29 According to Peter Domnwachukwu, ancestors “are looked upon to for protection by those who are living in the visible world (and) stand before the gods as intercessors for their living relatives. They intervene for the good of their living relatives.”67 Domnwachukwu further opines that “the knowledge of the Supreme Being (God) comes from the ancestors, who bring this revelation to the living…”68 They convey human requests, needs, prayers, sacrifices and offerings to God and relay His responses back to human beings.69
For Ikenga Metuh,
Most African societies recognise fundamentally two types of divinities, the Supreme Being and the deities. The Supreme Being though recognised as the creator and Lord of the entire universe features less frequently in public worship and rituals than the deities, who are many and feature in almost every aspect of African life.70
In J. Awolalu’s own words
The ancestors constitute the closest link between the world of men and the spirit world and they are believed to be keenly interested in the welfare of their living descendants…they are regarded as presiding spiritually over the welfare of the family…the living have the confidence that they live in a world in which their ancestors are interested and over which they are watching.71
In Malawi, for example, the Lomwe traditional belief of ancestors is that they are
“intermediaries who intercede for the people before God.”72 This explains the respect Auchis have for their dead. Although these intermediaries are themselves spiritual they can be located particularly in what Mbiti calls the Sasa period.73 Those who really distinguished themselves while alive are elevated to divinities74 and deities, especially at the Zamani stage.75
30 because in Auchi, therefore, one is identified by where the father comes from. Consequently, the Auchi understanding of the family is patrilineal. What place then does the individual occupy in the Auchi ontology?
2.4.1 THE INDIVIDUAL
Contrary to the opinion of some about the over-play of the group-oriented dimension over and above the person or the individual, its value and place in Auchi remains uncompromised.
Although, the Auchi notion of the human person is closely associated with the general background of the community, its distinct place is however, not overshadowed. The Auchi notion of ‘Mhe’ (me or myself) expresses in a very deep way that difference from ’ghue’ (you or yourself). It is thought that this close and almost unbreakable relationship of the person with the community makes the individual either lazy or unnecessarily dependent on ‘others’
or the community and therefore reduces the individual’s capacity for productiveness or initiative. When Rene Descartes argues, for instance, that ‘I think’, therefore, I am’ or ‘I am because I think’, it was a philosophy, or conception, if you like, that exalts the individual over and above others. It shuts out the ‘others’. This is the complete opposite of the Auchi concept of the person which John Mbiti has summarised as ‘I am because we are’. It is in the same direction that Ferdinand Ezekwonna writes: “Africans….allow themselves to be permeated by the sense of the community as a way of becoming a person but they do not allow their individuality or personhood to be destroyed.”76
2.4.2 FAMILY-CENTRED CONCEPTION
For the Auchis, social life begins from the family. On this John Mbiti writes, “For African peoples, the family has a much wider circle of members than the word suggests in Europe or North America.”77 Thus in Auchi, the family would include parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunties, nieces and cousins and grandchildren. The circle continues with the children and grandchildren of those mentioned above. Thus, the notion of the family in Auchi is closer to what sociologists call ‘extended family.’78 Although, the nuclear family or what John Mbiti calls the ‘Household’ is noticeable especially at night, which is often used as the moment of giving the children wise counsels and advise, it is not so much emphasized. So when one, for instance, calls someone ‘Iyokpamhe’ or ‘Iniogwomhe’,
76 Ferdinand Ezekwonna, 2005, African Communitarian Ethic: The basis for the Moral Conscience and Autonomy of the individual: Igbo culture as a case study, Bern, p.65.
77 Ibid, p.106.
78 Extended family refers to a family that include relatives in addition to the nuclear family (smallest unit of the family of Father, Mother and children).
31 which means ‘My relation’ it goes far beyond the ordinary sense of a nuclear family. And this may range from 5 to even two hundred persons. In some cases, it could even be larger particularly if the man had two or more wives.
