At Unravelling Pankya: The Transition Rites of the Aku Uka, the live Facebook discussion on this subject yesterday , Dr. Shishi Zhema, a Jukun cultural expert who described himself as also on the ceremony's planning committee, made it clear that because some of the Aku's escorts had failed to return in the past, rigorous divination is now conducted to ensure the gods guide the planners of the rites in choosing the right person for the job, a person whose personal qualities along with the gods' own protection will make sure he returns from the journey of escorting the Aku Uka to Nando, the zone of the Aku's transmutation to the spirit world.
He also made clear, if I recall correctly, that Nando, mysterious as it is, is a place with it's own guardians, who maintain it.
I'm struck by what I understand as the Jukun ritual architects' manner of creating and sustaining mystery, and protecting human life in the process.
I'm also struck by the centrality of the feminine persona in the process, as it relates to the creativity of female biology and the honouring of this by a community.
If I recall properly, Zhema stated that Puje, the place that is the starting point of the Aku's final earthly journey, plays that role because it is strategic in the personal history of the founder of present day Jukun communal life, the first Aku Uka of Wukari, after the fall of the Kwararafa kingdom, a previous social system from which present day Jukun emerged.
On his journey from the collapse of the Kwararafa empire, his wife entered into her period in the place that is now known as Puje, hence he had to wait there for several days.
Having established what is now known as the Wakuri community, Puje became the place where every new Aku's wife receives him when he ascends the throne as well as the point from where his final earthly journey begins in earnest to Nando, the point of his final transition
On ascending the throne, he journeys to from Puje to Nando and back to Puje in a journey evoking motion from the zone of fecundative promise represented by Puje in its association with the power of female biology to Nando, the point of his eventual transition to the spirit world at the end of his terrestrial life, and back to Puje, the location representing the promise of the beginning of terrestrial life evoked by its association with the first Aku's wife's biological imperatives, as I would interpret this reverse progression, if I recall it clearly enough.
A symbolic drama rich in historical, communal and spiritual values.
I wonder what scholarly or more general explorations may have been done of those rich rites. The possibilities are immense.
People are referencing the need for written expositions of this dramatic and spiritual complex.
Essays and books exploring the entire rite and parts of it would be wonderful, dramatising it's wonderful visual power, as demonstrated both by the general Jukun populace, visitors from outside the Jukun and the ritual and other symbolic activities carried out.
Ideally, this complex should have a dedicated website for the transition of each Aku Uka and all linked through a central website or a single website employed to host the official descriptions, explanations and analyses of the rites.
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and perhaps other social media would be vital locations for the real time dissemination of this information with an official book coming out of the proceedings, a book replete with first class photography.
The coronation ceremonies of the Oba of Benin, likely to be one of the greatest symbolic spectacles in the world, also need a similar concentrated effort of representation and analysis, along with the amazing images and basic explanations that came out of it on Facebook and other online outlets through the general public and privileged participants in those rites.
I am not aware of any initiative from the Oba's palace or the Edo State government dedicated to the presentation of this sublime historical spiritual and symbolic drama.
Such a presentation would benefit from the magnificent three part, richly illustrated essays on the coronation ceremonies and a summative essay on the same subject by Joseph Nevadomsky, along with others by other people, including my own two essays on the subject, with a third one and perhaps more forthcoming, representing a fraction of the possibilities of study of these ceremonies.
In fact, such a ceremony as the Oba of Benin coronation are so rich, a dedicated scholarly team should be set up for it's study, in relation to the entire complex of Benin culture.
Benin culture is every bit as rich as that of the Yoruba, but I'm not aware of any other Nigerian people whose culture has been studied as much as that of the Yoruba by the Yoruba themselves, by African and Diaspora non-Yoruba Africans and by non- Africans.
Material on the Yoruba origin Ifa divination system is everywhere, but much less so on the Benin divination system Ohminigbon, much on Yoruba epistemology and metaphysics, from "oju inu" to "ase", can be read online and offline, but much less so on Benin thought.
The only reference I have seen to the very rich Benin hermeneutic term "erhia", for example if I am getting the name right, comes from one article by Daryl Peavy, while Benin philosophies and spiritualities are not much visible in written texts, in my view, apart from the academically positioned and superb work of people like Charles Gore, Ben Amos, Ndubuisi Ezoluomba and Norma Rosen, whose first hand account of Olokun initiation and symbolism is wonderful, central to my own work on Olokun.
Much is available, in spite of the largely ideational and speculative nature of the material, unbalanced by more investigative aspects of study, on the Yoruba concept "aje" which may be described as referencing a form of witchcraft, correlative as it is with the varieties of witchcraft ideas in Western history from the negative to the positive, often related, in both the Western historical stream and the Yoruba context, to conceptions of the feminine, but the correlative Benin concept of "azen" is little known outside Benin, talk less studied.
My exposure to scholarship and discourse on Benin, however, is even less systematic than that on the Yoruba. I have not looked carefully at such biblios on Benin studies as that by Gore nor looked into most of the issues of the journal of Benin studies set up by Osamede Edosomwan and his collaborators, and so my assessment is more rough than specific, my exposure more episodic than organized but I think that I'm likely to be right on the comparative scope of study between Benin/Edo and Yoruba cultures and their philosophies and spiritualities and on the need for better organized and more extensive effort in representing and studying the coronation ceremonies of the Oba of Benin.
Similar observations may be made about the level of study and exposure to the world, of Jukun culture in it's evident wealth, it's knowledge systems, its forms of visual, verbal and performative symbolism, on dramatic display at the coronation.
Another classical Nigerian system of knowledge crying out for study and depiction adequate to it's evocative power, communicative force, imaginative creativity and structural genius is Cross River and South Eeast Nigeria and Cameroons Nsibidi, organized in terms of a subtle and complex network of associations between graphic arts, gestural arts, arts of arrangements of objects, performative arts of symbolic physical motion, masquerade spectacle and language, convergences structured within a cosmological system.
Some years ago, the masquerade arts and perhaps a surface presentation of Nsibidi were presented to UNESCO for recognition as a monument in the world's intangible heritage, like Ifa has been so recognized.
Not surprisingly, it did not work. The crafters of the application seemed to have focused on the masquerade element. Masquerade is everywhere, including the visually colossal Igbo Ijele masquerade, whose symbolization of the Igbo material and spiritual cosmos is readily learnt about.
The application explicitly stated they would not be divulging the arcana of Nsibidi symbolism. I could not see how their application could succeed without a significant degree of such openness.
The specific symbolism of the primary organizational matrices of Ifa, the 256 odu ifa, are not often discussed in writing, from my last exploration of the subject some years ago but the vast scope of the varied literary works they symbolize is readily accessible, while the structural ingenuity of the system, unifying creative mathematical organization expressed through spatial and graphic symbolism, correlated with literature and the visual and performative arts, is readily appreciable and endlessly presented and discussed online and offline.
Nsibidi, as publicly presented, reveals little of the symbolism of it's graphic forms, it's best known feature, and last I knew, ittle of it's gestural symbolism or arts of stylized motion, while it's arts of object arrangement were never displayed in all in the works I have read on the subject, from PhD theses to book chapters, journal articles and museum brochures.
It's that demonstration of symbolic range and multi- expressive scope that is the unique element of Nsibidi but how will Nsibidi get the recognition it deserves if these qualities are largely hidden from the public?
Can't a method be devised to sustain the economic value of Nsibidi esotericism since it seems people pay to learn this knowledge within the hierarchical structure of such esoteric systems as Ekpe and Mgbe?
Knowledge of Ifa symbolism is not the same as Ifa practice as spirituality or divination, which is centred on the application of the theory of Ifa.
Can't a method be found to balance theory and practice in Nsibidi in terms of public access to knowledge about the system, focusing on making money through book publications and less monetization of the learning process, opening the system up in the name of cultural preservation and projection?
To the heart of the contested matter : The Second Commandment :
"You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor any manner of likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments."
On Saturday, 22 January 2022 at 18:52:28 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:At this point, after some due reflection, I'd like to point out to Ojogbon Falola that the first two commandments that the Almighty gave at Mt. Sinai, that he quotes here, and which occur in Shemot/ Exodus Chapter 20 , in the Torah portion Parshat Yitro that was read in all the synagogues this Sabbath that has just been concluded this evening, it is The Almighty Himself speaking, and it is the voice of the Almighty Himself that those who were gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai heard , and apparently it was so terrifying that they pleaded with Moses, please, let God speak to you, and you then convey His message to us.
As to the second commandment that Ojogbon Falola refers to, well, for our edification, here's a little discourse on the 2nd commandment by Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin
Muslims of course are very demonstrative if not remonstrative when it comes to any perceived insults directed at beloved Prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam, whereas e.g. the Jews, the assorted atheists and idolaters seem to be less concerned about such perceived insults, but more concerned( worried) about the punishments that are to be meted out to the insulters by the Muslim Faithful. The line has been drawn so that the insulters and would be insulters know that they cross that line at their own peril, both in this world and in the Hereafter.
