African languages
1. "Indaba" is a Zulu word that means
a) beauty
b) Come in
c) a gathering (meeting), business/matter
d) home
2. "Sankofa" is an Akan word that means
a) Come and sing with me
b) it’s never to late to go back and claim it
c) Eat healthy food.
d) Love is the most important thing in life
3. “Ndimakukonda” is a Chichewa word that means
a) I love you
b) What is your name?
c) This is my country
d) Help me please.
4. “Imana” is a Kinyarwanda word that means
a) I’m not
b). God
c) a girl's name that means "faith"
d) food
5. "Tokomonana" is a Lingala word that means
a) You’re welcome
b) tomorrow
c) grandother
d) good bye
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ANSWER CODE FOR #001
1. d
2. b.
3. b.
4. c
5. d
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ANSWER CODE FOR #002
1. c
2. b
3. a
4. b
5. d
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INFORMATION LINKS FOR #001
{Pancocojams Editor: Unless otherwise noted, the pronunciations that are given are how I believe these words are pronounced. Corrections are appreciated.
1.From https://www.omniglot.com/writing/yoruba.htm
"Yoruba (Èdè Yorùbá)
Yoruba is a member of the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages. It is spoken by about 28 million people in southwest Nigeria, Benin, Togo, the UK, Brazil and the USA. It is one of the four official languages of Nigeria, along with English, Hausa and Igbo."...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ase_(Yoruba) for information about the Yoruba word "ase". "Ase" is often written as "ashe" in the United States and is pronounced "ah-SHAY". Among afrocentric Black people in the United States, ashe is an exclamation that has a similar meaning as "Amen!" For example, the words "ashe ashe" are part of the lyrics for the African American originated "African" song "Funga Alafia". CLick http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/real-history-of-funga-alafia-fanga-song.html for a pancocojams post entitled "The Funga Alafia (Fanga) Song - Part 1"
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2.From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swahili_language
"Swahili, also known as Kiswahili (translation: coast language[7]), is a Bantu language and the first language of the Swahili people. It is a lingua franca of the African Great Lakes region and other parts of eastern and south-eastern Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).[8] Comorian, spoken in the Comoros Islands is sometimes considered to be a dialect of Swahili, though other authorities consider it a distinct language.[9]"..
Click https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Harambe for information about the Swahili word "harambe".
Also, click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee for more information. Note that the correct Swahili spelling for this word is "harambe".[pronunciation hah-RAHM-bay]
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3. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolof_language
"Wolof is a language of Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania, and the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Unlike most other languages of the Niger-Congo family, Wolof is not a tonal language."...
Also, click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Niger-Congo_origin for a list of English words that originated in Niger-Congo languages or other African languages.
Here's information about the Wolof word "waaw" from https://jangawolof.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/basic-phrases/
"Yes. [English]
Waaw. / Oui. [Wolof/French]
[pronounciation] wow / wee"
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Note: I added the words in brackets to this quote.
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4.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akan_language
"Akan is a Central Tano language that is the principal native language of the Akan people of Ghana, spoken over much of the southern half of that country, by about 58% of the population, and among 30% of the population of Ivory Coast....
Three dialects have been developed as literary standards with distinct orthographies: Asante, Akuapem (together called Twi), and Fante, which, despite being mutually intelligible, were inaccessible in written form to speakers of the other standards....
The language came to the Caribbean and South America, notably in Suriname spoken by the Ndyuka and in Jamaica by the Jamaican Maroons known as Coromantee, with enslaved people from the region. The descendants of escaped slaves in the interior of Suriname and the Maroons in Jamaica still use a form of this language, including Akan names: children are named after the day of the week on which they are born, e.g. Akwasi/Kwasi (for a boy) or Akosua (girl) born on a Sunday. In Jamaica and Suriname the Anansi spider stories are well known."...
Also, click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kente_cloth for information about "Kente". Here's a brief excerpt from that website:
""Kente, known as nwentom in Akan, is a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan ethnic group of South Ghana. Kente is made in Akan lands such as Ashanti Kingdom, (Bonwire, Adanwomase, Sakora Wonoo, Ntonso in the Kwabre areas of the Ashanti Region) It is also worn by many other groups who have been influenced by Akans. Kente comes from the word kenten, which means basket in Akan dialect Asante. Akans refer to kente as nwentoma, meaning woven cloth. It is an Akan royal and sacred cloth worn only in times of extreme importance and was the cloth of kings. Over time, the use of kente became more widespread. However, its importance has remained and it is held in high esteem with Akans. The Ewe people especially those from Agortime-Kpetoe of Ghana also claim that, Kente which they also refer to as Agbamevor has always been their traditional cloth."...
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5. From http://aboutworldlanguages.com/igbo
Igbo (Asụsụ Igbo), or Ibo , one of the largest languages of West Africa, is spoken by 18 million people in Nigeria. It belongs to the Benue-Congo group of the Niger-Congo language family. The language is thought to have originated around the 9th century AD in the area near the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, and then spread over a wide area of southeastern Nigeria.
Status
Igbo is one of the official languages of Nigeria. It is spoken in the Southern Delta states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, as well as in the northeast of the Delta state and in the southeast of the Rivers state. In the states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, Igbo is the main language of trade and commerce. It is used in mass media communication such as radio and television in the southern Delta region.
Although Igbo is taught at all levels in eastern Nigerian schools, English remains the principal literary language of the country while remains a spoken and colloquial language. Reading and writing in Igbo is not very widespread. In many urban areas, Igbo is often replaced by Nigerian Pidgin English. Igbo speakers are typically bilingual in English."...
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Click http://www.nairaland.com/1501884/what-does-igbo-notion-personal "What Does The Igbo Notion Of "Your Personal CHI" Represent? - Culture - Nairaland" for a Nigerian discussion thread about the Igbo philosophical concept "chi".
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Note: I believe that the Igbo word "chi" is pronounced the same as or very similar to the English word "she".
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INFORMATION LINKS FOR #002
{Pancocojams Editor: Unless otherwise noted, the pronunciations that are given are how I believe these words are pronounced. Corrections are appreciated.
1. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_language
"Zulu (Zulu: isiZulu) is the language of the Zulu people, with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority (over 95%) of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population.[5] It became one of South Africa's 11 official languages in 1994.
According to Ethnologue,[6][not in citation given (See discussion.)] it is the second most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Shona. Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet.
In South African English, the language is often referred to by using its native form, isiZulu."...
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Click http://1000mostcommonwords.com/1000-most-common-zulu-words/ [#234] for the definition for the Zulu word "indaba".
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Here's information about the Zulu word "indaba":
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indaba
"An indaba (pronounced in-dah-bah[missing stress][1]) is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu or Xhosa peoples of South Africa.[2] (Such meetings are also practiced by the Swazi, who refer to them using the close cognate indzaba.) Indabas may include only the izinDuna of a particular community, or they may be held with representatives of other communities.[2]
The term comes from a Zulu language word meaning "business" or "matter".[3]
Current usage
The term has found widespread use throughout Southern Africa and often simply means gathering or meeting. It is also used in the Scouting movement. The World Scout Indaba was a gathering of Scout leaders."...
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I think "indaba" is pronounced in-DAH-bah.
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2. "Sankofa" [san-KOH-fah] is an Akan word. Read #4 in the Information links section for #001 for information about the Akan language.
Here's information about Sankofa from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa
"Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates to "Go back and get it" (san - to return; ko - to go; fa - to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the Asante Adinkra symbol represented either with a stylized heart shape or by a bird with its head turned backwards carrying a precious egg in its mouth. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi," which translates as: "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."[1]
In addition to being used on adinkra cloth in Ghana, the Sankofa heart is a common design on gates in the United States, particularly New York City. In Brooklyn, the Sankofa heart is commonly upside down on gates to Brownstone residential buildings.
The sankofa bird appears frequently in traditional Akan art, and has also been adopted as an important symbol in an African-American and African Diaspora context to represent the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future. It is one of the most widely dispersed adinkra symbols, appearing in modern jewelry, tattoos, and clothing."...
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3. Here's information about the Chichewa language:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewa_language
"Chewa, also known as Nyanja, is a language of the Bantu language family. The noun class prefix chi- is used for languages,[4] so the language is usually called Chichewa and Chinyanja (spelled Cinyanja in Zambia, and Cinianja in Mozambique). In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda (himself of the Chewa tribe), and this is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today.[5] In Zambia, Chewa is spoken by other people like the Ngoni and the Kunda, so a more neutral name, Chinyanja '(language) of the lake' (referring to Lake Malawi), is used instead of Chichewa."...
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Click https://www.tripsavvy.com/say-i-love-you-in-africa-1454071 for the meaning of the Chichewa word “Ndimakukonda”.
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I don't know how "Ndimakukonda" is pronounced.
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4. Here's information about the Kinyarwanda langauge:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinyarwanda
"Kinyarwanda is one of the four official languages of Rwanda (along with English, French and Kiswahili) and is spoken by almost all of the native population. That contrasts with most modern African states, whose borders were drawn by colonial powers and do not correspond to ethnic boundaries or precolonial kingdoms.[5]....
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Also, click http://gordanondera.wikispaces.com/Kinyarwanda+phrases for a list of Kinyarwanda words including the word "Imana".
