Rivalidad entre competidores.

Bishop Lucas of Masasi “considered the process of modernisation and detribalisation of African society to be dangerous” (Ludwig 1999:25). Thus in an endeavour to both protect the cultural practice as well as to address some of the unchristian aspects of the rites instead of either condemning or ignoring this social institution Lucas tried to ‘Christianise it’ (Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed 2000:870). The process of Christianisation involved a prohibition of certain practices deemed unacceptable. For instance, Ludwig (1999:25) points out that in 1913 Lucas “forbade Christians to take part in initiation festivals because he considered some practices as being ‘unacceptable’ but introduced a Christian ritual instead.” The process also included a replacement of some of the ‘unacceptable practices with some Christian symbols, (Sundkler and Steed 2000:870). In some cases the Bishop also had to approve the dances which were done the night before the circumcision ritual (Sundkler and Steed 2000:870). According to Stoner-Eby (2008:179), Bishop Lucas’ adaptation endeavours were built much on the ‘first rules’ regarding initiation which were written down in 1909 at a conference of the clergy held in Masasi under Bishop Weston. Stoner- Eby goes on to mention that the rules were continually used to modify initiation “while providing more specific guidelines and increasing clergy control” (2008:179). So the Christianisation process in Masasi made use of clerical rules and guidelines handed down to the catechumen for implementation.

The Church Missionary Society (CMS) also applied this approach in a number of communities in East Africa such as among the Wagogo and the Kaguru tribes to mention a few. According to Beidelman (1982:127), the evangelism strategy that was employed by the CMS among the Kaguru seemed to be that of changing the native man by Christianising his cultural practices. While the CMS did not seem to exhibit a theologically rigorous and systematic method to address the Kaguru cultural practices, Beidelman shows that “the mission provided ways23 in which the Kaguru could direct their traditional beliefs and customs” (1982:127). In some instances they sought “parallels to things they knew from home or from the

23

Emphasis is mine. This is to highlight that the options came from missionaries and not from a dialogical process.

Bible” (1982:144). Beidelman attributes the approach used by CMS to the negative view that the mission held about the Kaguru. He notes that the missionaries “entertained a contemptuous view of most of the Kaguru life, though they made little effort to learn what that life might be” (1982:127), and they “considered Kaguru customs and beliefs the antithesis of Christianity” (1982:133). This inevitably had a negative impact on how the CMS approached the Kaguru culture.

Though Christianisation was the goal, it was no longer done as an organised theological endeavour but an outward modification of the Kaguru culture based on a European version of Christianity, involving “a wide range of European behaviour, from dress and etiquette to monogamy” (1982:133). Concerning the practice of rites, the mission sought to Christianise circumcision by “replacing the bawdy songs and explicit sexual instructions which are at the heart of such ceremonies with prayers and hymns” (1982:144). With such a view, the outward form of initiation was given a Christian flavour. Beidelman notes however that the approach used by CMS did not bring much change. Though they sought to incorporate Christian teachings in the practice of initiation they failed in all attempts to modify the ceremony, (1982:144). It can be asserted from the Beidelman’s discussion that the CMS’s approach of imposing moral, spiritual and cultural values on Kaguru did not meet with much success and adherence because the strategy was merely an imposition of a foreign worldview on the Kaguru people. The principle used was not that of dialogical adaptation of the Christian faith.

While the Christianisation done among the Kaguru, as articulated by Beidelman may not seem like a success story, Kaplan insists that the Masasi and Wagogo experiences were good pointers of Christianisation of African ritual aspects. He asserts that “the Masasi experiment clearly illustrates the complexity involved in and the success possible from such ventures” (1982:175). Stoner-Eby also agrees that the Masasi experiment was a success story. She however attributes much of the success to the efforts made by the African clergy prior to the arrival of Bishop Lucas (2008:179-182).

It is important to highlight that though the use of Christianisation registered considerable success in Masasi and other places, Kaplan admits that the process of Christianisation was characterised by a certain level of ambivalence in the adaptation of initiation rites. This is so because “advocates of the Christianisation of such rites were not wholehearted supporters of traditional practices” (1982:175). Thus with such an approach the tendency was to view the cultural practices negatively from the onset. Cultural rites were looked at as impure items which needed purification and cleansing by applying regulative measures to which rites were to measure up. This approach becomes ineffective as it seeks to impose changes on the form without touching the inner worldview behind the rites. Kaplan says that “purely legislative measures or laying down injunctions by people outside the tribe is of little or no value” (1982:175). Since the focus of Christianisation is to give initiation rites a Christian character and this mostly through imposition of an outside doctrine, it does not work well as the best approach to address the subject at hand. It tends to ignore the worldview and the underlying traditional value system of the people it wishes to address. Moreover changes brought about by legislative injunctions do not seem to bear much fruit and adherence on cultural participants as they are mere adaptations which do not appeal to the inner spiritual and emotional faculties of the people concerned.