A word of caution to the sensitive and the not so sensitive, the respectful and the it so respectful about what constitutes blasphemy , according to Judaism, is also relevant here....
On Thursday, 20 January 2022 at 15:05:13 UTC+1 toyinfalola wrote:Moses and co:
I have been enjoying this thread, but I am not in a state of mind to contribute to it. I have just completed a long manuscript on metaphysics and I can relate to all the contributions.
Both Moses and Adepoju have intellectual reconciliations to make with their previous arguments.
To Moses, in demolishing Nwolise's arguments on the strategic use of the supernatural in wars, he questioned him so aggressively, and I pushed him, even suggesting that hallucination is an evidence. He needs to reconcile his earlier position to the admittance in the current. You cannot have it both ways.
To Adepoju, you have centralized mythologies in most of your epistemological frontages—I became attracted to your work because of the sacredness in it. Now you need to reconcile your foundational thinking system with this Jukun one as you cannot have it both ways.
In all, you are all returning to the ideas before Christ, one that gave birth to divine kingship and the idea of the pyramid.
As to the barbaric and primitive, I don't have any issue with that; anyone can use his mouth and words the way he likes—Islam and Christianity have consistently discredited earlier conceptions of religions along this line. Moses goes to Church, a scholar-believer, and I am sure he must have read the Ten Commandment.
20 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
In declaring God as jealous, the foundation of barbarism was laid—then and forever. Let us not worry about those and them!!
TF
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 7:47 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: "When You Die, Someone Should Die With You": Perspectives on Accompanied Death by Moses Ochonu and Friends on Facebook in Relation to the January 2022 Burial of the Aku Uka of WukariToyin, you have answered your own questions with your own conjectures. I insist that the mystery and the myth are essential elements of tradition— any tradition. This is not unique to the Jukun or Africans. As I stated in my reflection, most of these esoteric practices are not esoteric at all and were created at particular moments for practical and strategic social, economic, and political purposes. When I have the time, I'll recount the Benin story told to us in Ilorin by the great Professor Osofisan.
What you call illusions and the maintenance of it are sometimes what holds a community together, the glue of solidarity, cohesion, and monarchical stability.
Myth-making itself is a rational, logical process, not an idle, archaic relic of superstition. Most modern institutions and nations are sustained by myths that are not tethered to objective, verifiable, or self-evident realities. Yet these myths are so powerful that people are willing to and do die for them, signing up to sacrifice their lives to defend them. There are many examples.
The other thing is that self-sacrifice—-varying notions of it ranging from martyrdom to blood atonement to the extreme of human sacrifice —are integral to many religions. And of course as you know, assisted honorable suicide is now legal in most Western countries.
By all means study Jukun royal funerary rites and religion with academic lens, but don't expect to unravel or satisfactorily explain it to those outside the overarching religious orbit, to non-initiates. I don't think that's possible, as unknowability is a central aspect of the practice, crucial to its sociopolitical function. But even if you could explain or unravel everything about it or fill gaps with informed, intelligent conjectures, would it not be arrogant to do so as an outside interlocutor whose enterprise does not have the cooperative input of the Jukun people?
Critique certain elements of the rites, but my point is that it is disrespectful and even unethical to derisively condemn or dismiss some of the practices as barbaric and repugnant as some have done and for Christians to apply their scriptural and exegetical standards to practices of an African Traditional Religion (ATR).
Finally, cultures of course change and shift with time, and I am certain that Jukun religion and royal funerary rites are dynamic and have evolved over time, but the pace of change and evolution should not be dictated by judgmental outsiders but by the organic momentum of internal consensus and societal evolution.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 19, 2022, at 11:53 PM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:
Agree with Chidi.
Having read the BBC interview with the escort and looked again at his picture, he does not look or sound like a person who ever battled wild animals or evil spirits, talk less having just survived such an ordeal a few days ago.
I expect the Wukari have long abandoned the dagerous aspect of the rites, if they ever existed, but sustained the illusion.
I also suspect the whole account has always been an elaborate illusion.
There has never been any handing over of the king's body to spirits of the forest, I expect.
I expect the king was buried in the forest and the escort either sacrificed or sent into.exile.
Thanks
Toyin
On Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 06:32 Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:
In modern societies, are people free to want to die? What would be the cost of such deaths to the society if allowed?
Must we relive these traditions? Are these practices still relevant today? Shouldn't we put records of these practices in museums, where interested persons can go and view them?
By the way, isn't it better to make that young man a medical doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc, than one who escorts a dead king to the ancestors (and may never come back).
A Poet wrote "I took my revolver and killed the gods". Revolver here representing modernity and the gods of course representating tradition.
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
On Thursday, January 20, 2022, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:TEN FURTHER THOUGHTS ON THE AKU UKA'S TRANSITION
1. Unknown to many people, especially judgmental and self-righteous Pentecostal Christians who condemned the beautiful Pankya transition rites from their conceited Christian perspective, the late Aku Uka, Dr. Shekarau Angyu Masa Ibi II was a devout Christian of the Reformed Church of Nigeria. Not only that, he was a trained theologian. A friend of mine recounted in our online forum how the departed Aku Uka used to have theological debates and discussion with my friend's father, a prominent Bible scholar and missionary.
But the Aku Uka was also a man who was not ashamed of his culture or the traditional religion and rituals of his people. He skillfully navigated the obligations of both his Christian faith and those of his ancient Kwararafa/Jukun people and kingdom. He was an excellent model for how to be a Christian without succumbing to the colonial mentality of disavowing and rejecting your cultural heritage, history, and traditions. Many of us can learn from his example.
By the way, the anti-culture Christian brigade have their work cut out for them because there is a growing cohort of traditional rulers who are devout and in some cases Pentecostal Christians. The newly elected Och'Idoma is a Deeper Life Pastor, as is the Tor Tiv. The young Olu of Warri is a vocal Christian. I understand that the Chief of Kagoro who recently passed away was also a pastor. There are many others.
2. One of the sons of the transitioned Aku Uka is a pastor and proudly participated in the funerary rites. He was being a proud Jukun prince, which in no way diminishes his Christian bona fides.
3. The horse riding escort (Atobe) belongs to a special family of royal courtiers and servants whose job it is to groom male members for the role of escort so that when the time comes one or more of them would eagerly volunteer to accompany the Aku Uka on his journey into the forest to be "delivered to his ancestors."
4. Being the horse riding escort is a coveted position of masculine honor and prestige, something that members of the designated family crave because whether the person makes it back or not, the family and the person are forever credited with doing the bidding of the ancestors and thus bringing blessings and fortunes to the community.
5. That brings me back to the horse rider. It is considered a mark of great individual martial accomplishment and distinction to accompany the Aku Uka on the three day journey and make it back alive because it indicates that 1) the person is a great warrior who might have encountered wild animals and evil spirits and vanquished them; 2) he is a man with a clean conscience and pure love for his community, otherwise the gods would have killed him in order to save the community from the repercussion of his evil deeds or intentions; 3) the gods are happy with him and the community because if/when he returns from the forest, he brings blessings, powers, and positive messages from the gods.
6. Yes, there is a foreboding possibility of the horse rider not returning, hence the prepayment of a ritualistic token compensation to his family. He goes to the mission fully cognizant of this possibility but yet proudly embraces it as a free-willing adult. How, by the way, is this different from the honorable and heroic kamikaze Japanese pilots of World War II, or from the practice of young men and women signing up voluntarily for war in defense of their country's or king's honor knowing fully well that the odds of returning alive is against them?
7. As with every tradition, the mystery is an essential element of it, so trying to rationally explain or understand every aspect of it using the empirical logic of verifiability is misguided. The story in this case is that the gods and ancestral spirits take the life of the horse rider as a sacrifice if they wish. Often, in these types of traditions, such stories serve to further mystify and to thus entrench the tradition once the practice has become accepted. Without such mystifying stories, future generations might do away with the tradition or invent a new one, so there is a perfectly rational political and social explanation for the story. It is a powerful technique to preserve the practice beyond the time of the people who invented it.
As Zainab Ali explained yesterday, the real explanation may not even be mysterious at all and may have to do with the simple fact that in the old days a man who rode a horse deep into the forest by himself unarmed was unlikely to return because of wild animals, thirst, hunger, physical injury, and climatic vagaries. The community knew this but that explanation would render the enterprise mundane and rob it of its spiritual power. Therefore, in many such instances, even in the Western and Eastern monarchical and sociopolitical traditions, the people construct elaborate myths about gods, spirits, and forces in the forest or in the sky or in the water that kill and spare as they wish.