In addition, a family is ultimately defined when all the components of man, woman and children are present. Thus, for the Auchi people, a childless marriage cannot be called a family. And generally, women lose their homes as soon as it is discovered they cannot bear children. The man’s fertility is normally taken for granted.
Within the tight family connectedness among the Auchis, the individual has no separate existence outside the family. For the Auchis, one has no existence separated from his family.
This is why ‘birth’ is seen as a big event for the entire family. In most cases, there is a spontaneous celebration and expression of joy and what follows is presentation of gifts to the child’s parents for ‘helping to continue the family lineage.’ Not just that, the child goes through special rites to formally initiate him to the family and society as a whole. Amongst the Ekperi tribe of Auchi, for example, at the age of 7 or 8, a child goes through initiation rites in a ceremony called ‘Otsa’ which confers a special membership to him and at 60 he goes through another rite called ‘Ikpeho/Ibaki’ which confers the title of ‘elder’ or ‘wise one’, on such a person. Amongst the North Ibies, it is called ‘Izuode’ and usually celebrated at the age of 70. One must have been married with children to undertake this ceremony and these are usually accompanied by big celebrations of dancing and merry making. So for the Auchis, like other Africans, the philosophical view of man in relation to the society can be summed up in the words of John Mbiti: ‘I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore, I am.”79
2.4.3 COMMUNITARIAN LIVING
Amongst the Auchis, there are very closely-knitted ties or relationship between families especially in a particular village community or clan. Such clans usually have a leader called
‘Ogie’ (Chief). In other words “each individual is a brother or sister, father or mother, grandmother or grandfather, or cousin, or brother-in-law, uncle or aunt, or something else to everybody else.”80 In such sense there is a very wide horizontal network between Auchi people. As mentioned earlier, as opposed to the individual, the community is much more emphasized. So for most of the Auchi communities, relationship ties can be so stretched that it becomes difficult sometime to distinguish between the different levels of relationships.
79 John S. Mbiti, 1969, p.108.
80 Ibid.
32 Thus, a differentiation between tribes and clans can be made. While tribe is the bigger designation of people connected or bound by the same history, genealogy, language and culture, clans are smaller conglomeration of families related by the same ancestors. This is normally traced to the first parents or family that lived in the particular area that has now been designated a clan and usually given a peculiar name of an hero or Warrior who had such great prowess at wars that saved such a community. But in most cases, clans are named after the first man. Thus, Auchi clans are patriarchal.81 Auchi is exogamous82, in that members cannot marry within the particular clan. Some clans may be just under 50 persons, others in their hundreds or even thousands. One is born into a clan and remains there until death but women, by marriage, become incorporated into the clans of their husbands and they become full members of such clans and are entitled to the rights of that particular clan as members of their husbands’ clans. But in some clans it is a bit different. Some clans, even after marriage, hold strongly that such women (their daughters) remain members of their original clans and do not loose such rights as a result of marriage. As a result, when such a woman dies, her corpse must be returned to her original clan and buried so that she can join the lineage of her ancestors, in the Sasa period and then later to the Zamani.
As John Mbiti points out, and which is also true for the Auchis, it is possible to tell which clan a person comes from by means of his name. Apart from the cohesion and general loyalty of individual members to the common good and welfare of the entire tribe, there is also an additional obligation on the part of members of a particular clan to be of assistance to each other in times of need or help.
Clan systems provide closer cooperation especially in times of need. In case of internal conflicts, clan members joined one another to fight their aggressive neighbours….If a person finds himself in difficulties, it is not unusual for him to call for help from his clan members and other relatives e.g., in finding enough goods to exchange for a wife (marriage dowry), in giving financial support to students studying in institutes of higher education….83
It is important here to examine some values that hold or bind the Auchi communities together.
81 There are also matriarchal clans in some parts of in some part of Central, Western and Northern Africa. (Cf.
John S. Mbiti, 1969, p.105).
