God and the Spirit among the Traditional Luo Society
| dc.contributor.author | Jabebo, Francis | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-11-06T08:58:23Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-11-06T08:58:23Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1997-02 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The Luo people live around Lake Victoria in the Western part of Kenya. Their main occupation is farming, which is supplemented by fishing as their main hobby. Like many other African societies, these people also have their Traditions and customs and beliefs some of which are still regarded important even today. This work tries to present first the traditional Luo believes and practices in their relationship to God and the spirits. The first three chapters is pure anthropology of the Luo beliefs and practices as far as research carried out and readings reveal to me. What triggers my research and book reading on this issue is the fact that it is widely known that there is a rapid growth of the Church in Africa but this growth rate is very phenomenal because it is not often considered that this Church growth is from among those Africans born in African traditional culture. And these cultures is always assumed to have been erased by the christian culture as this church needs maturity and much discipleship. We should not dismiss the African traditionalists, but it also concerns Christians who seek to relate their Christian faith to their traditional religions. In reflecting upon this fact, my main aim is to show that there are many traditional Luo beliefs and practices which are useful and advantageous for bridging the Gospel. Usually, the problem is when a person who originally practiced a traditional religion becomes a Christian, there are a number of issues that he must deal with. It's not realistic to tell a new Christian to ignore the spirit world, to stop venerating the ancestors, and to stop going to a diviner for healing unless sinific reasons are given to do so and unless the Church offers functional substitutes for these practices. The reflections here therefore are somewhat a call for an African Theology which is basically Christianity which fits Africans and which meets both their spiritual and cultural needs. To do this one needs to know what the Africans beliefs and practices are, and try to make some relevance. Thus, I divided my work into four Chapters whereby the first three chapters talk plainly about the traditional Luo beliefs and practices in God and the spirits. While, in the fourth Chapter, I tried to relate these Luo traditional beliefs in spirits and the Christian faith. Some of these ideas in this last chapter are my own personal reflections which are also subject to objections from the african theologians. I also thought it wise to explain a bit the term "Juok" which I have used to refer to God. My explanation might not satisfy the reader because this is a wide topic that needs its own research and reading to exhaust Or else, I aimed more about spirits. The world and the people in it were originally created by one God who is still supreme but who is more or less inaccessible today. Though for the Luos, God could be reached, talked to and in return respond instantly to their needs. However, in addition to creating people this God also created a parallel world of spirits who are active threes for good or evil in men's lives. This supreme being„call it God, was for the Luos, a very mysterious one whom they could only call "Juok". 'Juok as the word sounds means something mysterious which people do not understand its origin, operations, characters and influence. Juok is like wind or air whose presence may be heard and appreciated or blamed but no one knows from where it is coming and going. For the Luos, any mysterious act among the society whose source is unknown is called Juok. And here is where they invited a diviner "afroga" to reveal the source of such "Juok". 'Juok could also be a mysterious power in a person which could empower them to harm by bewitching others at night or at day light Such powers were regarded dangerous because one could not know exactly when he will stick or harm you; Especially when a woman is empowered by this mysterious force, she can become very dangerous to see one who is eating something and strangely enough, you will not know how that power of Aoki affects the food and cause severe stomachache ! That is why it is called 'Juok' and it is attributed to the Supreme Mysterious being. This mysterious power or force called 'Juok' can not be known by the Luo people unless it manifests itself in a concrete way which the people themselves can recognize among them. Thus, the Luos found it easier to give Him a name according to his manifestations and activities. And this was the way they tried to understand and explain the mysterious force according to what they experienced among them! After all the names given to God indicates what men think about his character, attributes and activities. Thus God as creator which is the commonest aspects that men have understood was expressed by the Luos as "Jacinvech" - a molder, creator, giver of breath and God in nature is expressed in titles and activities such as giver of rain (Wuon Koth), giver of sunshine, etc. So for the Luos, this mysterious force revealed itself in various activities -some of which they could not still explain even though they could call it by name or by comparison. Any how, lam not going deep in this question of the Luo god Fromm% my main concern is the spirits among the Luos. And since the spirits are also created by God, I thought it fitting also briefly say something on the Luo God from whom is the source of their traditional