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I believe that "Imana" is pronounced E-MAN-ah.
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5. Here's information about the Lingala:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingala
"Lingala (Ngala) is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo, as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. It has over 10 million speakers."...
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Click http://www.17-minute-world-languages.com/en/lingala/ for a list of Lingala words including
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I'm not sure how "tokomonana" is pronounced, but if you use the most common way that words are pronounced in English (with the stress on the next to the last syllable), that Lingala word be pronounced "toh-koh-moh-NAH-nah".
Note that the Lingala word "tokomonana" is very similar to the Swahili word "tutaonana" which also means "goodbye".
http://swahili_english.enacademic.com/15049/tutaonana
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Showing posts with label Sankofa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sankofa. Show all posts
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Monday, April 4, 2016
Suriname's Winti Religion (quotes from selected online sources)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a three part series on Suriname, South America's Winti religion.
Part I provides excerpts from online articles and blog posts about Winti. The Addendum to this post includes information about the Twi (Ghana & Ivory Coast, West Africa) word "kra" which is central to Suriname's Winti religion.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/surinames-winti-pre-excerpts-from.html for Part II of this series.
Part II provides excerpts from online articles and blog posts about Winti pré (also given as "Winti prey", spelled with or without the "p" capitalized).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/seven-videos-of-surinames-winti-pre.html for Part III of this series.
Part III presents seven YouTube videos of Winti Pré (Winti prey) in Suriname and in the Netherlands.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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PART I SELECTED EXCERPTS
These excerpts are numbered for referencing purposes only. Of course, the entire article should be read.
Excerpt #1:
Pancocojams' Editor's Note:
"The referent "African American" in this article's title doesn't mean "Black people from the United States." Instead it means "people of African descent in Suriname, South America. Except the first two sentences, this excerpt is from pages 6-8 of this article. Excerpts from pages 1-6 are given in Part I of this series.
These excerpts are given without the citation numbers and citation information and are also given without the bold or most of the italics that are found in that article.
From http://www.wintigeloof.com/smartcms/downloads/de_winti_godsdienst_EN.pdf AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN RELIGION CALLED WINTI by Stichting Tata Kwasi Ku Tata Tinsensi Foundation – Paramaribo – Surinam
"The Concept of Winti
With the arrival of the Africans in the so-called New World they also brought with them highly developed belief systems and philosophies....
Eventually a new composite religious system emerged called Winti.
The majority of Africans shipped to Surinam between 1650 and 1800 came from the Akan-Fanti speaking regions (today’s Ghana) and the Ewe-Fon-Nago speaking areas (Togo, Benin, formerly Dahomey, and Western Nigeria) which together formed the greater Kwa-languages and culture zone. Also a considerable number came from the
areas surrounding the estuary of the Congo River, namely the Loango (or Luwango) region belonging to the so-called Northwestern-Central Bantu culture zone. The remainder was a congeries picked up here and there along the west coast of Africa of which yet the greater portion came from the Mande speaking culture zone. It was
these Africans who furnished the basic structure for the African-Surinamese religious system.
Where the word winti came from must yet be looked into; but besides the common meaning of ‘air in motion,’ – derived from the Germanic ‘wind’ – it also signifies all activities of the Afro-Surinamers resulting from and determined by their religious experiences as a practical expression of these experiences.
The word winti is also specifically used to express the idea of a Universal Entity or Spirit. The aforementioned activities consist of rituals, beliefs and practices all tapped from a common African heritage.
Winti, of course, means more than just the rituals taking place in the kampu; it is in fact an integrated system of concepts on human behavior, on the relations between man and his ancestors as well as with nature and natural influences surrounding him and the spiritual forces of the universe. It relates the dead/the ancestors and those who are yet to be born. It explains unforeseen events indicating that they are completely in agreement with established principles; succinctly put, Winti is a true religion that tries to connect the unknown with the known thereby creating order where disorder/chaos would prevail...
Winti as a Religious System
Winti as a religious system has an internal as well as an external structure. The internal structure deals with life as man is inwardly guided and the external structure entails everything else surrounding the former, i.e. the religious experience. The external structure of the belief teaches man how he or she must approach the faith in order to effect an equilibrium between the spiritual and the mores. The internal
structure deals with the will to live. This means whatever man wants from life, whatever man wants to make of his life. Man’s will is to be found in the Power of Anana that allows man to be whatever he or she wants to be. All of his actions, his do’s and don’ts, his endeavors and all that emanate from his innermost is nothing but an expression of his faith in Anana. This expression of faith is determined by the
Power of Anana through the akara (or akra or kra i.e. I myself, ego). The external structure deals with the externals that determine man’s faith in life: What do you do to turn your life in a certain meaningful direction? What pathway do you choose in order to realize the desired course in all tranquility, civility, satisfaction and orderliness?...
the Power of Anana [is] approached in four ways based on the four quarters of, the four approaches toward
the spiritual life meaning that the akara is encompassed by the Power of Anana from four angles. From this center the akara expands with the very essence that emanates from the four-ways of spiritual life...
These four-ways are further subdivided into various units each with its own specific functions and corresponding proper names. According to the Winti belief disharmony between the akara and each one of these four-ways may result into a wrong/undesirable turn in life. A confessor of Winti may, in seeking spiritual wellbeing, turn to any one of these four-ways (or their subdivisions) of The Winti in order to look for solutions for problems in life. This, however, does not means that Winti is polytheistic by nature, for that is definitely not the case. Winti acknowledges only Anana Kedjaman Kedjanpo as the All-embracing Lord of the animated world and everything else surrounding it. When a person addresses a prayer (or begi) to Maysa
[i.e. the principle of Mother Earth, one of the goron winti] this means nothing else but addressing Anana Kedjaman Kedjanpo via that portion Maysa whereupon life has presented itself in that particular circumstance."...
Anana Kedjaman Kedjanpo or The Power of Anana is The All-Embracing Spirit(ual) Controller of life. His working power is here referred to as the Power of Anana and pervades everything everywhere. This Power
manifests Itself in man through the workings of the akara and the four-ways of the spiritual life philosophy that spiritually encompasses all other extra-human aspects of life and expands the essence of the akara with life visions, harmony, order, stability and protection. The following breakdown indicates the divine working power as it emanates from the Power of Anana.
The Akara
is that portion of the Power of Anana that is in control of man’s life. The akara allows
life to be experienced after its own fashion. For man the akara is the very center of his
spiritual experience and radiance.
The Goron Winti
is that portion of the Power of Anana that has influence on life upon and under the surface of the earth. Man is not the only animated being on earth, but is part of something greater called Life whether we are dealing with a human being or a worm deep under the surface of the earth.
The Busi Winti
is that part of the Power of Anana that regulates and manages life in and around the bush and vegetation.
The Watra Winti
is that part of the Power of Anana that controls life in and around water.
The Tapu Winti
is that part of Power of Anana that pertains to life in the atmospheric sphere. Life in this realm concerns the exchange of the life-giving substance of life-forms that keeps each other in balance and sustains life itself. The tapu winti also fight against social injustice...
(The) Winti is universal. Despite the fact that the sources of Winti are African based the faithful believes that every human being is circumambiently encompassed by The Winti and that His Akara lives in every person. By believing in everything that life has to offer and by having the will to make out of life whatever one wishes already demonstrates the strength of one’s faith in Anana. Because of this universal character
every one who wants to order his life can do this through The Winti. The internal structure of the life of the believer is determined by The Akara of which every man or woman is a part, according to the Winti philosophy. To experience Winti one needs not belong to a specific ethnic group, race or nation; any one who believes will be fed by the faith. However, it is clear that those of African descent are both culturally and
religiously bound to The Winti."...
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Additional excerpts from this article are given in Part II of this series.
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Excerpt #2:
From Patachu.com [as found in] https://dutchguyana.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/winti-from-africa-to-suriname/
"Introduction to African Suriname Religion
Winti is the cultural-religious heritage and essential product of approximately four traditional African religions. Over the centuries, these have been fused into one as a result of the socialization of Africans from different ethnic groups brought to Suriname during the slave trade. The Winti religion is part of a strong African cultural heritage that has sustained itself in Suriname despite centuries of slavery and cultural oppression. The development and practice of the Winti religion has been attacked, obstructed, and inhibited over the centuries by the colonial culture, in general, and the Christian churches, in particular. Winti was declared taboo; it was associated with the occult and with the calling of demonic powers. The whole Winti faith was put in the sphere of “black magic” and became symbolic of a lower social status in the country...
Essential Principles and Concepts of Winti
In Winti, the supreme God, which is omnipotent, omnipresent, and all knowing, is called Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon, meaning “God of Heaven and Earth.” The name Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon originates from the Fante-Akan name for the same, Anana Tweaduaman Tweaduampon. Winti concepts and vocabulary originate and draw heavily from the Fante-Akan tradition and also combine with other West African ethnic traditions, especially Ga, Ewe, Fon, West Bantu, and some Yoruba. Depending on the geographic location in Suriname, whether coastal or interior, Winti may have more or less influence from one or the other traditional African ethnic heritage, as well as a few indigenous American Indian-originated spirits and words.