Often such stories kill the proverbial two birds with one stone because, sticking with this example, apart from sacrelizing the possible disappearance of the horse rider, further adding to the mysterious allure of the event, the story mystifies the monarchy, helping to consolidate it, forging obedience to it, and discouraging rebellion by putting sacred fear in the hearts of subjects. I have a similar story from Benin Kingdom down south that I will share soon.
8. Some people say riding a horse with a corpse is barbaric. This is a decontextualized and judgmental perspective. Did the people who invented the tradition consider it barbaric? There are many funerary traditions in the world and in different religions. Some people cremate their dead proudly in blazing pyres. Others may find it unacceptable and barbaric even though research has shown that it is the healthiest way of disposing of the dead. There is an ethnic group in the Indonesian archipelago that keeps the bodies of their dead with them in the community, dressing them up on occasion for many years. Another group puts the bodies in nearby caves unburied so that family members can visit and see their dead loved ones. Again, some people may consider this barbaric but it's perfectly normal and respectable to the people who practice it. To each their own.
9. I for one have learned a lot about this beautiful, ancient, proudly preserved religion/culture of the Jukun, of which the royal funerary right of Pankya is only one aspect. I am now thirsty for more, the curious historian that I am.
10. Most of us criticize what we don't understand instead of trying to know more about it with an open mind. With that in mind, let me recommend a live Facebook lecture and discussion on Pankya, the Jukun transitional rite of Aku Uka, which is taking place this Saturday (see details in my comment below). I plan to attend to learn more. Join the discussion if you can and come with an open mind and with your serious (not derisive and disrespectful) questions. I am sure the expert presenters and authorities will answer your questions and clarify your confusion regarding this wonderful culture/religion.
On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 5:51 PM Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
Profound, profound.
You bring a tear to smile and I can't hide it.
As far as the title of this thread is concerned, I imagine that there are those who have not taken these words of gentle Jesus to heart ,
" But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you.."
I suppose that when such people are at the brink of The Hereafter "When You Die, Someone Should Die With You" , would be putting it lightly, preferably, more honestly it should be
" When you die, May all your enemies accompany you"
That the prohibition against child sacrifice is made so clear suggests that it was a practice that was prevalent in the neighbourhood, some of the surrounding cultures and possibly still continues in some of the darkest places in the wilderness.
Unbelieving Thomas wants to see real proof and not speculation before he's convinced.
Mr. Ginsberg was unsparing with his condemnations with much howling about Moloch
in Howl part 2:
II
What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind!
Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream Angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!
Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch! Light streaming out of the sky!
Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs! skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic industries! spectral nations! invincible madhouses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!
They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pavements, trees, radios, tons! lifting the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!
Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river!
Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!
Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years' animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!
Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the wild eyes! the holy yells! They bade farewell! They jumped off the roof! to solitude! waving! carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the street!
On Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 23:32:57 UTC+1 Kenneth Harrow wrote:
cornelius, why do you call azazel the scapegoat? i thought the goat was sent to him in the wilderness.
on another note, i am skeptical of accounts of child sacrifice, most anywhere. i'd want to see real proof and not speculation before i'd be convinced.
ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2022 5:02 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: "When You Die, Someone Should Die With You": Perspectives on Accompanied Death by Moses Ochonu and Friends on Facebook in Relation to the January 2022 Burial of the Aku Uka of Wukari
Very interesting. For the super-sleuth, the plot thickens; in a non-religious context it would be a or the case of the missing king.
" Because he does not die, there are no undertaker's, coffin or grave, that will make him mortal. He rides majestically on his royal horse to meet his forebears. The young man with him serves as his sheath bearer. But also serve as the proverbial scapegoat, on behalf of the community." ( Pankya and its May Mysteries )
Nor does he, like Jesus, in full view of his disciples ascend bodily to our Father heaven, disappearing beyond the clouds, Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha.
What does the conclusion of the Heart Sutra have to do with the bodily ascension of Jesus to Haven? It's the kind of question that the uninitiated may well ask, and the kind of question that e.e. answers with the first line of his love poem that begins at this beginning:
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
" The proverbial scapegoat " is reminiscent of poor old Azazel
no crucifixion
no resurrection
no ascension
the goat merely disappears
into the wilderness
carrying his burden:
all our sins
Azazel the scapegoat
far removed from the lofty dream:
O lamb of God who take away the sins of this world !
I cry
tears hide.
At this stage, you have the right to be intensely worried and even the right to remain silent about the trial of Nnamdi Kanu which started yesterday and narry a word about this very significant event, in this USA- Africa series.
Or is it the silence before the tsunami?
Hopefully, Brother Nnamdi is not another Azazel or the case of another failed Messiah who says "Seek ye first the political kingdom, and all will be added"
"But He, Himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone"
Cf Your Master
On Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 05:53:26 UTC+1 chidi...@gmail.com wrote:
"That it is traditional does not make it right"-Barack Obama.
-CAO.
On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:First things first ( Africa First!)
Question 1, and in the name of Shalom, I don't want to quarrel with anyone, but just as Adepopju enquired of Professor Gloria in Excelsis Emeagwali : "could i know what motivated your interest in this at this time? " , the this being her posting "Atrocities/war crimes condoned in the Bible", so too I ask Adepoju the same question, in light of his recent altercation with Professor Moses Ochonu: Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, please, could we know what motivated your interest in posting the transcript of a discussion involving Professor Ochonu, at this time?
And no mention of the ancient Egyptian burial rites ensuring immortality after death? For example there are certain funeral rites for Mende Chiefs in Sierra Leone, that are sensitive and no business of those not directly concerned...
After reading through the transcript of the discussion, I should only like to make the following observations
1. We are to surmise the Almighty is totally against human sacrifice , as evidenced by the Akedah , a ram being substituted for Isaac, at the very last moment.
The idea that God's absolute justice required that His only begotten Son should be sacrificed on the cross in order to save sinful humanity, is still being debated by both Jew and gentile, in websites such as Jews for Judaism and Tovia Singer and mythvision
There's also a necessary distinction to be made between suicide on the one hand – which is forbidden - and martyrdom , such as Kiddush Hashem . But how to characterise what happened at Masada?
It's a very moving picture of the chivalric horse rider who accompanies his liege into the dark forest at the end of the latter's life pilgrimage – hopefully, Tunde Kelani will make a blockbuster movie out of it. In my not so informed imagination, I imagine a parallel with the last scene of King Arthur's farewell as captured by the last verse of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Morte D'Arthur...
I imagine the mysterious & anonymous masked rider accompanying the dearly departed King into the dark forest , and who knows, unrecognised and unrecognizable reappearing to continue life as before, in the kingdom or elsewhere
On Tuesday, 18 January 2022 at 17:55:40 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
Correction : Should read ; " Now, isn't it a paradox that the Hindus infiltrated Cremation into the Church of England in Great Britain, as far back as 1918?
On Tuesday, 18 January 2022 at 17:48:20 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
This theme is just too exciting . No holds barred, I'm looking forward to how the discussion will evolve.
"I believe many people criticize what they don't understand" , opines Brother Professor ( Full Professor) Moses Ochonu. Exactly what I was thinking last night without any reference backing from Kant or any of the greater sceptics - another instance of argumentum ad verecundiam – as in " I am the way, the truth and the light – no man cometh unto the Father except by through me!" (Jesus ) or , " God must be a boogie man " because wizard Charlie Mingus the super good jazz bassman said so, and as for me, I'm in full agreement with Stevie Wonder here singing, " When you believe in things you don't understand , then you suffer : Superstition ain't the way"
Therefore, the saying is "Two Jews, three opinions" attesting to the glory of the Talmud and the Talmudic sages, I daresay ten opinionated, specially educated Nigerians speaking international English and not the exactitudes of Kantian German as the chosen vehicle for their arguments, as in this transcript, and we get a large number, verily, a multitude of attitudes - and thank God that the Hindu practice of Sati has fallen into desuetude , not due to the outright forbidding/ regulated out of existence by what Adepoju would like us to believe are civilising British Colonialists, but due to post-enlightenment and what 21st century futurists looking back deem to be modernity even then, though for very different reasons the Sotah ritual as prescribed in ancient Judaism – for a wife accused of infidelity, has also fallen into desuetude, since – so the rabbis say, the nation had gradually seeped into stages of unholiness thereby rendering the Sotah ritual ineffective.
With trepidation a modernist/ postmodernist and the village schoolteacher Lakunle, himself not that civilised - if we are to go by Kenneth Harrow's harrowing questions raised here, please, only use the word "barbaric" to describe the Sotah in the Torah, at the risk of sounding disdainful and anti-Semitic.
Now, isn't it a paradox that the Hindus infiltrated Creation into the Church of England in Great Britain, as far back as 1918?
