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(ANS – Roma) – In most African cultures, evil is conceived of as the consequence of a transgression of what is prescribed, whether divine precepts - which unconditionally call for obedience and submission - or a social law dictated by the authorities that govern as well as ritualistic interdicts or prescriptions. Any action that diminishes or destroys life and any act or attitude and behavior that breaks the unity, the order or the harmony of things are also considered as evils.

Depending on the type of transgression, the person involved is called to admit in all honesty to the evil committed. This confession is generally made to the head, the guarantor of the social order or to a healer. In certain cases, the confession is made before the community. The offender is called on to manifest his firm resolution to make reparation for the wrongdoing.

The person who must make this individual reparation is the one who committed the wrongdoing or, by default, their family. The reparation is made by paying the prescribed expenses, the damages and interest. According to the cultures, the expenses are equal to an amount of money prescribed by tradition according to the gravity of the fault. The damages consist in offering a living animal or an animal caught while hunting.

The wronged person can then grant pardon to those who offended him. Reparation closes the process as soon as the person is forgiven and the reparation has been effected.
The apex of reparation is the rite of reconciliation. For fear of punishment (immediate death, brutal, unexpected, etc.) that comes directly from God or a fetish, the offender should make this rite of reconciliation to perfect his approach and obtain forgiveness. This rite occurred in a sacred place, before the community and the officiator (witch-doctor) who presided over the ceremony.

The forms of confessions, the attitudes of the penitent, the physical abuse, the materials and objects used and their symbolism as well as the gestures and formulae pronounced by the officiator to purify the penitent differ between the various tribes.
The confession is always followed by advice and severe admonitions to help towards definitive conversion. It is accompanied by rites among which we would like to point out, notably: the ritualized ceremony of the blessing and the great pardon; the festive and community meal, symbol of joy in having recovered a positive situation after the error and having reconciled the members of a community; the payment of honorariums to the officiator; the rite of appeasement of the avenging fetishes or spirits when one is cursed by the one offended.

Published 16/10/2009