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The African Conception of Sacrifice and Its Relationship with Child Sacrifice Mpyangu, Christine Mbabazi; Bukuluki, Paul

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The African Conception of Sacrifice and Its Relationship with Child Sacrifice Mpyangu, Christine Mbabazi; Bukuluki, Paul www.ssoar.info The African conception of sacrifice and its relationship with child sacrifice Mpyangu, Christine Mbabazi; Bukuluki, Paul Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Mpyangu, C. M., & Bukuluki, P. (2014). The African conception of sacrifice and its relationship with child sacrifice. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 41, 12-24. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ ILSHS.41.12 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY Lizenz (Namensnennung) zur This document is made available under a CC BY Licence Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden (Attribution). For more Information see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.de Diese Version ist zitierbar unter / This version is citable under: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-58239-4 International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Online: 2014-09-30 ISSN: 2300-2697, Vol. 41, pp 12-24 doi:10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.41.12 © 2014 SciPress Ltd., Switzerland The African Conception of Sacrifice and its Relationship with Child Sacrifice Paul Bukuluki1,*, Christine Mbabazi Mpyangu2 1Department of Social Work and Social Administration, School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda 2Department of Religion and Peace Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda *E-mail address: [email protected] , [email protected] ABSTRACT Although the practice of human sacrifice is not new in the mythology around sacrifice in Africa, the practice of child mutilation and sacrifice at least in Uganda was just spoken about as fairytale. However events that have unraveled since the late 1990s have shocked the country with real cases of children being mutilated and killed in the context of what is commonly referred to as child sacrifice in Uganda. This paper presents the “African” meaning of the concept sacrifice and how demonstrates how the in African religious theology disassociates itself from murder and mutilation of children’s body parts as part of the rituals for healing, dealing misfortunes or even prevention of unfortunate events. There was consensus from our study participants that although historically, there has been human and child sacrifice in the African and Uganda cultural mythology, the actual practice of these vices is a new phenomenon, not recognized and accepted in indigenous/traditional religious theology and practice of African religion and culture. Keywords: Sacrifice; religion; culture; children; child protection 1. INTRODUCTION The working definition of child sacrifice leans more to that of the National Task Force against Child Sacrifice in Uganda. Child Sacrifice and the mutilation of children is conceptualized as the “harmful practice of removing a child’s body parts, blood or tissue while the child is alive which often results in death. These body parts, blood or tissue are worn, buried or consumed in the belief they will benefit an individual or community”1. Although the practice of human sacrifice is not new in the mythology around sacrifice in Africa, the practice of child sacrifice is at least in Uganda was just spoken about as fairytale. We used to hear stories and legends while growing up that people kidnap children and spill their blood when they build industries, particularly maize mills (these were the most common industries while we were growing up in the early 1970s), build dams, construct large establishments. 1 Minutes of the Technical Working Group against Child Sacrifice (May 2013). SciPress applies the CC-BY 4.0 license to works we publish: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Vol. 41 13 However in the mid 1990s until now, we have seen what used to be a fairytale turn into something real that happens in our society. Some of the authors (Atekyereza et al, 2014) have attributed the sudden increase in its occurrence of child sacrifice and mutilation in recent years to socio-cultural and socio-economic factors. The term sacrifice as used in this African religious theology has been contested as not appropriate to be used in the context of murder and mutilation of children’s body parts in the belief they will benefit an individual, family or community. There was consensus however, that historically, there has been human and child sacrifice in the African and Uganda cultural mythology, but child and/or human sacrifice as an actual practice is a new phenomena, not recognized and accepted in indigenous/traditional religious theology and practice. Child/human sacrifice was perceived to be alien to the prevailing beliefs and practices associated with sacrifice as they are conceptualized and articulated through the indigenous religious and healing cultures in Uganda by healers and the community. John S. Mbiti, in his book Introduction to African Religion (1977: 63-66) argues that, “in African societies sacrifice was very common and that most, involved shedding of blood of a human being or an animal.” He adds that in African societies, life is closely associated with blood. So, when blood is shed in a sacrificial context, it implies that human or animal life is being given back to God who is, in fact, the ultimate source of all life. According to Mbiti (1975: 55-56), common routines like “good health, healing, protection from danger, safety in traveling or some other undertaking, security, prosperity, preservation of life, peace and various benefits for individuals” have religious connotations. Mbiti adds that “for the community at large, prayer may ask for rain, peace, the cessation of epidemics and dangers to the nation, success in war or raids, the acceptance of sacrifices and offerings, and fertility for people, animals and crops” (Mbiti 1975: 55-56). There is concern with the terminology used to describe “child sacrifice”. To many stakeholders, the concept sacrifice carries a positive value and meaning. Sacrifice is a common phenomenon in the African indigenous religions, cultural practices as well as in the dominant – conventional religions. It constitutes an important part of worship, prayers and thanksgiving. The Luganda term sadaaka which is translated to mean sacrifice means to give up something very valuable and close to an individual. Interviews with traditional healers quite clearly indicated that sadaaka entails giving up something highly treasured. It also denotes giving up something to which a high value is attached. Sacrifice in traditional healing involves killing an animal in a ceremony and the person undertaking the sacrifice should have a deep and personal attachment to the sacrificial object. Sacrifice- there must be an attachment to what you sacrifice. It must have value to you but not to another person. You cannot sacrifice what does not belong to you. You cannot go to the market to buy a cow or chicken and then present it as a sacrifice to the spirits. That is an acquired item. A sacrificial object must be something you already possess and value deeply (Traditional healer, PROMETRA) Focus group discussions with community members during a rapid assessment carried out by Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development also revealed similar perceptions of sacrifice. Male community members noted that sacrifice in traditional practice involved offering animals to the gods as an act of thanksgiving, or in an effort to secure protection and long life. 14 Volume 41 “... Those days, people would sacrifice to make life longer. Sacrifice was also common when young babies were born. Chicken and other animals would be slaughtered and some of the body organs like the hearts and kidneys which would be buried together with the removed part of the umbilical cord of the new born babies. But these days people say that chicken and animals do not work and that’s the reason they have turned to child sacrifice” (Men’s FGD, Oyam District, Northern Uganda) This illustrates that the current practice of child sacrifice, which sometimes involves abducting, killing and mutilation of children who are in most cases, non biological, and not connected to the ‘sacrificer’ either by blood or affinity might be a form of manipulation by those involved (MoGLSD, 2010). Focus Group Discussions with traditional healers in Masaka district Central Uganda during the rapid assessment on child sacrifice for the MOLSD (2010) revealed that in traditional healing, the sacrificial object depends on the reason for the sacrifice. The object is however determined or dictated by the power or authority to whom the sacrifice is being made. In this regard, the sacrificial object must be clearly defined, by the spirits that demand the sacrifice. Sacrificial objects range from plants to animals, and each type of object has some significance attached to it. The sacrificial object also signifies the magnitude of the problem or issue for which the sacrifice is being made. “Offering sacrifices is a cultural practice. The issue is: “how is the ritual carried out, what is sacrificed and what does it mean?” Ritual related sacrifice has been a part of our practice, right from the time of our grandparents. They would first of all establish why they have to carry out the sacrifice. They would start with chicken [enkoko] so as to get rid [okukokola meaning to take away calamities2] of all problems. They would then sacrifice goats [embuzi3] to eliminate [okubuza meaning to conceal] all problems. They would sacrifice sheep to stop all problems [okuliga4 meaning to defeat] that have afflicted an individual or the community. And finally they would sacrifice a cow [ente5] to discharge all problems affecting life of individuals and the community. (FGD with traditional healers, Masaka, Central Uganda) A focus Group discussion with representatives of Associations for Traditional Healers in Uganda also indicated similar findings but linked different sacrificial objects to specific spirits especially in the Baganda culture which dominates the central region of Uganda.
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