The Masque of Africa_ Glimpses of African Belief - By V. S. Naipaul Page 0,80

like what we do when we go to the witchdoctor to remove the devil. The principle is the same. The common ground is the spirit.”

I asked him if he could define the religion of the forest more closely.

He said, in a precise academic way, “We cannot call it a religion. It is a set of beliefs. We don’t pray to God because in our understanding God is not accessible to humans. It [he meant the idea of God] has many other problems and has no time for humans.”

In forest belief the organic world, the world that mattered, was like a pyramid. “The first level are the minerals and ore, the second level are the trees and flora, and the third level are the animals. The fourth level are the human beings.”

If it had stopped there it would have sounded like a version of the Elizabethan chain of being. But he went on, and it soon became clear that this concept was a local one.

He said, “In the human beings you have divisions. Children are spiritually stronger than the middle-aged, who are useless and blind. The elderly, like the children, are spiritually strong because they are about to go to the new place. Children are strong because they have just come from the new place. They are pure and still have the sight. They can sense evil as they have an open mind. Sometimes they cry because they see too much, and then you have to take them to a strong traditional master. He places a stone on their forehead to stop the sight, but you have to be very careful, because too much of the stone can turn the child into an idiot. As for the old, they are special because they have power and they are close to the ancestors. Only the ancestors can intercede with God. You have to keep the bones and skull of your ancestor and feed it rum and talk to it when you are in trouble.”

This was what Rossatanga himself did. So in this matter at least he was not talking with the distance of the anthropologist.

He said, “Before leaving the village I go and put alcohol and food on my mother’s grave and my grandfather’s grave.”

I liked him for saying that. Were there other ways of worshipping the ancestor?

He said, “Every family has an elder who can talk to the ancestor. There is one man in every family chosen for the job. This elder keeps the bones and skull. The way to worship is through initiation. Initiation is a fundamental rite and practice.”

I had heard much about initiation. Everybody in Gabon talks about it, or so it seems. It requires a master, an all-night ceremony with dancing and drumming, and eating the bitter root of a hallucinogenic plant, the eboga. The rite is secret, and even at the end of my time in Gabon, I didn’t feel I had begun to understand the idea or importance of initiation.

I wanted to know whether in this ritual of honouring the ancestor there was also contained the idea of virtue, the good life.

Rossatanga said, “No. The ancestors are there only to provide answers for your problems and give you what you want.” And about initiation he said, “You have no say in the village or its matters until you are initiated. To be recognised as a man you have to be circumcised in the village. And that itself is a ritual. You take the child’s foreskin and bury it in the ground. Then you plant a banana tree or sucker. This is the boy’s banana, and you watch it grow. When it gives its first fruit there is a big ceremony, since the banana is a sexual symbol of the boy’s manhood. The boy will eat the first banana, and the rest of the fruit is rubbed all over his body. No woman must be nearby or see this ceremony.”

I asked him, “Are you saying that if you follow the various rituals you need not be afraid of the forest?”

“You remain afraid. Initiation and ritual only give you a path through the forest. You are not protected against others, women especially. Women are very important in this society. They are the real power. A woman may not exercise power, but she gives it to her son. We are a matrilineal society, and women give life. This country was not made for men. Women’s bodies are stronger, and so they are witches. There are many ritual sacrifices