82 This is as opposed to ‘endogamous’ clans, in which members are free to marry within themselves. But in spite of this, there are still levels of relationships within which one is barred from marrying another. (Cf. John S.
Mbiti, 1969, p.106).
83 Ibid.
33 2.4.4 RESPECT FOR LIFE
This can be seen vividly from the way Africans treat life right from birth. A pregnant mother in Auchi is treated with such great respect, because she bears a symbol of the continuation of that community-a new life. Apart from that, it completes the cycle of marriage. This is so because until a child is born, the marriage of that woman is not deemed to have been completed. As such, barrenness has no place amongst the Auchis. So pregnancy brings joy to the woman because she is now seen as a ‘complete’ wife and a blessing to the families because it indicates that God’s hands are on the families since they can multiply themselves and to the community because it is a sign of continuity and strength. For instance, pregnant mothers were prohibited from having sexual intercourse (it was believed that sex could harm the child), were prevented from physical abuse by their husbands (such as battering). At child birth, the husband is kept away and older women act as nursing mothers to the expectant mother until delivery. After child birth, the naming of the child is an important event indicating the value Auchis place on life. The family members and friends gather for the naming ceremony, usually between 7 and 9 days after birth. A name is chosen by either the eldest man in the family or it could also be suggested by the eldest woman in the family too.
Auchi names come with deep meaning. A beautiful child could be called Osomote (the beautiful one) or Onoti (the good one) Alamanegbe (let us agree together). The nursing of the child is done in most Auchi villages between 9 months and two years. This is seen as the best way of nourishing a child to good health and strength which the society needs if it must perpetuate itself. One important fact concerning the upbringing of children is that, the responsibility of bringing up children is not the exclusive preserve of the immediate nuclear family alone but that of the entire community.
Similarly, the Auchis abhor violence especially murder. They have such high respect for the preservation of life. Thus, “if a man consciously killed another man within the community (murder), he was killed himself. But if he kills inadvertently (manslaughter), he is exiled for some long period.84 Onwubiko writes;
In many African tribes, the killing of a kinsman, the antitheses of caring for him, was not only a crime but also an abomination. After the murderer had been executed, his family would have to perform sacrifices and rites to remove the stain of evil and ward off the anger of the gods.85
84 Oliver Onwubiko, 1991, p.22.
85 Ibid.
34 When, however, a man kills in self-defence or in the defence of the community during war, which was common at that time, he was, nonetheless, considered unclean and had to be ritually purified of the slain people’s blood. The Auchi notion of the sacredness of life is so high that even suicide was foreign and an unthinkable thing to do. One, because it brings shame and even curse on the person’s family and secondly because it prevents the person from joining his ancestors after death, having committed an abominable act.
In addition, this is why the issue of reproduction, particularly things that pertain to sexual organs or even sexual intercourse are not spoken about openly except during initiation rites, because they are regarded as matters related to life.
2.4.5 VALUE SYSTEM: HOSPITALITY AND RESPECT
Hospitality is perhaps one of the most treasured values not just to the Auchis but to Africans as a whole. As explained earlier, the Auchis have a high value for the sacredness of life, which applies also to every human person including strangers who are seen as unique human beings created by God. Thus, it is common to see the Auchi people express welcome ‘mokhia’
by offering colanuts, sometimes accompanied by either palm wine or water. These symbols express such unspoken intentions as ‘you are most welcome and accepted here, please feel at home.’
In traditional African culture, whenever there is food to be taken, everyone present is invited to participate even if the food was prepared for far less number of people without anticipating the arrival of visitors. It would be a height of incredible bad manners for one to eat anything however small, without sharing it with anyone else present, or at least expressing the intention to do so.86
Close to the Auchi value of hospitality is Respect for the elderly. Auchis respect their elders as an obligation because they are seen as sharing a unique relationship with the ancestors and can protect. This is beside the fact that due to the many number of years lived, they have become the repository of the community’s knowledge and history and can counsel, with the past as a guide. It is with this understanding that Africans generally care for their aged.