Ritual Performative Ceremonies and Values in the African Context

Abstract

This paper discusses and examines performative ritual ceremonies and their values in the African cultural context. Ritual performative ceremonies play a key role in interpreting and understanding the African communal value systems. The various rituals and ceremonies in the African communal systems serve as a bond that keeps the people together and provide a kind of standardized way of living. African communities are not complete without the presence of a supreme being and lesser gods. Rituals emphasises the place and importance of the Supreme Being and the lesser gods in the community. Ceremonies also are placed in value as they tend to give the communities some sort of hope and serve as a reminder of their past, their present and the future they look forward to. Ceremonies in the African communal system are the very core foundations on which togetherness are built on. An individual cannot make up a community and in such case, an individual cannot commemorate a ceremony. It is a collective work of a community. Ceremonies from time to time, create an avenue through which community members come together to foster and promote growth and development. Ceremonies also give the people of sense of importance of living. Funerals for example, remind people of the essence of living a good and fulfilled life.In the African setting, rituals and ceremonies are interconnected. Even though they can be treated as separate entities, the importance of their interdependency is key in the African system. Rituals are ceremonies and ceremonies contain rituals. The purpose of this study was to examine rituals and ceremonies, their values and the point of convergence. The scope of this study will be limited to performative rituals ceremonies in some African societies.

Keywords:Rituals, ritual, performance, performative, ceremonies, communal, values, development, interdependency, African context, standardization

DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/57-04

Publication date: August 31^st 2019