Winti cosmology consists of a complex hierarchical system of spirits, with Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon at the top. The pantheon of Winti spans four major categories of nature spirits, in which each has its own subdivisions of lesser gods (see Figure 1). The Winti, in this sense, can be compared to the Abosom in Akan tradition and the Orisha in the Yoruba tradition. Mbiti points out that the Yoruba have 1,700 Orisha.
In Winti, in addition to the major deities and minor subdeities in the Winti pantheon, the immortal human soul and its integration to the complex of ancestral human spirits is a central feature of Winti cosmology.
The Spiritual Human Soul Triad
In Winti, as in other African religions, the physical and the spiritual are but two dimensions of one and the same universe.
Further, humans are conceived as biological/material and spiritual beings. The biological/material is the body and its material contents, and the spiritual soul consists of three parts: (1) the kra or akra (from the Fante “okra”), (2) the djodjo, and (3) the jorka.
When one dies, the kra is transformed into a jorka (ancestral spirit), through which human beings are integrated into the spiritual, cosmo-logical world. Because Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon is all encompassing, omnipotent, and all knowing, one cannot address oneself directly to it. This is done using the “kra,” the spiritual self, which is directed to the nature spirits also known as Winti, konfo, or jeje. The kra is the spiritual cradle of a person and is accompanied by the djodjo.
In Winti cosmology, it is believed that every person has “parents” in the spiritual world that are called djodjo; this term is derived from the Ewe “djo” and the Fon “djoto.” Every person has two djodjo, one male and one female, that could be higher or lower “Gods”; people enjoy their protection, and they can be compared to the concept of guardian angels.
The Kra and the djodjo are the two basic components of the spiritual makeup of a person while alive. As a person grows from a child to an adult, his or her Kra also grows (expands) to accommodate and develop other aspects of the human spirit. This spiritual growth can be consciously facilitated. The Djodjo is an indispensable support to the Kra in the spiritual makeup of a person...
he kra is the most essential part of the total human spirit. All people have an independent spirit, but it is still dependent on a larger whole. As long as the Kra spiritually controls the body, it means spiritual well-being, stability, and will power. When someone dies, the kra and the djodjo transform into one and become a Jorka. This term comes from the Carib-Indian word joroka and is sometimes also called djumbi, meaning “ancestral spirit.” The jorka continues to live in the hereafter, known as dede kondre or samandow.
The kra goes through various Earthly human experiences and sometimes finds itself in difficult situations. The kra is also said to be related to one’s instincts and will power. When difficulties or misfortunes occur in life, it could be due to the weakening of these spiritual “senses.” This must be “diagnosed” by a luku. A luku is a consultative visit to a lukuman. A lukuman is one who does a spiritual assessment; this involves a ceremony during which the lukuman consults a particular deity on behalf of his “patient.” This deity allows the lukuman while in trance to “see” the spiritual health/problems of a person; he can then tell the person what the problem is and refer the person to a healer called a Bonuman.
A bonuman is a spiritual healer, guide, and leader in the Winti religion. Some Bonumen can also provide the service of a luku, but many cannot because these are two separate procedures/ rituals that require communication with different gods. This communication always involves rituals, prayer, and a self-induced trance, which the luku or bonu must facilitate to communicate with the particular deity or spirit. When spiritual difficulties arise, the kra is said to be soiled and therefore needs washing and strengthening. Hence, the washing and feeding of the kra is a ritual that Winti practitioners undertake once or twice in their lives to strengthen their kra; this is usually done on their birthday. It is also necessary sometimes to feed the djodjo at that time, so special foods are prepared and offered in ritual ceremony.
To maintain spiritual wellness, it is sometimes recommended to wash the kra and provide food offerings to the particular Winti that corresponds to a particular person’s kra and djodjo. The corresponding Winti depends partially on the day of the week one was born. Just as in the Akan tradition, the weekday of one’s birth determines the name of one’s kra, and there are a total of seven names for both sexes. They also correspond to personality types. In Suriname, these names are usually only used during the purification rituals of the kra, during which the male and female version of the name is called...
Winti teachings say that people must direct themselves to their spiritual possibilities. Spiritual life must be ordered by the operation of spiritual links and divine laws, and furthermore, spiritual stability and harmony are dependent on this. The absence or violation of one of these spiritual links can mean disharmony. With faith in Winti, one can nourish oneself spiritually."...
****
Excerpt #3:
From https://dutchguyana.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/winti-surinamese-religion/ [posted April 22, 2013]
..."Winti provides an all-encompassing but flexible design for living. The everyday visible world is complemented by a normally unseen world that is peopled by gods and spirits of tremendous variety, who interact with humans constantly. Scholars have classified the great variety of Winti gods into four “pantheons”—those of the air, the earth, the water, and the forest.
The major gods and spirits include a variety of Kromanti (fierce healing spirits), apuku (often-malevolent forest spirits), Aisa (localized earth spirits), Fodu (boa constrictor spirits), Aboma (anaconda spirits), and a great host of others. Frequent rites, involving specialized dances, drumming, and songs, are used to honor and placate each type of spirit, and the spirits themselves appear on these occasions, through possession, to make their wishes known. Winti is a strongly participatory religion, in which every individual plays an active role, and specialization or special knowledge is widely distributed among the population."...
****
Excerpt #4:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winti
"Winti is an Afro-Surinamese traditional religion that originated in South America and developed in the Dutch Empire; this resulted in the syncretization of the religious beliefs and practices of Akan slaves with Christianity and Indigenous American beliefs...
There are four Pantheons or groups.
1. The Earth pantheon with the Goron Winti.
2. The Water Pantheon with Watra Winti.
3. The Forest Pantheon with Busi Winti.
4. The Sky Pantheon with Tapu Winti.
Certain groups of maroons also distinguish a fifth pantheon, the realm of the death.
The Earth pantheon
Aisa
Loko
Leba
Fodu
Luangu
Goron-Ingi
The water pantheon
Watra Ingi
Watra Kromanti
The forest pantheon
Busi Ingi
Ampuku
Kantasi
Adumankama
The sky pantheon[edit]
Opete or Tata Ananka Yaw
Sofia-Bada
Awese
Aladi
Gisri
Tando
Gebry
Adjaini"
****
ADDENDUM: TRADITIONAL AKAN RELIGION AND THE MEANING OF THE TWI (AKAN) WORD "KRA"
From http://felixadiawuoh.blogspot.com/2009/06/africantraditional-religious-beliefs.html
"AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, AMONG THE AKANS" SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009 BY CHRISTOPHERKWEKU RUTLEDGE
“Religion is at the root of Akan culture and forms the basis of their life and thought. The term "religion" holds a very different definition in Africa than in most Western cultures. Traditional (indigenous) religious beliefs are a part of their culture, their customs, and part of everything they do. It follows individuals throughout their lives, and puts them in touch with the unseen powers.
Family in the Akan context doesn’t consist of only husband, wife, and children. Family lineage is traced back to God (Nyame), who is sometimes referred to as "The Greater Ancestor". The Akan family isan unbroken clan that includes not only the living, but also the deadand the unborn. The Akans make up about 65% of Ghana.
Soul
The Akan belief is that God is our creator. They believe that man has certain material and spiritual elements. He is made up of life soul (Kra), spirit (Sunsum), blood (Mogya) and family(Abusua). Every Akan belongs to a clan and is bound to tha tclan by blood relation. They believe that during the sexual act, anelement called Ntro or Sunsum (spirit) from the father mingles with the blood, Mogya, of the mother and this gives rise to conception. The third element in the composition of man is the Kra, life soul, which comes from God together with one’s destiny.
The Akanconcept of man’s dependence on God is further emphasized by the fact that God gives man the animating principle, the life soul called Kra, together with man’s destiny called Nkrabea. However, the destiny can be affected by their character. The giving of the Kra and Nkrabea by God is an acknowledgement of the limitation of human power as well as an affirmation of divine providence. The Kra (soul) is said to be the small bit of the Creator that lives in every person’s body, and returns to Him after death. It is supposed to act as the spiritual force of man’s conscience and influence all of his actions.
In earlier Akan traditional beliefs, the Kra was thought of as an ancestral spirit which left the Supreme Being in a farewell ceremony in heaven so that it might be reborn in a child of its mother’s family. The word Kra is believed to have been derived from the verb Nkra, meaning "to part or to leave".”
-snip-
The Twi word "adinkra" included the element "kra". Here's some information about "adinkra" from
http://www.stlawu.edu/gallery/education/f/09textiles/adinkra_symbols.pdf
"Origin
The Adinkra symbols are believed to have their origin from Gyaman, a former kingdom in today’s Côte D’Ivoire. According to an Asante (Ghana) legend Adinkra was the name of a king of the Gyaman (Nana kofi Adinkra). Adinkra was defeated and captured in a battle by the Asantes for having copied the “Golden Stool”, which represents for them absolute power and tribal cohesion. He was finally killed and his territory annexed to the kingdom of Asante.
The tradition had it that Nana Adinkra wore patterned cloth, which was interpreted as a way of expressing his sorrow on being taken to Kumasi the capital of Asante.
The Asante people around the 19th century then took to painting of traditional symbols of the Gyamans onto cloth, a tradition that was well practiced by the latter.