Lissen up : " I warned the people of Jamaica and they did not listen".. Buju Banton speaking once more in Deep English ( bad words edited out as much as possible.
On Tuesday, 18 January 2022 at 11:29:13 UTC+1 toyin....@gmail.com wrote:
"When You Die, Someone Should Die With You"
Perspectives on Accompanied Death by Moses Ochonu and Friends on Facebook in
Relation to the January 2022 Burial of the Aku Uka of Wukari
Compiled by Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju with an Introduction,
Background Images and Accompanying Facebook Comments by Various Readers
Accompanied death, the process of a person dying along with a person
already dead, recurs in various civilizations. It emerges in the now
defunct Indian tradition of Sati
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)>, discontinued by the
colonising British, in which a wife burnt herself alive in the process of
her husband's cremation. It has also been visible in a number of various
African civilisations. Wole Soyinka builds his play *Death and the King's
Horseman* around that custom as it was demonstrated in 1946 in the Yoruba
city of Oyo. The sections of the play centred on the attempted ritual
suicide of the king's horseman who is to follow his lord to the beyond are
among his greatest work. It has been described in African cultures, as also
actualised in the forceful seizure of people to be killed in accompaniment
of a dead ruler, though whether it still continues in some or all of those
cultures, I have not been able to ascertain.
In the case of the Aki Uka of Wukari, in Nigeria, his corpse is seated on a
horse, leaning on the horse rider, who rides with the body into a forest
believed, by one perspective, to a forest wherein is the abode of spirits
where the deceased ruler will achieve his final transition. The spirits,
this view states, may or may not decide to take the horse rider along with
the deceased ruler, whose body is also believed to experience a fate
unknown to any but the spirits and the departed ruler's final companion.
Picture of an earlier example of the final ride of the body of the deceased
Aki Uka of Wukari, with his living companion
Image source: Apajukun Facebook page
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/photos/a.261613190932055/1282480332178664/?__tn__=%2CO*F>
[image:
272080198_1282480328845331_5569717339850277576_n.jpg]
In the post and discussion below, Moses Ochonu and his Facebook friends
discuss the subject in relation to the recent burial, in January 2022, of
the Aku Uka of Wukari.
Moses Ochonu presents this view on what happens in the climatic final
scenes of the ride to the beyond:
''there was no "intentional killing of another human being." The king's
escort goes ALONE into the bush with the king on a horse and, depending on
what the gods decide, would commit ritual sacrificial suicide. In many
cases, the gods spare the escorts. In the current case, the young man was
not only spared but has since returned home to his family.''
Zainab Ali, responding to Ochonu's post on the subject, presents another
perspective on the fate of the ruler's companion:
''historically the forest where the final burial is conducted is dangerous,
wild animals evil spirits, and whatnot. So considering the escort is just
one man, the possibility of something happening to him over there is known
and accepted by him ab initio.
It is that danger that raise the conversation around the uncertainty of his
return, it is never about him being sacrificed.'
Ochonu, a historial, tries to contextualise Ali's contribution:
''Zainab Ali
<https://www.facebook.com/ZaynerbAli?__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
thank
you again!!This is very enlightening. You are educating many misinformed
people. I believe many people criticize what they don't understand, and
that there had to be a rational, perfectly logical reason for for the
escort perhaps not returning. Often, with this type of things, the
ritual/sacrificial/suicidal explanation is constructed strategically after
the tradition has already taken root, as a way of consolidating monarchical
power by further mystifying its occupant and putting sacred fear in the
hearts of subjects. I have a similar story from Benin Kingdom.''
A principal disagreement between Ochonu and some of his intercutors is
represented by the following exchange:
Chris Ugwualor
<https://www.facebook.com/chris.ugwualor?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwNzk5OTQ1NjQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
While we all appreciate the excesses of the Pentecostals in painting
anything non-western as barbaric, I must admit that human sacrifice,
whether voluntarily or otherwise is very barbaric.
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Author
Moses Ochonu
<https://www.facebook.com/moses.ochonu?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwODAwNjg0MTQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
It was not barbaric to the people who invented it and at the time that
it was instituted. You can call for its review in view of current moral
standards without calling it barbaric. The folks who came up with it would
have disapproved of many rituals and practices we consider mainstream and
modern, but I doubt they would have been so judgmental as to call those
practices barbaric. It's this type of decontextualized condemnation and
judgmental critique that is problematic.
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<https://www.facebook.com/chris.ugwualor?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwODAxOTg4MTQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
Chris Ugwualor
<https://www.facebook.com/chris.ugwualor?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwODAxOTg4MTQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
Moses Ochonu
<https://www.facebook.com/moses.ochonu?__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>,
I completely disagree. Any cultural practice that leads to the intentional
killing of another human being under any guise is barbaric.
In my culture, they used to bury titled men with some of their slaves.
Also twins were seen as abomination and were killed. Both practices were
barbaric too and had long been stopped.
There are some evidence that Western Europe practised human sacrifice.
That's also barbaric.
All other aspects of Jukun cultural practices may be excellent but that
of human sacrifice is a no no no.
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- Moses Ochonu
<https://www.facebook.com/moses.ochonu?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwODAzMjg0NjQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
Chris Ugwualor
<https://www.facebook.com/chris.ugwualor?__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
but
there was no "intentional killing of another human being." The king's
escort goes ALONE into the bush with the king on a horse and, depending on
what the gods decide, would commit ritual sacrificial suicide. In many
cases, the gods spare the escorts. In the current case, the young man was
not only spared but has since returned home to his family.
1
- Moses Ochonu
<https://www.facebook.com/moses.ochonu?__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
"
- From what I've read, the man alone will ride on the horse with the
corpse of the King to the final resting place deep in the wilderness, where
he is expected to "deliver the king" to the gods and then commit ritual,
sacrificial suicide.
In reality, many of the "sacrificial" companions return home, spared by
the gods. Only a few do not. The idea is that if the gods wish, they could
take the life of the king's living companion during or at the end of the
three day journey deep in the bush."
I first provide the context of their discussion through images and
accompanying commentary from sources familiar with the culture of the
Wukari, from Apajukun <https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters>, a
Facebook page dedicated to this culture.
*Context of Discusion : The Burial of the Aku Uka of Warri in Pictures and
Commentary*
* Picture of What May be the Throne of the
Aku Uka *
[image:
246141275_1281940138899350_5966122671623590548_n.jpg]
* Announcement of Live Streaming of Funeral Rites*
[image:
271754981_1279899905770040_7258294245114307553_n.jpg]
Apajukun
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/?__cft__[0]=AZV__A0zuSp-j3CYANoINheHanOjo0y3M850vE3tzJY0snDQUCvdRZbIyrhKZXQyTLbNeZgfc4F6hlrXVksvCHdwbpk2ACNPhEJIQpRT2_Gmw1b3fxv087cZo5FyLy5hnOtAadozzybZ5MW9gT36PIKQ&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R>
January 12, 2022
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/posts/1279899942436703?__cft__[0]=AZV__A0zuSp-j3CYANoINheHanOjo0y3M850vE3tzJY0snDQUCvdRZbIyrhKZXQyTLbNeZgfc4F6hlrXVksvCHdwbpk2ACNPhEJIQpRT2_Gmw1b3fxv087cZo5FyLy5hnOtAadozzybZ5MW9gT36PIKQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R>
PUBLIC NOTICE!!
This is to inform the general public that arrangement has been made for
live streaming of the final rite (Pankya) of His Majesty, Dr Shekarau Angyu
Masa-Ibi CON, The AKU UKA.
Those who may not be opportuned to attend can do so virtually on inferno TV
(Facebook and Youtube).
[image:
272014022_1283550552071642_3194283036749304598_n.jpg]
*A Poetic Celebration of the Aku Uka's Ride to the Beyond with His
Companion*
Apajukun
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/?__cft__[0]=AZVn-SyZr8ad-3xkrHHj-kov0YXkw0nQkQfq2VZo4uTWDXzIAVpxEVfMXLKsSdiApB8qyd5XBCNEQGAsZA6BhgBkHKiOKk0nTsVdpqHi1DrU22Qb6LQo0PjWUb2-5vPA7BAhcsX2Pfnp3h5YT4dJafPL&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R>
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/posts/1283550585404972?__cft__[0]=AZWZ6QZi-amySpUrW-E-_hfXepKbHQokBz_ate7SWCWANES4UsdMeXNDrQJAJ4fRix9yYaIp1-XRcSPKXQOgxdg70bWpj9WvpZNw7ZcsuQQ9wFtZZ2Xs5ZE8u7Td2vCLG3y1XbFJbehbVNWg-1F-iSNQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R>
THE TRANSMOGRIFICATION & THE TRANSITION OF AKU UKA
He does not belong here alone, he belongs to the gods!
