Explaining the Practice of Elevating an Ancestor for Veneration
- World Religions
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2023
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Publisher's Description
The Bisa people of Nabwalya, Zambia love their culture and gladly celebrate all their traditional festivals. This book presents exciting research into Kusefya pa ngena, rituals through which the Bisa elect ancestors for veneration. The Bisa speak freely of how their belief in ancestor veneration does not conflict with their worship of God. For them, the two work hand in hand. Traditional practices are considered vital to the community because they enhance life, reinforce cultural values, and explain life events. Those questioned said ancestor veneration should continue because it benefits current and future generations. For example, their most celebrated ancestor, Kabuswe Yombwe, when petitioned, provides rain and a good harvest for the community. People affirmed that rain fell each time they petitioned Kabuswe. One woman, who is married to an elder in a Pentecostal church, vowed not to give up ancestor veneration, to which she attributed the healing of her son and daughter. She pledged her allegiance to both Jesus Christ and to her family's ancestors. In another story, an ancestor appears in a dream to an expectant woman demanding that her child be given a feminine name. The mother obeys to avoid the child being born with a sickness . . .
Endorsements (3)
“Shakwelele’s book is a real masterpiece of anthropological research. It supplies missiologists, theologians, and church leaders with a readable account of why ancestor veneration needs to be taken seriously in the interpretation of Christianity. In a carefully and deeply researched study, Shakwelele shows the ways in which African traditions offer insights into the unity of creation and the relationship between living ancestors and today’s human race. A truly exciting book.”
“Shakwelele has made a significant contribution to scholarship on global Christianity. He has not only enhanced our understanding of the Bisa people of Zambia, but he also has advanced our comprehension of ancestor veneration as practiced throughout the world. However, perhaps more importantly, his study illustrates beautifully the narrow divide between syncretism and ubiquitous hybridity among newer adopters of the Christian faith. I recommend this work to all scholars and practitioners interested in the expansion of contemporary Christianity.”
“This book clearly documents the importance of ancestor-veneration rituals among the rural Bisa people of Zambia. . . . This wide-ranging interreligious study is of special relevance to local clerics and curative practitioners as well as those working in similar cultural settings where the deceased are believed to vitally interact in various ways with the living.”
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