Adinkra also means ‘goodbye’ or ‘farewell’ in Twi the language of the Akan ethnic group of which Asante is a part.* It has therefore been the tradition of the Akan especially the Asante to wear cloths decorated with Adinkra symbols on important occasions especially at funerals of family relations and friends. This is to signify their sorrow and to bid farewell to the deceased.
Today, the Adinkra cloth is not exclusively worn by the Asante people. It is worn by other ethnic groups in Ghana on a variety of social gatherings and festive occasions.”...
-snip-
*I added italics to highlight that sentence. I wonder if the complete meaning of the word "adinkra" is "goodbye to the soul".
Among afrocentric Black people in the United States, "sankofa" is a well known adinkra symbol.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa
"Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates as "Go back and get it" (san - to return; ko - to go; fa - to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the Asante Adinkra symbol represented either by a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back, or as a stylised heart shape. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi," which translates as: "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."
The sankofa symbol appears frequently in traditional Akan art, and has also been adopted as an important symbol in an African-American and African Diaspora context to represent the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future. It is one of the most widely dispersed adinkra symbols, appearing in modern jewellery, tattoos, and clothing."...
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a three part series on Suriname, South America's Winti religion.
Part I provides excerpts from online articles and blog posts about Winti. The Addendum to this post includes information about the Twi (Ghana & Ivory Coast, West Africa) word "kra" which is central to Suriname's Winti religion.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/surinames-winti-pre-excerpts-from.html for Part II of this series.
Part II provides excerpts from online articles and blog posts about Winti pré (also given as "Winti prey", spelled with or without the "p" capitalized).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/04/seven-videos-of-surinames-winti-pre.html for Part III of this series.
Part III presents seven YouTube videos of Winti Pré (Winti prey) in Suriname and in the Netherlands.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
PART I SELECTED EXCERPTS
These excerpts are numbered for referencing purposes only. Of course, the entire article should be read.
Excerpt #1:
Pancocojams' Editor's Note:
"The referent "African American" in this article's title doesn't mean "Black people from the United States." Instead it means "people of African descent in Suriname, South America. Except the first two sentences, this excerpt is from pages 6-8 of this article. Excerpts from pages 1-6 are given in Part I of this series.
These excerpts are given without the citation numbers and citation information and are also given without the bold or most of the italics that are found in that article.
From http://www.wintigeloof.com/smartcms/downloads/de_winti_godsdienst_EN.pdf AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN RELIGION CALLED WINTI by Stichting Tata Kwasi Ku Tata Tinsensi Foundation – Paramaribo – Surinam
"The Concept of Winti
With the arrival of the Africans in the so-called New World they also brought with them highly developed belief systems and philosophies....
Eventually a new composite religious system emerged called Winti.
The majority of Africans shipped to Surinam between 1650 and 1800 came from the Akan-Fanti speaking regions (today’s Ghana) and the Ewe-Fon-Nago speaking areas (Togo, Benin, formerly Dahomey, and Western Nigeria) which together formed the greater Kwa-languages and culture zone. Also a considerable number came from the
areas surrounding the estuary of the Congo River, namely the Loango (or Luwango) region belonging to the so-called Northwestern-Central Bantu culture zone. The remainder was a congeries picked up here and there along the west coast of Africa of which yet the greater portion came from the Mande speaking culture zone. It was
these Africans who furnished the basic structure for the African-Surinamese religious system.
Where the word winti came from must yet be looked into; but besides the common meaning of ‘air in motion,’ – derived from the Germanic ‘wind’ – it also signifies all activities of the Afro-Surinamers resulting from and determined by their religious experiences as a practical expression of these experiences.
The word winti is also specifically used to express the idea of a Universal Entity or Spirit. The aforementioned activities consist of rituals, beliefs and practices all tapped from a common African heritage.
Winti, of course, means more than just the rituals taking place in the kampu; it is in fact an integrated system of concepts on human behavior, on the relations between man and his ancestors as well as with nature and natural influences surrounding him and the spiritual forces of the universe. It relates the dead/the ancestors and those who are yet to be born. It explains unforeseen events indicating that they are completely in agreement with established principles; succinctly put, Winti is a true religion that tries to connect the unknown with the known thereby creating order where disorder/chaos would prevail...
Winti as a Religious System
Winti as a religious system has an internal as well as an external structure. The internal structure deals with life as man is inwardly guided and the external structure entails everything else surrounding the former, i.e. the religious experience. The external structure of the belief teaches man how he or she must approach the faith in order to effect an equilibrium between the spiritual and the mores. The internal
structure deals with the will to live. This means whatever man wants from life, whatever man wants to make of his life. Man’s will is to be found in the Power of Anana that allows man to be whatever he or she wants to be. All of his actions, his do’s and don’ts, his endeavors and all that emanate from his innermost is nothing but an expression of his faith in Anana. This expression of faith is determined by the
Power of Anana through the akara (or akra or kra i.e. I myself, ego). The external structure deals with the externals that determine man’s faith in life: What do you do to turn your life in a certain meaningful direction? What pathway do you choose in order to realize the desired course in all tranquility, civility, satisfaction and orderliness?...
the Power of Anana [is] approached in four ways based on the four quarters of, the four approaches toward
the spiritual life meaning that the akara is encompassed by the Power of Anana from four angles. From this center the akara expands with the very essence that emanates from the four-ways of spiritual life...
These four-ways are further subdivided into various units each with its own specific functions and corresponding proper names. According to the Winti belief disharmony between the akara and each one of these four-ways may result into a wrong/undesirable turn in life. A confessor of Winti may, in seeking spiritual wellbeing, turn to any one of these four-ways (or their subdivisions) of The Winti in order to look for solutions for problems in life. This, however, does not means that Winti is polytheistic by nature, for that is definitely not the case. Winti acknowledges only Anana Kedjaman Kedjanpo as the All-embracing Lord of the animated world and everything else surrounding it. When a person addresses a prayer (or begi) to Maysa
[i.e. the principle of Mother Earth, one of the goron winti] this means nothing else but addressing Anana Kedjaman Kedjanpo via that portion Maysa whereupon life has presented itself in that particular circumstance."...
Anana Kedjaman Kedjanpo or The Power of Anana is The All-Embracing Spirit(ual) Controller of life. His working power is here referred to as the Power of Anana and pervades everything everywhere. This Power
manifests Itself in man through the workings of the akara and the four-ways of the spiritual life philosophy that spiritually encompasses all other extra-human aspects of life and expands the essence of the akara with life visions, harmony, order, stability and protection. The following breakdown indicates the divine working power as it emanates from the Power of Anana.
The Akara
is that portion of the Power of Anana that is in control of man’s life. The akara allows
life to be experienced after its own fashion. For man the akara is the very center of his
spiritual experience and radiance.
The Goron Winti
is that portion of the Power of Anana that has influence on life upon and under the surface of the earth. Man is not the only animated being on earth, but is part of something greater called Life whether we are dealing with a human being or a worm deep under the surface of the earth.
The Busi Winti
is that part of the Power of Anana that regulates and manages life in and around the bush and vegetation.
The Watra Winti
is that part of the Power of Anana that controls life in and around water.
The Tapu Winti
is that part of Power of Anana that pertains to life in the atmospheric sphere. Life in this realm concerns the exchange of the life-giving substance of life-forms that keeps each other in balance and sustains life itself. The tapu winti also fight against social injustice...
(The) Winti is universal. Despite the fact that the sources of Winti are African based the faithful believes that every human being is circumambiently encompassed by The Winti and that His Akara lives in every person. By believing in everything that life has to offer and by having the will to make out of life whatever one wishes already demonstrates the strength of one’s faith in Anana. Because of this universal character
every one who wants to order his life can do this through The Winti. The internal structure of the life of the believer is determined by The Akara of which every man or woman is a part, according to the Winti philosophy. To experience Winti one needs not belong to a specific ethnic group, race or nation; any one who believes will be fed by the faith. However, it is clear that those of African descent are both culturally and
religiously bound to The Winti."...
-snip-
Additional excerpts from this article are given in Part II of this series.
****
Excerpt #2:
From Patachu.com [as found in] https://dutchguyana.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/winti-from-africa-to-suriname/
"Introduction to African Suriname Religion
Winti is the cultural-religious heritage and essential product of approximately four traditional African religions. Over the centuries, these have been fused into one as a result of the socialization of Africans from different ethnic groups brought to Suriname during the slave trade. The Winti religion is part of a strong African cultural heritage that has sustained itself in Suriname despite centuries of slavery and cultural oppression. The development and practice of the Winti religion has been attacked, obstructed, and inhibited over the centuries by the colonial culture, in general, and the Christian churches, in particular. Winti was declared taboo; it was associated with the occult and with the calling of demonic powers. The whole Winti faith was put in the sphere of “black magic” and became symbolic of a lower social status in the country...
Essential Principles and Concepts of Winti
In Winti, the supreme God, which is omnipotent, omnipresent, and all knowing, is called Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon, meaning “God of Heaven and Earth.” The name Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon originates from the Fante-Akan name for the same, Anana Tweaduaman Tweaduampon. Winti concepts and vocabulary originate and draw heavily from the Fante-Akan tradition and also combine with other West African ethnic traditions, especially Ga, Ewe, Fon, West Bantu, and some Yoruba. Depending on the geographic location in Suriname, whether coastal or interior, Winti may have more or less influence from one or the other traditional African ethnic heritage, as well as a few indigenous American Indian-originated spirits and words.