Efforts by Bishop Lucas need to be applauded since he presents a balanced view of what needs to be done in the African theological enterprise. Lucas’ efforts to address ancestor invocation as well as the obscene and immoral character of the rites (Shorter 1973:73) are to be commended for that is in line with traditional biblical teaching. His model however is not without its problems. Shorter (1973:73), while commenting on the weaknesses of Christianisation of the boys’ initiation as practiced in Masasi and Nachingwea (a district close to Masasi), says that “in African eyes, this impoverished the symbolism of the ceremony and weakened its relevance to social life in the area.” He (1973:73) goes on to mention that the creation of Christian initiation camps produced “a series of

jandos24 – Anglican, Catholic and pagan – over which the missionaries never really gained control.”

It is important to point out at this stage that while Christianisation might have worked to bring about certain outward conformations of the rites to the Christian faith, it might not have been effective in completely changing the mindset of the people as the issue of rites continues to cause problems even in Christian circles today. This is not to demean the work of Lucas but judging from the current scenario it can be argued, contrary to Stoner-Eby who holds that the Christianised initiation continues to this day (2008:192), that Christianisation as an adaptation model may not stand the test of time as it mostly touches on the outward forms of initiation.

A good number of elderly people who were interviewed noted that it was difficult to come up with a Christian initiation rite let alone a Christian initiation camp since much of these initiations rested in the hands of the local village leadership and clan chiefs. Stoner-Eby (2008:192) points out that “clerical control of initiation did not survive Tanzanian independence” since the local village government system which was instituted at the time took control of initiation preparations. Though Stoner-Eby insists that Christian initiation is till taking place under Christian village leaders this cannot be guaranteed. Currently those churches which have managed to hold a separate jando from the village jando have only managed to do so with much protest and contempt from village committees.25 Those churches which have continued to observe jando under the local village leadership have had to overlook issues considered as syncretistic in other Christian circles. It can be concluded therefore that Christianisation may not be a very effective tool to administer long lasting changes on rites or any cultural aspects. This means something more may be called for in terms of bringing long lasting adaptive results.

24

Seclusion camps where boys are kept during initiation period.

25

Members of one evangelical congregation in Chivirikiti village had to undergo hours of debate with the local village authorities when they expressed reservations in participating in the regular village jando in June 2008. A similar occurrence took place in Msakala village and a fairly young congregation in Nanyindwa village.

Other recent missionary Christianisation approaches used the correlation of the practice of initiation with the doctrine of confirmation. The understanding in this practice is that since the church as a society has its initiation rites, such as baptism, confirmation, marriage etc, these can be tallied with similar rites in the larger cultural society and parallels drawn for purposes of integration. Such a rite as initiation is adapted to confirmation so that at the time of a teenager’s cultural initiation, he can also go through church confirmation.

Fr. Girard Kohler in his article ‘Confirmation as Initiation: Experiment in Initiation Adaptation’ writes about the possibility of confirmation as initiation. He relates the experiment he undertook in South Meru Mission in Arusha, Tanzania in which he combined initiation and confirmation. He points out that the main issue in this approach is to look “at one’s experience of religion and journey of faith from the vantage point of life-situation and parallels” (Kohler, n.d.:166). He goes further to emphasise that “the local church of any society, which has in its tradition rituals of initiation, can fruitfully look at these cultural and historical phenomena for some appropriate ways both of catechizing a sacrament of initiation and of celebrating meaningful liturgy of that sacrament.” Drawing some of his thoughts from Charles Nyamiti26, Kohler proposes what he believes to be a paradigm for the Christian sacrament of confirmation.

He sees the need to put age stipulations to initiation so that they coincide with the time of initiation of any individual. Be that as it may, Kohler’s ideas are discussed here to show just one way in which recent missionaries sought to Christianise cultural initiation by correlating African practices with established Christian doctrines. It may be appropriate at this stage to have a brief review of Nyamiti’s model for Christianising initiation rites.