Church and World

Are Christians really so different from everyone else? What’s the big deal when someone becomes a Christian? Foundations part 3, this week, gave us some pretty surprising answers …

Ancestor worship in Madagascar ... and Leyland

 “Our greatest fear is violating the taboos of our ancestors. There are many different taboos and we learn of them through spirit-possession by our ancestors. For everyone there are taboos against things, such as eating pork or digging in the ground on Tuesday. Some people have ancestral taboos against things, such as travelling on Sunday or eating a certain type of bean. If a community member sees someone breaking a taboo, then the community punishes them and requires them to make some sort of sacrifice. But the ancestors see everything; so even if the community doesn’t see, the ancestors will punish the one who broke the taboo. The punishment can be on any area of their life. That’s why we fear breaking the taboos.”

These are the words of “Barakasy”, the King of Nosy Mitsio (sub-King of the Antakarana people in Madagascar). It is copied out of literature from Africa Inland Mission. The language is quite exotic; but let’s not dismiss it as foreign craziness - this is our society too...