Winti cosmology consists of a complex hierarchical system of spirits, with Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon at the top. The pantheon of Winti spans four major categories of nature spirits, in which each has its own subdivisions of lesser gods (see Figure 1). The Winti, in this sense, can be compared to the Abosom in Akan tradition and the Orisha in the Yoruba tradition. Mbiti points out that the Yoruba have 1,700 Orisha.
In Winti, in addition to the major deities and minor subdeities in the Winti pantheon, the immortal human soul and its integration to the complex of ancestral human spirits is a central feature of Winti cosmology.
The Spiritual Human Soul Triad
In Winti, as in other African religions, the physical and the spiritual are but two dimensions of one and the same universe.
Further, humans are conceived as biological/material and spiritual beings. The biological/material is the body and its material contents, and the spiritual soul consists of three parts: (1) the kra or akra (from the Fante “okra”), (2) the djodjo, and (3) the jorka.
When one dies, the kra is transformed into a jorka (ancestral spirit), through which human beings are integrated into the spiritual, cosmo-logical world. Because Anana Kedoeaman Kedoeampon is all encompassing, omnipotent, and all knowing, one cannot address oneself directly to it. This is done using the “kra,” the spiritual self, which is directed to the nature spirits also known as Winti, konfo, or jeje. The kra is the spiritual cradle of a person and is accompanied by the djodjo.
In Winti cosmology, it is believed that every person has “parents” in the spiritual world that are called djodjo; this term is derived from the Ewe “djo” and the Fon “djoto.” Every person has two djodjo, one male and one female, that could be higher or lower “Gods”; people enjoy their protection, and they can be compared to the concept of guardian angels.
The Kra and the djodjo are the two basic components of the spiritual makeup of a person while alive. As a person grows from a child to an adult, his or her Kra also grows (expands) to accommodate and develop other aspects of the human spirit. This spiritual growth can be consciously facilitated. The Djodjo is an indispensable support to the Kra in the spiritual makeup of a person...
he kra is the most essential part of the total human spirit. All people have an independent spirit, but it is still dependent on a larger whole. As long as the Kra spiritually controls the body, it means spiritual well-being, stability, and will power. When someone dies, the kra and the djodjo transform into one and become a Jorka. This term comes from the Carib-Indian word joroka and is sometimes also called djumbi, meaning “ancestral spirit.” The jorka continues to live in the hereafter, known as dede kondre or samandow.
The kra goes through various Earthly human experiences and sometimes finds itself in difficult situations. The kra is also said to be related to one’s instincts and will power. When difficulties or misfortunes occur in life, it could be due to the weakening of these spiritual “senses.” This must be “diagnosed” by a luku. A luku is a consultative visit to a lukuman. A lukuman is one who does a spiritual assessment; this involves a ceremony during which the lukuman consults a particular deity on behalf of his “patient.” This deity allows the lukuman while in trance to “see” the spiritual health/problems of a person; he can then tell the person what the problem is and refer the person to a healer called a Bonuman.
A bonuman is a spiritual healer, guide, and leader in the Winti religion. Some Bonumen can also provide the service of a luku, but many cannot because these are two separate procedures/ rituals that require communication with different gods. This communication always involves rituals, prayer, and a self-induced trance, which the luku or bonu must facilitate to communicate with the particular deity or spirit. When spiritual difficulties arise, the kra is said to be soiled and therefore needs washing and strengthening. Hence, the washing and feeding of the kra is a ritual that Winti practitioners undertake once or twice in their lives to strengthen their kra; this is usually done on their birthday. It is also necessary sometimes to feed the djodjo at that time, so special foods are prepared and offered in ritual ceremony.
To maintain spiritual wellness, it is sometimes recommended to wash the kra and provide food offerings to the particular Winti that corresponds to a particular person’s kra and djodjo. The corresponding Winti depends partially on the day of the week one was born. Just as in the Akan tradition, the weekday of one’s birth determines the name of one’s kra, and there are a total of seven names for both sexes. They also correspond to personality types. In Suriname, these names are usually only used during the purification rituals of the kra, during which the male and female version of the name is called...
Winti teachings say that people must direct themselves to their spiritual possibilities. Spiritual life must be ordered by the operation of spiritual links and divine laws, and furthermore, spiritual stability and harmony are dependent on this. The absence or violation of one of these spiritual links can mean disharmony. With faith in Winti, one can nourish oneself spiritually."...
****
Excerpt #3:
From https://dutchguyana.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/winti-surinamese-religion/ [posted April 22, 2013]
..."Winti provides an all-encompassing but flexible design for living. The everyday visible world is complemented by a normally unseen world that is peopled by gods and spirits of tremendous variety, who interact with humans constantly. Scholars have classified the great variety of Winti gods into four “pantheons”—those of the air, the earth, the water, and the forest.
The major gods and spirits include a variety of Kromanti (fierce healing spirits), apuku (often-malevolent forest spirits), Aisa (localized earth spirits), Fodu (boa constrictor spirits), Aboma (anaconda spirits), and a great host of others. Frequent rites, involving specialized dances, drumming, and songs, are used to honor and placate each type of spirit, and the spirits themselves appear on these occasions, through possession, to make their wishes known. Winti is a strongly participatory religion, in which every individual plays an active role, and specialization or special knowledge is widely distributed among the population."...
****
Excerpt #4:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winti
"Winti is an Afro-Surinamese traditional religion that originated in South America and developed in the Dutch Empire; this resulted in the syncretization of the religious beliefs and practices of Akan slaves with Christianity and Indigenous American beliefs...
There are four Pantheons or groups.
1. The Earth pantheon with the Goron Winti.
2. The Water Pantheon with Watra Winti.
3. The Forest Pantheon with Busi Winti.
4. The Sky Pantheon with Tapu Winti.
Certain groups of maroons also distinguish a fifth pantheon, the realm of the death.
The Earth pantheon
Aisa
Loko
Leba
Fodu
Luangu
Goron-Ingi
The water pantheon
Watra Ingi
Watra Kromanti
The forest pantheon
Busi Ingi
Ampuku
Kantasi
Adumankama
The sky pantheon[edit]
Opete or Tata Ananka Yaw
Sofia-Bada
Awese
Aladi
Gisri
Tando
Gebry
Adjaini"
****
ADDENDUM: TRADITIONAL AKAN RELIGION AND THE MEANING OF THE TWI (AKAN) WORD "KRA"
From http://felixadiawuoh.blogspot.com/2009/06/africantraditional-religious-beliefs.html
"AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, AMONG THE AKANS" SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2009 BY CHRISTOPHERKWEKU RUTLEDGE
“Religion is at the root of Akan culture and forms the basis of their life and thought. The term "religion" holds a very different definition in Africa than in most Western cultures. Traditional (indigenous) religious beliefs are a part of their culture, their customs, and part of everything they do. It follows individuals throughout their lives, and puts them in touch with the unseen powers.
Family in the Akan context doesn’t consist of only husband, wife, and children. Family lineage is traced back to God (Nyame), who is sometimes referred to as "The Greater Ancestor". The Akan family isan unbroken clan that includes not only the living, but also the deadand the unborn. The Akans make up about 65% of Ghana.
Soul
The Akan belief is that God is our creator. They believe that man has certain material and spiritual elements. He is made up of life soul (Kra), spirit (Sunsum), blood (Mogya) and family(Abusua). Every Akan belongs to a clan and is bound to tha tclan by blood relation. They believe that during the sexual act, anelement called Ntro or Sunsum (spirit) from the father mingles with the blood, Mogya, of the mother and this gives rise to conception. The third element in the composition of man is the Kra, life soul, which comes from God together with one’s destiny.
The Akanconcept of man’s dependence on God is further emphasized by the fact that God gives man the animating principle, the life soul called Kra, together with man’s destiny called Nkrabea. However, the destiny can be affected by their character. The giving of the Kra and Nkrabea by God is an acknowledgement of the limitation of human power as well as an affirmation of divine providence. The Kra (soul) is said to be the small bit of the Creator that lives in every person’s body, and returns to Him after death. It is supposed to act as the spiritual force of man’s conscience and influence all of his actions.
In earlier Akan traditional beliefs, the Kra was thought of as an ancestral spirit which left the Supreme Being in a farewell ceremony in heaven so that it might be reborn in a child of its mother’s family. The word Kra is believed to have been derived from the verb Nkra, meaning "to part or to leave".”
-snip-
The Twi word "adinkra" included the element "kra". Here's some information about "adinkra" from
http://www.stlawu.edu/gallery/education/f/09textiles/adinkra_symbols.pdf
"Origin
The Adinkra symbols are believed to have their origin from Gyaman, a former kingdom in today’s Côte D’Ivoire. According to an Asante (Ghana) legend Adinkra was the name of a king of the Gyaman (Nana kofi Adinkra). Adinkra was defeated and captured in a battle by the Asantes for having copied the “Golden Stool”, which represents for them absolute power and tribal cohesion. He was finally killed and his territory annexed to the kingdom of Asante.