He descended from far beyond.
He was born mortal yet immortal.
His persona is twined betwixt two worlds.
He is an enigma beyond comprehension.
He is a satellite of the gods over the people.
He is a vicar of the gods.
He is the blend of the real & the surreal.
He knows no hate and hates not one.
On his hands is the power to make or stop the rain.
He possesses the power to silence the thunder and forbid the lightning
from striking.
Now, the appointed time beckons & his spirit must transit to NANDO, the
great beyond where he will commune with the gods in the land of the living
dead.
On his left hand, he holds the esoteric grains which he must release for
the survival of the people.
On his right hand, he holds all the natural elements which he must let go
of for his people as he journeys ahead.
But behold, a young hero on a stallion riding along gallantly with pride,
dignity & majesty to the great beyond with the ANDU.
The ground quakes & the multitudes of people shake & tremble at the sight
of the young hero who must not look back until he delivers the new citizen
to the land of the gods.
Prince Beavens Ajiduku (PhD)
A prince from the great Kwararafa Kingdom
[image: 272014022_1283550552071642_3194283036749304598_n.jpg]
*An Expository Explanation of the Aku Uka's Ride to the Beyond with His
Companion*
Ovie Okukulabe
<https://www.facebook.com/okukulabe.okukulabe?__cft__[0]=AZXPa_kwF2ecCCof7SYTAOx3fs4thRnRW-LOqJmUq8d0gARW2Z-AlK4NzhNzxqPJddmmIq-3grxzPAzH_fCkcMcs7v8MGhuWqrq3ujFdikO0h-GZuE2BYgv-G_C1bkpDQk8&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R>
7JanSmguau0gr3y 16 a0st4 11ri0:011l AM3i
<https://www.facebook.com/okukulabe.okukulabe/posts/349275333919281?__cft__[0]=AZXPa_kwF2ecCCof7SYTAOx3fs4thRnRW-LOqJmUq8d0gARW2Z-AlK4NzhNzxqPJddmmIq-3grxzPAzH_fCkcMcs7v8MGhuWqrq3ujFdikO0h-GZuE2BYgv-G_C1bkpDQk8&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R>
·
Credit: ApaJukun.
PANKYA AND IT'S MANY MYSTERIES.
The events of yesterday have left people wondering 'what actually took
place?'. For an outsider, even some insiders, there are questions to be
answered.
Firstly, PANKYA is the Jukun transition ceremony for the Aku to the great
beyond. The Aku does not die. He is a 'son' of the gods, the guardian and
protector of his people. His place is between the mortal and the immortal.
The Aku is not venerated or honoured, no, he is WORSHIPPED by his subjects.
He is a priest-king to whom libation is offered every morning. He is not
associated with affairs of mortals like funeral and wedding. He is beyond
emotions and weakness. Thus, he DOES NOT DIE. There will is no 'funeral
rite' for him but the of journeying to NANDO and finally KINDO.
The PANKYA is a mystery. A mystery is what cannot be understood using human
logic. Only those inserted into its cult (cult as in its true meaning and
implications) and 'educated' in its practice can make sense of it.
So, the PANKYA is not just a ceremony or rite, it is a religious rite
performed by cultic priests and worshippers. All others are just onlookers.
Because he does not die, there are no undertaker's, coffin or grave, that
will make him mortal. He rides majestically on his royal horse to meet his
forebears. The young man with him serves as his sheath bearer. But also
serve as the proverbial scapegoat, on behalf of the community.
ABAGA'IDU NASHA'IN has gone to KINDO, his mission accomplished here.
Another will take his place. May his reign last long in peace.
So, in summary, the Jukun culture is deeply religious, steep in mysteries.
Any religion without mysteries is a fable. Thus, the PANKYA MUST BE
UNDERSTOOD within the context of religion, for so is the Jukun world view..
CHIDON KU YII WATASHUMA.
Dankaro Solomon *Further Responses*
To the heart of the contested matter : The Second Commandment :
"You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor any manner of likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments."
On Saturday, 22 January 2022 at 18:52:28 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:At this point, after some due reflection, I'd like to point out to Ojogbon Falola that the first two commandments that the Almighty gave at Mt. Sinai, that he quotes here, and which occur in Shemot/ Exodus Chapter 20 , in the Torah portion Parshat Yitro that was read in all the synagogues this Sabbath that has just been concluded this evening, it is The Almighty Himself speaking, and it is the voice of the Almighty Himself that those who were gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai heard , and apparently it was so terrifying that they pleaded with Moses, please, let God speak to you, and you then convey His message to us.
As to the second commandment that Ojogbon Falola refers to, well, for our edification, here's a little discourse on the 2nd commandment by Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin
Muslims of course are very demonstrative if not remonstrative when it comes to any perceived insults directed at beloved Prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam, whereas e.g. the Jews, the assorted atheists and idolaters seem to be less concerned about such perceived insults, but more concerned( worried) about the punishments that are to be meted out to the insulters by the Muslim Faithful. The line has been drawn so that the insulters and would be insulters know that they cross that line at their own peril, both in this world and in the Hereafter.
A word of caution to the sensitive and the not so sensitive, the respectful and the it so respectful about what constitutes blasphemy , according to Judaism, is also relevant here....
On Thursday, 20 January 2022 at 15:05:13 UTC+1 toyinfalola wrote:Moses and co:
I have been enjoying this thread, but I am not in a state of mind to contribute to it. I have just completed a long manuscript on metaphysics and I can relate to all the contributions.
Both Moses and Adepoju have intellectual reconciliations to make with their previous arguments.
To Moses, in demolishing Nwolise's arguments on the strategic use of the supernatural in wars, he questioned him so aggressively, and I pushed him, even suggesting that hallucination is an evidence. He needs to reconcile his earlier position to the admittance in the current. You cannot have it both ways.
To Adepoju, you have centralized mythologies in most of your epistemological frontages—I became attracted to your work because of the sacredness in it. Now you need to reconcile your foundational thinking system with this Jukun one as you cannot have it both ways.
In all, you are all returning to the ideas before Christ, one that gave birth to divine kingship and the idea of the pyramid.
As to the barbaric and primitive, I don't have any issue with that; anyone can use his mouth and words the way he likes—Islam and Christianity have consistently discredited earlier conceptions of religions along this line. Moses goes to Church, a scholar-believer, and I am sure he must have read the Ten Commandment.
20 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
In declaring God as jealous, the foundation of barbarism was laid—then and forever. Let us not worry about those and them!!
TF
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 7:47 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: "When You Die, Someone Should Die With You": Perspectives on Accompanied Death by Moses Ochonu and Friends on Facebook in Relation to the January 2022 Burial of the Aku Uka of WukariToyin, you have answered your own questions with your own conjectures. I insist that the mystery and the myth are essential elements of tradition— any tradition. This is not unique to the Jukun or Africans. As I stated in my reflection, most of these esoteric practices are not esoteric at all and were created at particular moments for practical and strategic social, economic, and political purposes. When I have the time, I'll recount the Benin story told to us in Ilorin by the great Professor Osofisan.
What you call illusions and the maintenance of it are sometimes what holds a community together, the glue of solidarity, cohesion, and monarchical stability.
Myth-making itself is a rational, logical process, not an idle, archaic relic of superstition. Most modern institutions and nations are sustained by myths that are not tethered to objective, verifiable, or self-evident realities. Yet these myths are so powerful that people are willing to and do die for them, signing up to sacrifice their lives to defend them. There are many examples.
The other thing is that self-sacrifice—-varying notions of it ranging from martyrdom to blood atonement to the extreme of human sacrifice —are integral to many religions. And of course as you know, assisted honorable suicide is now legal in most Western countries.
By all means study Jukun royal funerary rites and religion with academic lens, but don't expect to unravel or satisfactorily explain it to those outside the overarching religious orbit, to non-initiates. I don't think that's possible, as unknowability is a central aspect of the practice, crucial to its sociopolitical function. But even if you could explain or unravel everything about it or fill gaps with informed, intelligent conjectures, would it not be arrogant to do so as an outside interlocutor whose enterprise does not have the cooperative input of the Jukun people?
Critique certain elements of the rites, but my point is that it is disrespectful and even unethical to derisively condemn or dismiss some of the practices as barbaric and repugnant as some have done and for Christians to apply their scriptural and exegetical standards to practices of an African Traditional Religion (ATR).
Finally, cultures of course change and shift with time, and I am certain that Jukun religion and royal funerary rites are dynamic and have evolved over time, but the pace of change and evolution should not be dictated by judgmental outsiders but by the organic momentum of internal consensus and societal evolution.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 19, 2022, at 11:53 PM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:
Agree with Chidi.
Having read the BBC interview with the escort and looked again at his picture, he does not look or sound like a person who ever battled wild animals or evil spirits, talk less having just survived such an ordeal a few days ago.
