The Masque of Africa by V. S. Naipaul

Author:V. S. Naipaul [Naipaul, V. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Usenet, History, Non-Fiction, Travel, Writing, C429, Kat, Exratorrents
ISBN: 9780307270733
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2010-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE GAA (Pa-boh said) migrated from the east with their high priest. In those days they did not have a king. Rather like in the days of Jesus, the high priest was both king and priest. (Again, this need to refer an African story to a biblical or Christian model.) When the Gaa reached the coast, they found the Portuguese. Later the Dutch and the British came. All these people saw African religion and its high priests as demonic. They preferred to deal with the war lord. So the war lord became the king or chief.

This downgrading of the high priest can create difficulties. Some chiefs nowadays are Christian; they don’t like offering libations to the shrines or oracles. And modern laws can affect traditional practices. Slavery, for instance, is now outlawed, and parents can no longer sell or give their children to a shrine, to pay off a debt.

Chiefs get money from the government for administering government land. They fine people for breaking taboos, and that money belongs to them. They can also act as arbitrators, and then they are paid by both sides. So the function of the chief changes.

Pa-boh said, “Traditional religion in Ghana is dying slowly. It started to die when the Europeans and Muslims came and saw us as pagans. Their superior technology killed us. We have witches who fly in the air. But when we saw aircraft we came to abhor what was our culture. I think the modern African is in a very difficult situation. He should look at it and modify it. He should not condemn it.”

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