The tradition had it that Nana Adinkra wore patterned cloth, which was interpreted as a way of expressing his sorrow on being taken to Kumasi the capital of Asante.
The Asante people around the 19th century then took to painting of traditional symbols of the Gyamans onto cloth, a tradition that was well practiced by the latter.
Adinkra also means ‘goodbye’ or ‘farewell’ in Twi the language of the Akan ethnic group of which Asante is a part.* It has therefore been the tradition of the Akan especially the Asante to wear cloths decorated with Adinkra symbols on important occasions especially at funerals of family relations and friends. This is to signify their sorrow and to bid farewell to the deceased.
Today, the Adinkra cloth is not exclusively worn by the Asante people. It is worn by other ethnic groups in Ghana on a variety of social gatherings and festive occasions.”...
-snip-
*I added italics to highlight that sentence. I wonder if the complete meaning of the word "adinkra" is "goodbye to the soul".
Among afrocentric Black people in the United States, "sankofa" is a well known adinkra symbol.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa
"Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates as "Go back and get it" (san - to return; ko - to go; fa - to fetch, to seek and take) and also refers to the Asante Adinkra symbol represented either by a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back, or as a stylised heart shape. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi," which translates as: "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."
The sankofa symbol appears frequently in traditional Akan art, and has also been adopted as an important symbol in an African-American and African Diaspora context to represent the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future. It is one of the most widely dispersed adinkra symbols, appearing in modern jewellery, tattoos, and clothing."...
****
This concludes Part I of this series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Positive Connotations Of Crows & Vultures (Buzzards) In 18th century & 19th century Jamaica & Black American Cultures
Edited by Azizi Powell
In the United States and other Western cultures, crows and vultures are rarely considered positive symbols. However, in some African nations and elsewhere in the world vultures had and/or still have spiritual and/or positive connotations.
This post presents some examples of spiritual or otherwise positive connotations of vultures (buzzards) and/or crows among people of African descent in 18th century and 19th century Jamaica and the United States. I believe that it's likely that those New World representations of buzzards or crows were greatly influenced by the West African positive/spiritual connotations of vultures & crows.
The Addendum to this post presents some information about the King Buzzard folktales, a negative folkloric depiction of the buzzard (vulture).
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
EDITOR'S NOTE
Regarding the spiritual/positive connotations of vultures (buzzards) and crows among 18th and 19th century Jamaicans and Black Americans, here's a quote from a pancocojams series on the symbolism of vultures in Africa:
Quote from Symbolizing the Past: Reading Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, & Eve's Bayou by Sandra M. Grayson (University Press of America, 2000), Page 36 [Google books]
"Among the Akan, the scarab and the vulture symbolize self-begetting, self-creation, and self-birth. An Akan maxim says of Odomankoma [the infinite, the interminable, absolute being], ‘The animal that symbolizes Odomankoma who created the world is the vulture.’ “Odomankoma a oboadee ne kyeneboa ne opete. (Meyerowitz . The Divine Kingship in Ghana and Ancient Egypt. See also Danquan, The Akan Doctrine of God".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/crow-totems-in-akan-culture-http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/crow-totems-in-akan-culture-excerpt.html for Part I of a three part pancocojams series on spiritual and/or positive symbolism of vultures or crows in certain traditional African cultures. Part I of that series focuses on the Akan culture of Ghana & The Ivory Coast. Part II of that series focuses on the Yoruba culture and Edo culture of Nigeria. Part III focuses on aspects of ancient Egypt mythology. The links to the other posts in that series are found there.
****
FEATURED EXCERPTS
JAMAICA
In Jamaica "John Crow" (the turkey vulture) has been associated with death and ugliness for a very long time. However, death hasn't always been viewed negatively. Here are some quotes from a few online sources that I've come across. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing By Mark Knowles
"Anthropologist Melvin Herkovits suggests that the name of the John Canoe dance is derived from the Ashanti people of Africa and is a reference for the yankoro or buzzard. In the United States the climax of the John Canoe included a buck dance known as the buzzard lope" [page 32].*
-snip-
"The Ashanti is the major indigenous tribe of the Akans in Ghana" [buzzghana.com]
-snip-
*Hat tip to slam2011 for alerting me to this quote.
Information about the buzzard lope is included in the Black American section of this post.
****
Excerpt #2
[Quoted in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-crow-part-i-what-john-crow-means.html]
From http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090517/arts/arts1.html Extracts from the 'Jamaica Journal' - "Plants, Spirits and the meaning of 'John' in Jamaica ; Published: Sunday | May 17, 2009, John Rashford, Contributor
“The word 'John' appears 33 times in the Dictionary of Jamaican English as a generic term in the compound common names of people, birds, plants and other objects. This paper will show that objects named 'John' are often associated in Jamaica with the world of spirits.
I will focus on the vine Abrus precatorious, which Jamaicans call John Crow Bead, and it links - by virtue of John as a generic term - to the Christmas dancing in Jamaica called John Canoe (also spelled Jonkonnu) and to the vulture called John Crow (Cathartes aura). This paper suggests that the dance, the bird and the plant all have the name John because of their relationship to the world of spirits and spirit possession.
Practice of obeah
It shows that John Canoe, who is the chief dancer of a troupe of dancers, is the spirit person or obeahman (variously described as a witch doctor, magician, jumbie-man or sorcerer) and both the John Crow and the John Crow Bead are associated with death and with materials used in the practice of obeah.
In the Caribbean, the common names for Abrus precatorious point to its association with the spirit world and suggests that John as one of the generic terms in its compound common names is an expression of this association. The link is made by the fact that in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, the plant is known as Jumbie Bead, and in some places, as, for example, the Virgin Islands, it is also called Devil Bead (Williams (jumbi, jumby, jumbee, jumbay, jamby) or zombie are just different terms for spirits. These terms are more widely used in the eastern Caribbean than in Jamaica (Cassidy 1971, Beckwith 1929)."
****
Excerpt #3:
This quote is included in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/very-old-reference-to-john-canoe-aunt.html
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70F1FFB355A1A738DDDA80994DC405B8684F0D3
WEST INDIAN WITCHCRAFT; SOME REMARKABLE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NEGROES.OBEAH MEN, JUMBIES, DUPPIES, JOHN CANOES, AUNT SALLYS, ROOSTERS' HEADS,SPIDERS, GROUND GLASS, AND POISONS.
New York Times April 11, 1886
..."negroes are so constituted that they must have something tangible to worship and believe in-something they can see and feel....
They are wonderfully fond of stuffed figures. Nearly all their ceremonies have a figure worked in in some shape or the other. For instance, look at “John Canoes”. They rarely have a festival without a John Canoe, the stuffed figure of a man, that is treated with great respect. Sometimes they have two of them, which they consider father and son – John Canoe senior and John Canoe junior. If John is by any possibility left out Aunt Sally is substituted. She is the same as John, only, being a woman, she is not treated with the same respect. She is carried to the place of merry making, laid out on a board, like a corpse, amid cries of “Here comes Aunt Sally; poor Aunt Sally! she’s dead. They take" [end of online article]
****
Excerpt #4: [added February 22, 2017]
From http://www.archerbarron.com/a-glossary-of-lucumi-words-and-ideas/ A Glossary of Lucumi Words and Ideas
"Ibu Kolé – A road, or manifestation, of Ochun. Ibu Kolé is the vulture, a peacock whose feathers were burned away carrying the prayers of the dying world to God/the Sun. In this road, Ochun is a sorceress."
****
BLACK AMERICANS (UNITED STATES)
VULTURE MENTIONED IN THE MOVIE SANKOFA
From Symbolizing the Past: Reading Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, & Eve's Bayou by Sandra M. Grayson (University Press of America, 2000), Page 36 [Google books]
Notes from page 36 of that book:
6. "After Nunu was killed later in the film [Haile Geima’s Sankofa] no one could find her body. Shola says that the people believed that Nunu did not die; rather that a buzzard swopped down and took her back to Africa.
7. Opete is the Akan word for vulture."
-snip-
Here's information about the film Sankofa from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa_(film)
"Sankofa is a 1993 Burkinabé drama film directed by Haile Gerima centered on the Atlantic slave trade. The storyline features Oyafunmike Ogunlano, Kofi Ghanaba, Mutabaruka, Alexandra Duah and Afemo Omilami. The word Sankofa derives its meaning from the Ghanaian Akan language which means to “go back, look for, and gain wisdom, power and hope,” according to Dr. Anna Julia Cooper.[1] The word Sankofa stresses the importance of one not drifting too far away from one’s past in order to progress in the future. In the film, Sankofa is depicted by a bird and the chants and drumming of a Divine Drummer.[2] Gerima’s film showed the importance of not having people of African decent drift far away from their African roots. Gerima used the journey of the character Mona to show how the African perception of identity included recognizing one’s roots and “returning to one’s source” (Gerima)...
Nunu .... is an African-born field hand who went about her day-to-day life with Africa still living in her heart and was characterized as a “strong motherly slave with a rebel mindset.”