I expect the Wukari have long abandoned the dagerous aspect of the rites, if they ever existed, but sustained the illusion.
I also suspect the whole account has always been an elaborate illusion.
There has never been any handing over of the king's body to spirits of the forest, I expect.
I expect the king was buried in the forest and the escort either sacrificed or sent into.exile.
Thanks
Toyin
On Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 06:32 Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:
In modern societies, are people free to want to die? What would be the cost of such deaths to the society if allowed?
Must we relive these traditions? Are these practices still relevant today? Shouldn't we put records of these practices in museums, where interested persons can go and view them?
By the way, isn't it better to make that young man a medical doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc, than one who escorts a dead king to the ancestors (and may never come back).
A Poet wrote "I took my revolver and killed the gods". Revolver here representing modernity and the gods of course representating tradition.
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
On Thursday, January 20, 2022, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:TEN FURTHER THOUGHTS ON THE AKU UKA'S TRANSITION
1. Unknown to many people, especially judgmental and self-righteous Pentecostal Christians who condemned the beautiful Pankya transition rites from their conceited Christian perspective, the late Aku Uka, Dr. Shekarau Angyu Masa Ibi II was a devout Christian of the Reformed Church of Nigeria. Not only that, he was a trained theologian. A friend of mine recounted in our online forum how the departed Aku Uka used to have theological debates and discussion with my friend's father, a prominent Bible scholar and missionary.
But the Aku Uka was also a man who was not ashamed of his culture or the traditional religion and rituals of his people. He skillfully navigated the obligations of both his Christian faith and those of his ancient Kwararafa/Jukun people and kingdom. He was an excellent model for how to be a Christian without succumbing to the colonial mentality of disavowing and rejecting your cultural heritage, history, and traditions. Many of us can learn from his example.
By the way, the anti-culture Christian brigade have their work cut out for them because there is a growing cohort of traditional rulers who are devout and in some cases Pentecostal Christians. The newly elected Och'Idoma is a Deeper Life Pastor, as is the Tor Tiv. The young Olu of Warri is a vocal Christian. I understand that the Chief of Kagoro who recently passed away was also a pastor. There are many others.
2. One of the sons of the transitioned Aku Uka is a pastor and proudly participated in the funerary rites. He was being a proud Jukun prince, which in no way diminishes his Christian bona fides.
3. The horse riding escort (Atobe) belongs to a special family of royal courtiers and servants whose job it is to groom male members for the role of escort so that when the time comes one or more of them would eagerly volunteer to accompany the Aku Uka on his journey into the forest to be "delivered to his ancestors."
4. Being the horse riding escort is a coveted position of masculine honor and prestige, something that members of the designated family crave because whether the person makes it back or not, the family and the person are forever credited with doing the bidding of the ancestors and thus bringing blessings and fortunes to the community.
5. That brings me back to the horse rider. It is considered a mark of great individual martial accomplishment and distinction to accompany the Aku Uka on the three day journey and make it back alive because it indicates that 1) the person is a great warrior who might have encountered wild animals and evil spirits and vanquished them; 2) he is a man with a clean conscience and pure love for his community, otherwise the gods would have killed him in order to save the community from the repercussion of his evil deeds or intentions; 3) the gods are happy with him and the community because if/when he returns from the forest, he brings blessings, powers, and positive messages from the gods.
6. Yes, there is a foreboding possibility of the horse rider not returning, hence the prepayment of a ritualistic token compensation to his family. He goes to the mission fully cognizant of this possibility but yet proudly embraces it as a free-willing adult. How, by the way, is this different from the honorable and heroic kamikaze Japanese pilots of World War II, or from the practice of young men and women signing up voluntarily for war in defense of their country's or king's honor knowing fully well that the odds of returning alive is against them?
7. As with every tradition, the mystery is an essential element of it, so trying to rationally explain or understand every aspect of it using the empirical logic of verifiability is misguided. The story in this case is that the gods and ancestral spirits take the life of the horse rider as a sacrifice if they wish. Often, in these types of traditions, such stories serve to further mystify and to thus entrench the tradition once the practice has become accepted. Without such mystifying stories, future generations might do away with the tradition or invent a new one, so there is a perfectly rational political and social explanation for the story. It is a powerful technique to preserve the practice beyond the time of the people who invented it.
As Zainab Ali explained yesterday, the real explanation may not even be mysterious at all and may have to do with the simple fact that in the old days a man who rode a horse deep into the forest by himself unarmed was unlikely to return because of wild animals, thirst, hunger, physical injury, and climatic vagaries. The community knew this but that explanation would render the enterprise mundane and rob it of its spiritual power. Therefore, in many such instances, even in the Western and Eastern monarchical and sociopolitical traditions, the people construct elaborate myths about gods, spirits, and forces in the forest or in the sky or in the water that kill and spare as they wish.
Often such stories kill the proverbial two birds with one stone because, sticking with this example, apart from sacrelizing the possible disappearance of the horse rider, further adding to the mysterious allure of the event, the story mystifies the monarchy, helping to consolidate it, forging obedience to it, and discouraging rebellion by putting sacred fear in the hearts of subjects. I have a similar story from Benin Kingdom down south that I will share soon.
8. Some people say riding a horse with a corpse is barbaric. This is a decontextualized and judgmental perspective. Did the people who invented the tradition consider it barbaric? There are many funerary traditions in the world and in different religions. Some people cremate their dead proudly in blazing pyres. Others may find it unacceptable and barbaric even though research has shown that it is the healthiest way of disposing of the dead. There is an ethnic group in the Indonesian archipelago that keeps the bodies of their dead with them in the community, dressing them up on occasion for many years. Another group puts the bodies in nearby caves unburied so that family members can visit and see their dead loved ones. Again, some people may consider this barbaric but it's perfectly normal and respectable to the people who practice it. To each their own.
9. I for one have learned a lot about this beautiful, ancient, proudly preserved religion/culture of the Jukun, of which the royal funerary right of Pankya is only one aspect. I am now thirsty for more, the curious historian that I am.
10. Most of us criticize what we don't understand instead of trying to know more about it with an open mind. With that in mind, let me recommend a live Facebook lecture and discussion on Pankya, the Jukun transitional rite of Aku Uka, which is taking place this Saturday (see details in my comment below). I plan to attend to learn more. Join the discussion if you can and come with an open mind and with your serious (not derisive and disrespectful) questions. I am sure the expert presenters and authorities will answer your questions and clarify your confusion regarding this wonderful culture/religion.
On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 5:51 PM Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
Profound, profound.
You bring a tear to smile and I can't hide it.
As far as the title of this thread is concerned, I imagine that there are those who have not taken these words of gentle Jesus to heart ,
" But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you.."
I suppose that when such people are at the brink of The Hereafter "When You Die, Someone Should Die With You" , would be putting it lightly, preferably, more honestly it should be
" When you die, May all your enemies accompany you"
That the prohibition against child sacrifice is made so clear suggests that it was a practice that was prevalent in the neighbourhood, some of the surrounding cultures and possibly still continues in some of the darkest places in the wilderness.
Unbelieving Thomas wants to see real proof and not speculation before he's convinced.
Mr. Ginsberg was unsparing with his condemnations with much howling about Moloch
in Howl part 2:
II
What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind!
Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream Angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!
Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch! Light streaming out of the sky!
Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs! skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic industries! spectral nations! invincible madhouses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!
They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pavements, trees, radios, tons! lifting the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!
Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river!
Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!
Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years' animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!
Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the wild eyes! the holy yells! They bade farewell! They jumped off the roof! to solitude! waving! carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the street!
On Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 23:32:57 UTC+1 Kenneth Harrow wrote:
cornelius, why do you call azazel the scapegoat? i thought the goat was sent to him in the wilderness.
on another note, i am skeptical of accounts of child sacrifice, most anywhere. i'd want to see real proof and not speculation before i'd be convinced.
ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2022 5:02 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: "When You Die, Someone Should Die With You": Perspectives on Accompanied Death by Moses Ochonu and Friends on Facebook in Relation to the January 2022 Burial of the Aku Uka of Wukari
Very interesting. For the super-sleuth, the plot thickens; in a non-religious context it would be a or the case of the missing king.
" Because he does not die, there are no undertaker's, coffin or grave, that will make him mortal. He rides majestically on his royal horse to meet his forebears. The young man with him serves as his sheath bearer. But also serve as the proverbial scapegoat, on behalf of the community." ( Pankya and its May Mysteries )
Nor does he, like Jesus, in full view of his disciples ascend bodily to our Father heaven, disappearing beyond the clouds, Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sam Gate Bodhi Swaha.
