In this post I’m categorising local systems of religious beliefs and rituals in Malawi as cults. It’s a description I don’t like, but that will a subject for another day. What I want to explain is that religious can be can be niched down into territorial and ancestral cults. I’ll explain what makes these two different.
Territorial cults
Basically a territorial cult refers a religious belief or ritual that is
practised or related to a specific area. People who honour the spirit of a
territorial cult are not bound by kinship, but the geographical area.
Functionally, a territorial cult aims ensuring the wellbeing of local people through:
- rain making
- provision of soil fertility
- maintaining soil fertility
- controlling floods
- promoting success in fishing
- and promoting success in hunting among others.
Normally, in a territorial cult the object of worship is nature spirits,
or human being who is deified— considered god or godlike.
Though some cults may only hold one shrine as a centre of worship, others
tend to have several separated satellite shrines to one major shrine.
Some territorial cults operate using spirit mediums who facilitate
communication
between people and Chiuta, while other do not have such
spiritual intermediaries.
Most of the territorial cults are commonly known with the following
characteristics:
- they involve the entire community—of a specified area.
- they are customarily controlled by the local elite, who provide priests, shrine keepers and other duties.
Ancestral cults
On the other hand, ancestral cults are centred on the veneration or
worship of the dead especially one’s ancestors. It is founded on love and
respect for the dead.
In some cultures, (most of them) this cult is very much connected to the
belief that our beloved grandparents, parents, sisters and brothers who
have passed away continue to exist, and that they have the capacity the
fortune of us living.
 |
| A shrine |
People who practise ancestral cults are moved by the understanding that
dead spirits understand their problems better since they were once people
just like them.
However, there are other ancestral worships who view the worship of their
ancestors as fulfilling a family duty in that they are obliged to provide
food and other items to the deceased because they just have to. The belief
is in life after death, and that if they fulfil their duty well, the dead
spirits will be happy, and in turn repel misfortunes.
Finally, ancestral cults have the following characteristics:
- they involve people with kinship ties
- they may be practised beyond an are
- there are no spiritual go-between
- and they are not controlled by the elite.
It appears that even though the purpose of both territorial and ancestral
cults is to secure the wellbeing of people in the society, there exists
some differences in their nature and organisation.
0 Comments