Causes and effects of evil in African Traditional Belief

 Arising from the corporate
nature of Zambian communities
that were held together by a web
of kinship relationships and other social structures, almost every form
of evil that a person suffered was believed to be caused by members of his/her community. There is no event without a spiritual/metaphysical cause; hence people looked beyond physical events to their spiritual etiology. This
situation arises out of the nature of the African continent.  

Droughts and floods, sickness and health,
rich harvest and poor crops, high
infant mortality, and so on, lead
naturally to the externalisation of cause and effect and to the postulation of agencies more powerful than a human.
Against this background life was uncertain, and people looked beyond themselves to solve its riddles and to be ensured of stability.

Every form of pain, misfortune, sorrow or suffering;
every illness and sickness; every death, whether of an old person or the infant child; every failure of the crop
in the fields, of hunting
in the wilderness or of fishing
in the waters; every bad omen or
dream: these are all the manifestations
of evil that human experiences are blamed on somebody in the corporate society. As a result, young people in Zambia were taught strictly how
to observe the religious rituals, ceremonies, laws, and avoidance of taboos, for the sake of their own survival.

Sin and Salvation

The concept
of salvation among African traditionalists was determined by what one was saved from. Africans conceptualize sin in terms of “big sins” and “minor sins”.  Big sins are listed as violations of tribal taboos or revealing
to women and the uninitiated the secrets of
what takes place at initiation. Small sins include
trespassing on a neighbour’s property, failing to care
for a neighbour’s stock when the
need arises, child abuse, and bitterness. Punishment for big sins varied from
drinking human waste matter to capital
punishment.  

Sin from an African
viewpoint appears to be an anti-social act, and salvation can only be obtained by satisfying
social demands.  For example, when a person
was caught with someone else’s wife
that person was required to pay damages or a fee and in addition, a white chicken had to be slaughtered in order to reconcile the two people through
the shedding of blood. A white colour signified the purifying of the consciences of the
offender and the offended. Young people were religiously instructed
that to be saved, therefore, was to be accepted first in the community of the living, then in the place of the dead.
 

Death and the Afterlife

Most Zambian tribes possessed myths explaining how death first came into the world and one of the most fundamental features
of traditional life was the relationship between the living and
the living-dead. People accepted
death, but every human death was
believed to have external causes. People had to discover
and state the causes of death.  These causes were said to be the results of magic and witchcraft or spirits who were offended and bore a grudge, or from a powerful curse.  

One or more causes
of death were to be given.
Though death was accepted, it could be prevented because it was always caused
by another agent.  At death a person went to join the “shades” or “living-dead”, for as long as he/she was remembered by those who remain.
During this time, usually three or four generations, the person might
visit his/her former home
and see his/her relatives and was
thought to have a real interest in the welfare
of the family and clan, and to hover around the
community. 

However, there is a sense of separation. People cannot say to him/her, “Here is a seat,
sit down and let us prepare a meal
for you.” She/he appears
only to one or two members of the family,
particularly the older ones and enquires about the welfare of the others. She/he
cannot participate fully…but his/her appearance strengthens family links between relatives
in this life and those in the spirit
world.

Among the Lamba people in Zambia, an individual is understood to be made up of three parts:
body, person and spirit.  “When a person
dies his/her body is buried; himself/herself goes to ichiyabafu
(the abode of the dead), and his/her umupashi (spirit) returns to the village
to await reincarnation”. Traditionally, when a good person dies his/her spirit is thought to come back in one of his/her sisters’ children. 

As a result, his/her sister’s children are in some respects more important than their
own. “If the birth is normal it is the maternal grandmother who decides
upon the name of the child. Should the child fall sick after a day or two, or even a week, the people
say, she/he
has refused the name” and
another name is chosen. Hence the practice of waiting
a few days before naming a child is practiced so that one can see who she/he is like in terms of disposition. 

In Zambian culture the issue is not the
afterlife but the way in which the living dead continue to be involved
in life among the living. Interestingly,
the Lamba people in Zambia used to burn witches and wizards because
they believed that fire was one thing that could destroy the spirit. As far as death
was concerned, young people were taught to religiously maintain offerings of food, animal
blood and any other accepted sacrifices
as well as to engage in consistent prayers and observance of proper religious
rites to avoid unnecessary death.