religion. My interest of going deep in the question of the spirit belief among the Luos was to try to find if there is any common aspect or idea in relation to the Christian belief in the theology of the spirit as the center of their life.! therefore entrusted the last chapter for such comparison which I hope will make some meaning, but only if were acquainted with the context of the Luo traditional religion and beliefs. This easy is about the Luos belief in God and their relationship with the spirits (God). Besides the Luos beliefs about God, they also have a common belief surrounding their religious sphere that a part from man and God, there are other beings who populate our universe, and who sometimes are working for the good of the community's welfare. These beings are called "Spirits" and are created by God just as He is the creator of all things. The Luos' belief in the existence of spiritual beings is quite a strong one and it was something with them always, because for them, the living and non-living creatures can contain some spiritual power. Thus, for these people, human beings and animals continue to live in spirit in their world of spirits even after the decomposition of their physical bodies. The belief in the spirits by the Luos was their a recognition of its role as the intermediary between man and God, and therefore, the spirit determined the destiny of human beings since it was not just a spirit but a spirit of the ancestors. And because of this kind of closeness to spirits, the Luo's stressed very much, the establishment of a good relationship with them through offering sacrifices and offerings of oblations accompanied with prayers. The reason for all these was a Luo strong belief that any fate that befalls the community be it good or bad, is an influence by the intervention of the spiritual forces which according to them could be either from the evil or good spirits. The origin of the spirit belief among the Luo is not easy to trace, but I think the spirit-belief of Africa explains the believes of many in this continent that people have experienced themselves in the first place not just as body but as spirits. When one dies, it is believed that he is gone back to another world - the world of the spirits where he continues the same life as if he was physically alive. Again, since their existence is surrounded in a lot of mystery as the beings of heaven, it would not be easy for me to give a definitive explanation of what spirits are or how they look like: But what I know is the belief that spirits sometimes appeared to the Luos communally or to individuals as a shadow or figure of a human being though not of a stranger but of someone familiar to them or to the family. For Example, the shadowy figure would usually be of an elder in the village whose relationship with other members of the community has been good and upright The ideas which I have expressed here through out this essay are both from the interview from some few elders in Nystrth of Kisumu District, and from the library readings and research on the Luo people berance for them the idea of spirits in particular serve a very important social and psychological purpose in their religious sphere and relationship with God. Man and the world could be important bridge and continuity between Christianity and their religion. It's interesting how today people make a distinction between the two categories of spiritual beings, whereby some are said to be created as such, while others were once of human beings-spirits of our living-dead! However, this distinction was not with the Luo people. For them, the spirit is a God given gift of force in man which when he dies, goes back to where it belongs (world of spirits). This means that they recognized the spirits as those of the living-dead who were concerned with their progresses and were always fresh in their memories. By the way,! am going to talk about the two kinds of the spirits, good and bad (evil) as they were understood by the Luos and it is with the profound belief in spirit that we will see how they are distinguished in types and their functions in the lives of the Luo people. similarly, all these findings and reflections about the Luo traditional beliefs is one way to see which values, beliefs and customs can be embraced by a Christian, which may be changed and which must be discarded. It is only when we understand both fully that we can make decisions and live our faith in an African way. However, as I am writing all these, I remain an African Christian and I am not doing any comparative religion, though it comes obviously that as one !tads this work, he or she will be attempted to compare and contrast traditional beliefs, values and practices with those of Christianity. Of course, such an imderstanding, appreciation and then evaluation should enrich his Christian beliefs, personal commitments and stewardship. Keep your eyes open for any similarity which you might find as you read along the chapters and by to compare them with the Christian religious heritage if you can find them worth doing that. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12342/360 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Tangaza University College | en_US |
| dc.subject | God | en_US |
| dc.subject | Spirit | en_US |
| dc.subject | Traditional luo | en_US |
| dc.subject | Idea of God | en_US |
| dc.subject | Types and Functions (Roles) of the Spirits | en_US |
| dc.subject | Luo People | en_US |
| dc.subject | Relevance of Traditional Beliefs | en_US |
| dc.subject | Spirits and the Christian Faith | en_US |
| dc.title | God and the Spirit among the Traditional Luo Society | en_US |
| dc.type | Other | en_US |
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