Читать книгу The Rising Son; or, the Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race - William Wells Brown - Страница 18

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While paganism is embraced by the larger portion of the African races, it is by no means the religion of the land. Missionaries representing nearly every phase of religious belief have made their appearance in the country, and gained more or less converts. Mohammedanism, however, has taken by far the greatest hold upon the people.

Whatever may be said of the followers of Mohammed in other countries, it may truly be averred that the African has been greatly benefited by this religion.

Recent discussions and investigations have brought the subject of Mohammedanism prominently before the reading public, and the writings of Weil, and Noldeke, and Muir, and Sprenger, and Emanuel Deutsch, have taught the world that “Mohammedanism is a thing of vitality, fraught with a thousand fruitful germs;” and have amply illustrated the principle enunciated by St. Augustine, showing that there are elements both of truth and goodness in a system which has had so wide-spread an influence upon mankind, embracing within the scope of its operations more than one hundred millions of the human race; that the exhibition of the germs of truth, even though “suspended in a gallery of counterfeits,” has vast power over the human heart.

Whatever may be the intellectual inferiority of the Negro tribes (if, indeed, such inferiority exists), it is certain that many of these tribes have received the religion of Islam without its being forced upon them by the overpowering arms of victorious invaders. The quiet development and organization of a religious community in the heart of Africa has shown that Negroes, equally with other races, are susceptible of moral and spiritual impressions, and of all the sublime possibilities of religion.

The history of the progress of Islam in the country would present the same instances of real and eager mental conflict of minds in honest transition, of careful comparison and reflection, that have been found in other communities where new aspects of truth and fresh considerations have been brought before them. And we hold that it shows a stronger and more healthy intellectual tendency to be induced by the persuasion and reason of a man of moral nobleness and deep personal convictions to join with him in the introduction of beneficial changes, than to be compelled to follow the lead of an irresponsible character, who forces us into measures by his superior physical might.

Mungo Park, in his travels seventy years ago, everywhere remarked the contrast between the pagan and Mohammedan tribes of interior Africa. One very important improvement noticed by him was abstinence from intoxicating drinks.

“The beverage of the pagan Negroes,” he says, “is beer and mead, of which they often drink to excess; the Mohammedan converts drink nothing but water.”

Thus, throughout Central Africa there has been established a vast total abstinence society; and such is the influence of this society that where there are Moslem inhabitants, even in pagan towns, it is a very rare thing to see a person intoxicated. They thus present an almost impenetrable barrier to the desolating flood of ardent spirits with which the traders from Europe and America inundate the coast at Caboon.

Wherever the Moslem is found on the coast, whether Jalof, Fulah, or Mandingo, he looks upon himself as a separate and distinct being from his pagan neighbor, and immeasurably his superior in intellectual and moral respects. He regards himself as one to whom a revelation has been “sent down” from Heaven. He holds constant intercourse with the “Lord of worlds,” whose servant he is. In his behalf Omnipotence will ever interpose in times of danger. Hence he feels that he cannot indulge in the frivolities and vices which he considers as by no means incompatible with the character and professions of the Kafir, or unbeliever.

There are no caste distinctions among them. They do not look upon the privileges of Islam as confined by tribal barriers or limitations. On the contrary, the life of their religion is aggressiveness. They are constantly making proselytes. As early as the commencement of the present century, the elastic and expansive character of their system was sufficiently marked to attract the notice of Mr. Park.

“In the Negro country,” observes that celebrated traveller, “the Mohammedan religion has made, and continues to make, considerable progress.” “The yearning of the native African,” says Professor Crummell, “for a higher religion, is illustrated by the singular fact that Mohammedanism is rapidly and peaceably spreading all through the tribes of Western Africa, even to the Christian settlements of Liberia.”

From Senegal to Lagos, over two thousand miles, there is scarcely an important town on the seaboard where there is not at least one mosque, and active representatives of Islam often side by side with the Christian teachers. And as soon as a pagan, however obscure or degraded, embraces the Moslem faith, he is at once admitted as an equal to their society. Slavery and slave-trade are laudable institutions, provided the slaves are Kafirs. The slave who embraces Islamism is free, and no office is closed against him on account of servile blood.[28]

Passing over into the southern part, we find the people in a state of civilization, and yet superstitious, as indeed are the natives everywhere.

The town of Noble is a settlement of modern times, sheltering forty thousand souls, close to an ancient city of the same name, the Rome of aboriginal South Africa. The religious ceremonies performed there are of the most puerile character, and would be thought by most equally idolatrous with those formerly held in the same spot by the descendants of Mumbo Jumbo.

On Easter Monday is celebrated the Festa del Señor de los Temblores, or Festival of the Lord of Earthquakes. On this day the public plaza in front of the cathedral is hung with garlands and festoons, and the belfry utters its loudest notes. The images of the saints are borne out from their shrines, covered with fresh and gaudy decorations. The Madonna of Bethlehem, San Cristoval, San Blas, and San José, are borne on in elevated state, receiving as they go the prayers of all the Maries, and Christophers, and Josephs, who respectively regard them as patrons. But the crowning honors are reserved for the miraculous Crucifix, called the Lord of Earthquakes, which is supposed to protect the city from the dreaded terrestrial shocks, the Temblores.

The procession winds around a prescribed route, giving opportunity for public prayers and the devotions of the multitude; the miraculous image, in a new spangled skirt, that gives it the most incongruous resemblance to an opera-dancer, is finally shut up in the church; and then the glad throng, feeling secure from earthquakes another year, dance and sing in the plaza all night long.

The Borers, a hardy, fighting, and superstitious race, have a showy time at weddings and funerals. When the appointed day for marriage has arrived, the friends of the contracting parties assemble and form a circle; into this ring the bridegroom leads his lady-love.

The woman is divested of her clothing, and stands somewhat as mother Eve did in the garden before she thought of the fig-leaf. The man then takes oil from a shell, and anoints the bride from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet; at the close of this ceremony, the bridegroom breaks forth into joyful peals of laughter, in which all the company join, the musicians strike up a lively air, and the dance commences. At the close of this, the oldest woman in the party comes forward, and taking the bride by the right hand, gives her to her future husband.

Two maids standing ready with clothes, jump to the bride, and begin rubbing her off. After this, she is again dressed, and the feast commences, consisting mainly of fruits and wines.

The funeral services of the same people are not less interesting. At the death of one of their number, the body is stripped, laid out upon the ground, and the friends of the deceased assemble, forming a circle around it, and commence howling like so many demons. They then march and counter-march around, with a subdued chant. After this, they hop around first on one foot, then on the other; stopping still, they cry at the top of their voices—“She’s in Heaven, she’s in Heaven!” Here they all fall flat upon the ground, and roll about for a few minutes, after which they simultaneously rise, throw up their hands, and run away yelling and laughing.

Among the Bechuanas, when a chief dies, his burial takes place in his cattle-yard, and all the cattle are driven for an hour over the grave, so that it may be entirely obliterated.[29] In all the Backwain’s pretended dreams and visions of their God, he has always a crooked leg like the Egyptian.[30]

Musical and dancing festivities form a great part of the people’s time. With some of the tribes, instrumental music has been carried to a high point of culture. Bruce gives an account of a concert, the music of which he heard at the distance of a mile or more, on a still night in October. He says: “It was the most enchanting strain I ever listened to.”

It is not my purpose to attempt a detailed account of the ceremonies of the various tribes that inhabit the continent of Africa; indeed, such a thing would be impossible, even if I were inclined to do so.