What does the conclusion of the Heart Sutra have to do with the bodily ascension of Jesus to Haven? It's the kind of question that the uninitiated may well ask, and the kind of question that e.e. answers with the first line of his love poem that begins at this beginning:
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
" The proverbial scapegoat " is reminiscent of poor old Azazel
no crucifixion
no resurrection
no ascension
the goat merely disappears
into the wilderness
carrying his burden:
all our sins
Azazel the scapegoat
far removed from the lofty dream:
O lamb of God who take away the sins of this world !
I cry
tears hide.
At this stage, you have the right to be intensely worried and even the right to remain silent about the trial of Nnamdi Kanu which started yesterday and narry a word about this very significant event, in this USA- Africa series.
Or is it the silence before the tsunami?
Hopefully, Brother Nnamdi is not another Azazel or the case of another failed Messiah who says "Seek ye first the political kingdom, and all will be added"
"But He, Himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone"
Cf Your Master
On Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 05:53:26 UTC+1 chidi...@gmail.com wrote:
"That it is traditional does not make it right"-Barack Obama.
-CAO.
On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:First things first ( Africa First!)
Question 1, and in the name of Shalom, I don't want to quarrel with anyone, but just as Adepopju enquired of Professor Gloria in Excelsis Emeagwali : "could i know what motivated your interest in this at this time? " , the this being her posting "Atrocities/war crimes condoned in the Bible", so too I ask Adepoju the same question, in light of his recent altercation with Professor Moses Ochonu: Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, please, could we know what motivated your interest in posting the transcript of a discussion involving Professor Ochonu, at this time?
And no mention of the ancient Egyptian burial rites ensuring immortality after death? For example there are certain funeral rites for Mende Chiefs in Sierra Leone, that are sensitive and no business of those not directly concerned...
After reading through the transcript of the discussion, I should only like to make the following observations
1. We are to surmise the Almighty is totally against human sacrifice , as evidenced by the Akedah , a ram being substituted for Isaac, at the very last moment.
The idea that God's absolute justice required that His only begotten Son should be sacrificed on the cross in order to save sinful humanity, is still being debated by both Jew and gentile, in websites such as Jews for Judaism and Tovia Singer and mythvision
There's also a necessary distinction to be made between suicide on the one hand – which is forbidden - and martyrdom , such as Kiddush Hashem . But how to characterise what happened at Masada?
It's a very moving picture of the chivalric horse rider who accompanies his liege into the dark forest at the end of the latter's life pilgrimage – hopefully, Tunde Kelani will make a blockbuster movie out of it. In my not so informed imagination, I imagine a parallel with the last scene of King Arthur's farewell as captured by the last verse of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Morte D'Arthur...
I imagine the mysterious & anonymous masked rider accompanying the dearly departed King into the dark forest , and who knows, unrecognised and unrecognizable reappearing to continue life as before, in the kingdom or elsewhere
On Tuesday, 18 January 2022 at 17:55:40 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
Correction : Should read ; " Now, isn't it a paradox that the Hindus infiltrated Cremation into the Church of England in Great Britain, as far back as 1918?
On Tuesday, 18 January 2022 at 17:48:20 UTC+1 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:
This theme is just too exciting . No holds barred, I'm looking forward to how the discussion will evolve.
"I believe many people criticize what they don't understand" , opines Brother Professor ( Full Professor) Moses Ochonu. Exactly what I was thinking last night without any reference backing from Kant or any of the greater sceptics - another instance of argumentum ad verecundiam – as in " I am the way, the truth and the light – no man cometh unto the Father except by through me!" (Jesus ) or , " God must be a boogie man " because wizard Charlie Mingus the super good jazz bassman said so, and as for me, I'm in full agreement with Stevie Wonder here singing, " When you believe in things you don't understand , then you suffer : Superstition ain't the way"
Therefore, the saying is "Two Jews, three opinions" attesting to the glory of the Talmud and the Talmudic sages, I daresay ten opinionated, specially educated Nigerians speaking international English and not the exactitudes of Kantian German as the chosen vehicle for their arguments, as in this transcript, and we get a large number, verily, a multitude of attitudes - and thank God that the Hindu practice of Sati has fallen into desuetude , not due to the outright forbidding/ regulated out of existence by what Adepoju would like us to believe are civilising British Colonialists, but due to post-enlightenment and what 21st century futurists looking back deem to be modernity even then, though for very different reasons the Sotah ritual as prescribed in ancient Judaism – for a wife accused of infidelity, has also fallen into desuetude, since – so the rabbis say, the nation had gradually seeped into stages of unholiness thereby rendering the Sotah ritual ineffective.
With trepidation a modernist/ postmodernist and the village schoolteacher Lakunle, himself not that civilised - if we are to go by Kenneth Harrow's harrowing questions raised here, please, only use the word "barbaric" to describe the Sotah in the Torah, at the risk of sounding disdainful and anti-Semitic.
Now, isn't it a paradox that the Hindus infiltrated Creation into the Church of England in Great Britain, as far back as 1918?
Lissen up : " I warned the people of Jamaica and they did not listen".. Buju Banton speaking once more in Deep English ( bad words edited out as much as possible.
On Tuesday, 18 January 2022 at 11:29:13 UTC+1 toyin....@gmail.com wrote:
"When You Die, Someone Should Die With You"
Perspectives on Accompanied Death by Moses Ochonu and Friends on Facebook in
Relation to the January 2022 Burial of the Aku Uka of Wukari
Compiled by Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju with an Introduction,
Background Images and Accompanying Facebook Comments by Various Readers
Accompanied death, the process of a person dying along with a person
already dead, recurs in various civilizations. It emerges in the now
defunct Indian tradition of Sati
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)>, discontinued by the
colonising British, in which a wife burnt herself alive in the process of
her husband's cremation. It has also been visible in a number of various
African civilisations. Wole Soyinka builds his play *Death and the King's
Horseman* around that custom as it was demonstrated in 1946 in the Yoruba
city of Oyo. The sections of the play centred on the attempted ritual
suicide of the king's horseman who is to follow his lord to the beyond are
among his greatest work. It has been described in African cultures, as also
actualised in the forceful seizure of people to be killed in accompaniment
of a dead ruler, though whether it still continues in some or all of those
cultures, I have not been able to ascertain.
In the case of the Aki Uka of Wukari, in Nigeria, his corpse is seated on a
horse, leaning on the horse rider, who rides with the body into a forest
believed, by one perspective, to a forest wherein is the abode of spirits
where the deceased ruler will achieve his final transition. The spirits,
this view states, may or may not decide to take the horse rider along with
the deceased ruler, whose body is also believed to experience a fate
unknown to any but the spirits and the departed ruler's final companion.
Picture of an earlier example of the final ride of the body of the deceased
Aki Uka of Wukari, with his living companion
Image source: Apajukun Facebook page
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/photos/a.261613190932055/1282480332178664/?__tn__=%2CO*F>
[image:
272080198_1282480328845331_5569717339850277576_n.jpg]
In the post and discussion below, Moses Ochonu and his Facebook friends
discuss the subject in relation to the recent burial, in January 2022, of
the Aku Uka of Wukari.
Moses Ochonu presents this view on what happens in the climatic final
scenes of the ride to the beyond:
''there was no "intentional killing of another human being." The king's
escort goes ALONE into the bush with the king on a horse and, depending on
what the gods decide, would commit ritual sacrificial suicide. In many
cases, the gods spare the escorts. In the current case, the young man was
not only spared but has since returned home to his family.''
Zainab Ali, responding to Ochonu's post on the subject, presents another
perspective on the fate of the ruler's companion:
''historically the forest where the final burial is conducted is dangerous,
wild animals evil spirits, and whatnot. So considering the escort is just
one man, the possibility of something happening to him over there is known
and accepted by him ab initio.
It is that danger that raise the conversation around the uncertainty of his
return, it is never about him being sacrificed.'
Ochonu, a historial, tries to contextualise Ali's contribution:
''Zainab Ali
<https://www.facebook.com/ZaynerbAli?__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
thank
you again!!This is very enlightening. You are educating many misinformed
people. I believe many people criticize what they don't understand, and
that there had to be a rational, perfectly logical reason for for the
escort perhaps not returning. Often, with this type of things, the
ritual/sacrificial/suicidal explanation is constructed strategically after
the tradition has already taken root, as a way of consolidating monarchical
power by further mystifying its occupant and putting sacred fear in the
hearts of subjects. I have a similar story from Benin Kingdom.''
A principal disagreement between Ochonu and some of his intercutors is
represented by the following exchange:
Chris Ugwualor
<https://www.facebook.com/chris.ugwualor?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwNzk5OTQ1NjQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
While we all appreciate the excesses of the Pentecostals in painting
anything non-western as barbaric, I must admit that human sacrifice,
whether voluntarily or otherwise is very barbaric.