****
BUZZARD LOPE (dance)
Editor's note: Initially when I learned about the enslaved Black American dance "The Buzzard Lope" I thought was a dance that had no meaning other than people imitating the movement of buzzards (vultures). However, it's clear from careful reading about "The Buzzard Lope" that it was considered to be more than a social dance. Here's a video of a re- enactment of the the Buzzard Lope as well as some explanations of that dance.
From http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/07/throw-me-anywhere-lord-buzzard-lope.html:
Throw Me Anywhere Lord
Uploaded by mediageneration on Dec 12, 2009
Georgia Sea Island Singers from the DVD- The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes- available from http://www.media-generation.com
Here's a comment from that video's uploader:
"The dance is called the Buzzard Lope, and John Davis is the buzzard circling the carrion and picking it up at the end of the song."
-mediageneration; 2010
****
Click http://www.media-generation.com/DVD%20PAGES/Bess/master.pdf The Films Of Bess Lomax Hawes "Buzzard Lope" page 8 of 34 for notes to this song and video. Those notes include considerable information about how the Buzzard dance is performed and the possible origin of that dance among the Ashanti-Fanti people of Ghana where the vulture is a sacred messenger to the gods. Among the information included in those notes is the statement that the dancer wanted to wear his suit coat because it would show the flapping of his wings better. However, not understanding this, the film producer [Bess Lomax Hawes] told him to take off his coat since he hadn't worn it for any other segments of the film.
My interpretation of the lyrics "Throw me anywhere, Lord" is that this statement wasn't directed to the Lord (meaning the person didn't mean for the Lord to throw him or her anywhere.) Instead, I believe that the word "Lord" was used at the end of the line in a similar manner as the phrases "my Lord" or "Yes Lord".
From http://supersearch.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=77864&messages=64&page=1&desc=yes#1892896 Sep 1998, Barry Finn
[Regarding the song "Throw Me Anywhere, Lord":
"From the Georgia Sea Islands comes a song from slave times on the Plantations, when the slaves were discarded after falling down on the job....
Common enough in the West Indies, such miming dances are rare in America. The song tells of a time the slave was not properly buried when he died but was simply cast out in a field"...
Lydia Parrish also collected & reported of the dance the Buzzard Lope in her "Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands". She says "This group used an old religious song with narrative lines of a suitable character. In ante-bellum days the slaves called the graveyard 'the ole field'". The song being close to what's already been given, called "Throw Me Anywhere". She also has another song "In That old Field" sung in a minor key that she relates to a dance but doesn't connect this to any dance in particular much less the Buzzard Lope even though it's clearly related to the others already given. She does mention the song being of a spiritual or religious nature but not the dance itself."
****
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buzzardlope1.htm
"The Buzzard Lope (1880s)
The Buzzard Lope was similar to the more modern Eagle Rock Dance and was very popular in the South and most likely related to the W. African Buzzard dance. Sunbury Georgia was the first discovery of this dance but may not have originated there.
The Buzzard Lope used outstretched arms like a bird and consisted of a shuffle step and a little buzzard like hop. The dance is said to be similar to the West African Buzzard Dance. It's original form is representing a Turkey Buzzard getting ready to eat a dead Mule (some report a Cow). Many people in the sidelines watching the dance would do a 'Patting', or make a rhythm by slapping (patting) their thighs, etc. while someone would call out the cues."
-snip-
I'm not sure what that 1880s writer meant by "West African Buzzard dance". However, here's a quote that mentions a buzzard dance in Dahomey (now known as Benin):
"The Buzzard Lope had been known to song-collector Lydia Parrish since 1915. M. J. Herskovits told her that he had seen a similar dance done in Dahomey." quoted in http://supersearch.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=77864&messages=64&page=1&desc=yes#1892896 25 Nov 06 - 04:01 PM Azizi and 25 Nov 06 - 03:53 PM Azizi
-snip-
That quote includes Lydia Parrish's description of the Buzzard Lope dance that she observed in the Georgia Sea Islands.
UPDATE: March 22, 2016
Here's a passage from the 1972 Georgia Sea Isle [Gullah] book Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bess Lomax Hawes and Bessie Jones. That passage describes a ring shout movement called "Eagle Wing" which is described as being the same as "the buzzard lope"
"EAGLE WING: Arms bent at elbows are flapped slightly by rotating the shoulders joints in parallel motion. This is the same step as the secular "buzzard lope" motion."
-snip-
That passage is included in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/georgia-sea-isle-ring-shouts-daniel-and.html
****
ADDENDUM: KING BUZZARD
Although the buzzard (vulture; crow) had spiritual connotations in certain African nations, and may have been depicted as a spiritual figure in some Jamaican and African American folk cultural forms, there's no question that for a long time the negative connotations of the buzzard (vulture, crow) have outweighed any positive connotations of those birds. Folktales about King Buzzard are foremost among Black Americans' negative depictions of these birds.
From http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/slavery/lullabies/buzzard.html The Buzzard In African American Folklore
"King Buzzard, an African king, was condemned to travel alone through the world as a buzzard for betraying his own and other people into slavery. When Africans enslaved other Africans, they did not view themselves as betraying their own people. They would have regarded themselves as Aro or Asante or Wolof selling Igbo or Akan or Malinke. Folktales like the one about the King Buzzard, created in America to explain the origin of African slaves, gave to these different people a common origin on the distant continent." This account comes from Robert J. Allison, in "The Origins of African-American Culture," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 30/3 (1999): 475-481."
-snip-
Click https://wolfpangloss.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/king-buzzard/ for one version of the King Buzzard folktale.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
In the United States and other Western cultures, crows and vultures are rarely considered positive symbols. However, in some African nations and elsewhere in the world vultures had and/or still have spiritual and/or positive connotations.
This post presents some examples of spiritual or otherwise positive connotations of vultures (buzzards) and/or crows among people of African descent in 18th century and 19th century Jamaica and the United States. I believe that it's likely that those New World representations of buzzards or crows were greatly influenced by the West African positive/spiritual connotations of vultures & crows.
The Addendum to this post presents some information about the King Buzzard folktales, a negative folkloric depiction of the buzzard (vulture).
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
EDITOR'S NOTE
Regarding the spiritual/positive connotations of vultures (buzzards) and crows among 18th and 19th century Jamaicans and Black Americans, here's a quote from a pancocojams series on the symbolism of vultures in Africa:
Quote from Symbolizing the Past: Reading Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, & Eve's Bayou by Sandra M. Grayson (University Press of America, 2000), Page 36 [Google books]
"Among the Akan, the scarab and the vulture symbolize self-begetting, self-creation, and self-birth. An Akan maxim says of Odomankoma [the infinite, the interminable, absolute being], ‘The animal that symbolizes Odomankoma who created the world is the vulture.’ “Odomankoma a oboadee ne kyeneboa ne opete. (Meyerowitz . The Divine Kingship in Ghana and Ancient Egypt. See also Danquan, The Akan Doctrine of God".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/crow-totems-in-akan-culture-http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/crow-totems-in-akan-culture-excerpt.html for Part I of a three part pancocojams series on spiritual and/or positive symbolism of vultures or crows in certain traditional African cultures. Part I of that series focuses on the Akan culture of Ghana & The Ivory Coast. Part II of that series focuses on the Yoruba culture and Edo culture of Nigeria. Part III focuses on aspects of ancient Egypt mythology. The links to the other posts in that series are found there.
****
FEATURED EXCERPTS
JAMAICA
In Jamaica "John Crow" (the turkey vulture) has been associated with death and ugliness for a very long time. However, death hasn't always been viewed negatively. Here are some quotes from a few online sources that I've come across. Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing By Mark Knowles
"Anthropologist Melvin Herkovits suggests that the name of the John Canoe dance is derived from the Ashanti people of Africa and is a reference for the yankoro or buzzard. In the United States the climax of the John Canoe included a buck dance known as the buzzard lope" [page 32].*
-snip-
"The Ashanti is the major indigenous tribe of the Akans in Ghana" [buzzghana.com]
-snip-
*Hat tip to slam2011 for alerting me to this quote.
Information about the buzzard lope is included in the Black American section of this post.
****
Excerpt #2
[Quoted in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-crow-part-i-what-john-crow-means.html]
From http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090517/arts/arts1.html Extracts from the 'Jamaica Journal' - "Plants, Spirits and the meaning of 'John' in Jamaica ; Published: Sunday | May 17, 2009, John Rashford, Contributor
“The word 'John' appears 33 times in the Dictionary of Jamaican English as a generic term in the compound common names of people, birds, plants and other objects. This paper will show that objects named 'John' are often associated in Jamaica with the world of spirits.
I will focus on the vine Abrus precatorious, which Jamaicans call John Crow Bead, and it links - by virtue of John as a generic term - to the Christmas dancing in Jamaica called John Canoe (also spelled Jonkonnu) and to the vulture called John Crow (Cathartes aura). This paper suggests that the dance, the bird and the plant all have the name John because of their relationship to the world of spirits and spirit possession.
Practice of obeah
It shows that John Canoe, who is the chief dancer of a troupe of dancers, is the spirit person or obeahman (variously described as a witch doctor, magician, jumbie-man or sorcerer) and both the John Crow and the John Crow Bead are associated with death and with materials used in the practice of obeah.
In the Caribbean, the common names for Abrus precatorious point to its association with the spirit world and suggests that John as one of the generic terms in its compound common names is an expression of this association. The link is made by the fact that in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, the plant is known as Jumbie Bead, and in some places, as, for example, the Virgin Islands, it is also called Devil Bead (Williams (jumbi, jumby, jumbee, jumbay, jamby) or zombie are just different terms for spirits. These terms are more widely used in the eastern Caribbean than in Jamaica (Cassidy 1971, Beckwith 1929)."
****
Excerpt #3:
This quote is included in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/very-old-reference-to-john-canoe-aunt.html
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F70F1FFB355A1A738DDDA80994DC405B8684F0D3
WEST INDIAN WITCHCRAFT; SOME REMARKABLE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NEGROES.OBEAH MEN, JUMBIES, DUPPIES, JOHN CANOES, AUNT SALLYS, ROOSTERS' HEADS,SPIDERS, GROUND GLASS, AND POISONS.
New York Times April 11, 1886
..."negroes are so constituted that they must have something tangible to worship and believe in-something they can see and feel....
They are wonderfully fond of stuffed figures. Nearly all their ceremonies have a figure worked in in some shape or the other. For instance, look at “John Canoes”. They rarely have a festival without a John Canoe, the stuffed figure of a man, that is treated with great respect. Sometimes they have two of them, which they consider father and son – John Canoe senior and John Canoe junior. If John is by any possibility left out Aunt Sally is substituted. She is the same as John, only, being a woman, she is not treated with the same respect. She is carried to the place of merry making, laid out on a board, like a corpse, amid cries of “Here comes Aunt Sally; poor Aunt Sally! she’s dead. They take" [end of online article]
****
Excerpt #4: [added February 22, 2017]
From http://www.archerbarron.com/a-glossary-of-lucumi-words-and-ideas/ A Glossary of Lucumi Words and Ideas
"Ibu Kolé – A road, or manifestation, of Ochun. Ibu Kolé is the vulture, a peacock whose feathers were burned away carrying the prayers of the dying world to God/the Sun. In this road, Ochun is a sorceress."
****
BLACK AMERICANS (UNITED STATES)
VULTURE MENTIONED IN THE MOVIE SANKOFA
From Symbolizing the Past: Reading Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, & Eve's Bayou by Sandra M. Grayson (University Press of America, 2000), Page 36 [Google books]
Notes from page 36 of that book:
6. "After Nunu was killed later in the film [Haile Geima’s Sankofa] no one could find her body. Shola says that the people believed that Nunu did not die; rather that a buzzard swopped down and took her back to Africa.
7. Opete is the Akan word for vulture."
-snip-
Here's information about the film Sankofa from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa_(film)
"Sankofa is a 1993 Burkinabé drama film directed by Haile Gerima centered on the Atlantic slave trade. The storyline features Oyafunmike Ogunlano, Kofi Ghanaba, Mutabaruka, Alexandra Duah and Afemo Omilami. The word Sankofa derives its meaning from the Ghanaian Akan language which means to “go back, look for, and gain wisdom, power and hope,” according to Dr. Anna Julia Cooper.[1] The word Sankofa stresses the importance of one not drifting too far away from one’s past in order to progress in the future. In the film, Sankofa is depicted by a bird and the chants and drumming of a Divine Drummer.[2] Gerima’s film showed the importance of not having people of African decent drift far away from their African roots. Gerima used the journey of the character Mona to show how the African perception of identity included recognizing one’s roots and “returning to one’s source” (Gerima)...
Nunu .... is an African-born field hand who went about her day-to-day life with Africa still living in her heart and was characterized as a “strong motherly slave with a rebel mindset.”
****
BUZZARD LOPE (dance)
Editor's note: Initially when I learned about the enslaved Black American dance "The Buzzard Lope" I thought was a dance that had no meaning other than people imitating the movement of buzzards (vultures). However, it's clear from careful reading about "The Buzzard Lope" that it was considered to be more than a social dance. Here's a video of a re- enactment of the the Buzzard Lope as well as some explanations of that dance.
From http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/07/throw-me-anywhere-lord-buzzard-lope.html:
Throw Me Anywhere Lord
Uploaded by mediageneration on Dec 12, 2009
Georgia Sea Island Singers from the DVD- The Films of Bess Lomax Hawes- available from http://www.media-generation.com
Here's a comment from that video's uploader:
"The dance is called the Buzzard Lope, and John Davis is the buzzard circling the carrion and picking it up at the end of the song."
-mediageneration; 2010
****
Click http://www.media-generation.com/DVD%20PAGES/Bess/master.pdf The Films Of Bess Lomax Hawes "Buzzard Lope" page 8 of 34 for notes to this song and video. Those notes include considerable information about how the Buzzard dance is performed and the possible origin of that dance among the Ashanti-Fanti people of Ghana where the vulture is a sacred messenger to the gods. Among the information included in those notes is the statement that the dancer wanted to wear his suit coat because it would show the flapping of his wings better. However, not understanding this, the film producer [Bess Lomax Hawes] told him to take off his coat since he hadn't worn it for any other segments of the film.
My interpretation of the lyrics "Throw me anywhere, Lord" is that this statement wasn't directed to the Lord (meaning the person didn't mean for the Lord to throw him or her anywhere.) Instead, I believe that the word "Lord" was used at the end of the line in a similar manner as the phrases "my Lord" or "Yes Lord".
From http://supersearch.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=77864&messages=64&page=1&desc=yes#1892896 Sep 1998, Barry Finn
[Regarding the song "Throw Me Anywhere, Lord":
"From the Georgia Sea Islands comes a song from slave times on the Plantations, when the slaves were discarded after falling down on the job....
Common enough in the West Indies, such miming dances are rare in America. The song tells of a time the slave was not properly buried when he died but was simply cast out in a field"...
Lydia Parrish also collected & reported of the dance the Buzzard Lope in her "Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands". She says "This group used an old religious song with narrative lines of a suitable character. In ante-bellum days the slaves called the graveyard 'the ole field'". The song being close to what's already been given, called "Throw Me Anywhere". She also has another song "In That old Field" sung in a minor key that she relates to a dance but doesn't connect this to any dance in particular much less the Buzzard Lope even though it's clearly related to the others already given. She does mention the song being of a spiritual or religious nature but not the dance itself."
****
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3buzzardlope1.htm
"The Buzzard Lope (1880s)
The Buzzard Lope was similar to the more modern Eagle Rock Dance and was very popular in the South and most likely related to the W. African Buzzard dance. Sunbury Georgia was the first discovery of this dance but may not have originated there.
The Buzzard Lope used outstretched arms like a bird and consisted of a shuffle step and a little buzzard like hop. The dance is said to be similar to the West African Buzzard Dance. It's original form is representing a Turkey Buzzard getting ready to eat a dead Mule (some report a Cow). Many people in the sidelines watching the dance would do a 'Patting', or make a rhythm by slapping (patting) their thighs, etc. while someone would call out the cues."
-snip-
I'm not sure what that 1880s writer meant by "West African Buzzard dance". However, here's a quote that mentions a buzzard dance in Dahomey (now known as Benin):
"The Buzzard Lope had been known to song-collector Lydia Parrish since 1915. M. J. Herskovits told her that he had seen a similar dance done in Dahomey." quoted in http://supersearch.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=77864&messages=64&page=1&desc=yes#1892896 25 Nov 06 - 04:01 PM Azizi and 25 Nov 06 - 03:53 PM Azizi
-snip-
That quote includes Lydia Parrish's description of the Buzzard Lope dance that she observed in the Georgia Sea Islands.
UPDATE: March 22, 2016
Here's a passage from the 1972 Georgia Sea Isle [Gullah] book Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bess Lomax Hawes and Bessie Jones. That passage describes a ring shout movement called "Eagle Wing" which is described as being the same as "the buzzard lope"
"EAGLE WING: Arms bent at elbows are flapped slightly by rotating the shoulders joints in parallel motion. This is the same step as the secular "buzzard lope" motion."
-snip-
That passage is included in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/03/georgia-sea-isle-ring-shouts-daniel-and.html
****
ADDENDUM: KING BUZZARD
Although the buzzard (vulture; crow) had spiritual connotations in certain African nations, and may have been depicted as a spiritual figure in some Jamaican and African American folk cultural forms, there's no question that for a long time the negative connotations of the buzzard (vulture, crow) have outweighed any positive connotations of those birds. Folktales about King Buzzard are foremost among Black Americans' negative depictions of these birds.
From http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/slavery/lullabies/buzzard.html The Buzzard In African American Folklore
"King Buzzard, an African king, was condemned to travel alone through the world as a buzzard for betraying his own and other people into slavery. When Africans enslaved other Africans, they did not view themselves as betraying their own people. They would have regarded themselves as Aro or Asante or Wolof selling Igbo or Akan or Malinke. Folktales like the one about the King Buzzard, created in America to explain the origin of African slaves, gave to these different people a common origin on the distant continent." This account comes from Robert J. Allison, in "The Origins of African-American Culture," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 30/3 (1999): 475-481."
-snip-
Click https://wolfpangloss.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/king-buzzard/ for one version of the King Buzzard folktale.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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