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Moses Ochonu
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It was not barbaric to the people who invented it and at the time that
it was instituted. You can call for its review in view of current moral
standards without calling it barbaric. The folks who came up with it would
have disapproved of many rituals and practices we consider mainstream and
modern, but I doubt they would have been so judgmental as to call those
practices barbaric. It's this type of decontextualized condemnation and
judgmental critique that is problematic.
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Chris Ugwualor
<https://www.facebook.com/chris.ugwualor?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE2MDEwNzk4MjkyNjQ4NF8xMDE2MDEwODAxOTg4MTQ4NA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
Moses Ochonu
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I completely disagree. Any cultural practice that leads to the intentional
killing of another human being under any guise is barbaric.
In my culture, they used to bury titled men with some of their slaves.
Also twins were seen as abomination and were killed. Both practices were
barbaric too and had long been stopped.
There are some evidence that Western Europe practised human sacrifice.
That's also barbaric.
All other aspects of Jukun cultural practices may be excellent but that
of human sacrifice is a no no no.
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- Moses Ochonu
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Chris Ugwualor
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but
there was no "intentional killing of another human being." The king's
escort goes ALONE into the bush with the king on a horse and, depending on
what the gods decide, would commit ritual sacrificial suicide. In many
cases, the gods spare the escorts. In the current case, the young man was
not only spared but has since returned home to his family.
1
- Moses Ochonu
<https://www.facebook.com/moses.ochonu?__cft__[0]=AZU9nHblt41rhIfNfXL4rRf8_gP_aP1bf4WU010z4iMB2rWmhGVDo1nx8UIZhFsT8VLXPXw_bD6uMo1s1WRYE1BOzYGiloAC6-DSEwa297SRQV06QtDXFrFxn_k63mhgCv8&__tn__=R]-R>
"
- From what I've read, the man alone will ride on the horse with the
corpse of the King to the final resting place deep in the wilderness, where
he is expected to "deliver the king" to the gods and then commit ritual,
sacrificial suicide.
In reality, many of the "sacrificial" companions return home, spared by
the gods. Only a few do not. The idea is that if the gods wish, they could
take the life of the king's living companion during or at the end of the
three day journey deep in the bush."
I first provide the context of their discussion through images and
accompanying commentary from sources familiar with the culture of the
Wukari, from Apajukun <https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters>, a
Facebook page dedicated to this culture.
*Context of Discusion : The Burial of the Aku Uka of Warri in Pictures and
Commentary*
* Picture of What May be the Throne of the
Aku Uka *
[image:
246141275_1281940138899350_5966122671623590548_n.jpg]
* Announcement of Live Streaming of Funeral Rites*
[image:
271754981_1279899905770040_7258294245114307553_n.jpg]
Apajukun
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/?__cft__[0]=AZV__A0zuSp-j3CYANoINheHanOjo0y3M850vE3tzJY0snDQUCvdRZbIyrhKZXQyTLbNeZgfc4F6hlrXVksvCHdwbpk2ACNPhEJIQpRT2_Gmw1b3fxv087cZo5FyLy5hnOtAadozzybZ5MW9gT36PIKQ&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R>
January 12, 2022
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/posts/1279899942436703?__cft__[0]=AZV__A0zuSp-j3CYANoINheHanOjo0y3M850vE3tzJY0snDQUCvdRZbIyrhKZXQyTLbNeZgfc4F6hlrXVksvCHdwbpk2ACNPhEJIQpRT2_Gmw1b3fxv087cZo5FyLy5hnOtAadozzybZ5MW9gT36PIKQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R>
PUBLIC NOTICE!!
This is to inform the general public that arrangement has been made for
live streaming of the final rite (Pankya) of His Majesty, Dr Shekarau Angyu
Masa-Ibi CON, The AKU UKA.
Those who may not be opportuned to attend can do so virtually on inferno TV
(Facebook and Youtube).
[image:
272014022_1283550552071642_3194283036749304598_n.jpg]
*A Poetic Celebration of the Aku Uka's Ride to the Beyond with His
Companion*
Apajukun
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/?__cft__[0]=AZVn-SyZr8ad-3xkrHHj-kov0YXkw0nQkQfq2VZo4uTWDXzIAVpxEVfMXLKsSdiApB8qyd5XBCNEQGAsZA6BhgBkHKiOKk0nTsVdpqHi1DrU22Qb6LQo0PjWUb2-5vPA7BAhcsX2Pfnp3h5YT4dJafPL&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R>
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
<https://www.facebook.com/apajukunreporters/posts/1283550585404972?__cft__[0]=AZWZ6QZi-amySpUrW-E-_hfXepKbHQokBz_ate7SWCWANES4UsdMeXNDrQJAJ4fRix9yYaIp1-XRcSPKXQOgxdg70bWpj9WvpZNw7ZcsuQQ9wFtZZ2Xs5ZE8u7Td2vCLG3y1XbFJbehbVNWg-1F-iSNQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R>
THE TRANSMOGRIFICATION & THE TRANSITION OF AKU UKA
He does not belong here alone, he belongs to the gods!
He descended from far beyond.
He was born mortal yet immortal.
His persona is twined betwixt two worlds.
He is an enigma beyond comprehension.
He is a satellite of the gods over the people.
He is a vicar of the gods.
He is the blend of the real & the surreal.
He knows no hate and hates not one.
On his hands is the power to make or stop the rain.
He possesses the power to silence the thunder and forbid the lightning
from striking.
Now, the appointed time beckons & his spirit must transit to NANDO, the
great beyond where he will commune with the gods in the land of the living
dead.
On his left hand, he holds the esoteric grains which he must release for
the survival of the people.
On his right hand, he holds all the natural elements which he must let go
of for his people as he journeys ahead.
But behold, a young hero on a stallion riding along gallantly with pride,
dignity & majesty to the great beyond with the ANDU.
The ground quakes & the multitudes of people shake & tremble at the sight
of the young hero who must not look back until he delivers the new citizen
to the land of the gods.
Prince Beavens Ajiduku (PhD)
A prince from the great Kwararafa Kingdom
[image: 272014022_1283550552071642_3194283036749304598_n.jpg]
*An Expository Explanation of the Aku Uka's Ride to the Beyond with His
Companion*
Ovie Okukulabe
<https://www.facebook.com/okukulabe.okukulabe?__cft__[0]=AZXPa_kwF2ecCCof7SYTAOx3fs4thRnRW-LOqJmUq8d0gARW2Z-AlK4NzhNzxqPJddmmIq-3grxzPAzH_fCkcMcs7v8MGhuWqrq3ujFdikO0h-GZuE2BYgv-G_C1bkpDQk8&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R>
7JanSmguau0gr3y 16 a0st4 11ri0:011l AM3i
<https://www.facebook.com/okukulabe.okukulabe/posts/349275333919281?__cft__[0]=AZXPa_kwF2ecCCof7SYTAOx3fs4thRnRW-LOqJmUq8d0gARW2Z-AlK4NzhNzxqPJddmmIq-3grxzPAzH_fCkcMcs7v8MGhuWqrq3ujFdikO0h-GZuE2BYgv-G_C1bkpDQk8&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R>
·
Credit: ApaJukun.
PANKYA AND IT'S MANY MYSTERIES.
The events of yesterday have left people wondering 'what actually took
place?'. For an outsider, even some insiders, there are questions to be
answered.
Firstly, PANKYA is the Jukun transition ceremony for the Aku to the great
beyond. The Aku does not die. He is a 'son' of the gods, the guardian and
protector of his people. His place is between the mortal and the immortal.
The Aku is not venerated or honoured, no, he is WORSHIPPED by his subjects.
He is a priest-king to whom libation is offered every morning. He is not
associated with affairs of mortals like funeral and wedding. He is beyond
emotions and weakness. Thus, he DOES NOT DIE. There will is no 'funeral
rite' for him but the of journeying to NANDO and finally KINDO.
The PANKYA is a mystery. A mystery is what cannot be understood using human
logic. Only those inserted into its cult (cult as in its true meaning and
implications) and 'educated' in its practice can make sense of it.
So, the PANKYA is not just a ceremony or rite, it is a religious rite
performed by cultic priests and worshippers. All others are just onlookers.
Because he does not die, there are no undertaker's, coffin or grave, that
will make him mortal. He rides majestically on his royal horse to meet his
forebears. The young man with him serves as his sheath bearer. But also
serve as the proverbial scapegoat, on behalf of the community.
ABAGA'IDU NASHA'IN has gone to KINDO, his mission accomplished here.
Another will take his place. May his reign last long in peace.
So, in summary, the Jukun culture is deeply religious, steep in mysteries.
Any religion without mysteries is a fable. Thus, the PANKYA MUST BE
UNDERSTOOD within the context of religion, for so is the Jukun world view..
CHIDON KU YII WATASHUMA.
Dankaro Solomon *Further Responses*
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