Fertility

Social Importance

Fertility, as Africans understand it, given the common spiritual essence of all that exists, includes not only human fertility, but also animal and land fertility. Fertility manifests itself primarily through the birth of many children, the birth of many domesticated and game animals, the growing of medicinal plants, and the flourishing of generous crops. Many children born to a family mean that its lineage will continue and expand, whereas the names of the parents and other relatives will be spoken after they have made their transition to the ancestral realm, thus preventing them from being forgotten and from dying socially. Rituals will be conducted on their behalf, ensuring that they remain properly connected with the world of the living.

In contrast, a large thriving cattle herd and plentiful crops and healing plants most obviously mean prosperity and peace for the living. Likewise, the presence of numerous animals in the forest will assure hunters of successful and generous hunts, that is, adequate feeding for all.

For fertility to occur, the union of the male and the female is indispensable. In the case of human beings and most other animals, it goes without saying that only through the sexual encounter of males and females of the same species can young ones be born, thus maintaining and regenerating life. However, in the case of land fertility, the same principle of sexual complementarity applies. Indeed, African people commonly associate the sky with the male creative power, whereas the Earth stands for the female creative power. In that context, the sky, while releasing rain (i.e., life-bringing and sustaining water), fertilizes the earth, thus allowing plants to grow and life in general to thrive.

Rain, in the African spiritual and religious context, acts as cosmic sperm or fertilizer. The same observation could be made about water in general, whose intimate relationship with creation and fertility has often been stressed in African religion from ancient times. In Kernet (ancient Egypt), for example, at the beginning stood the primeval waters, Nun, from which arose Ra, the supreme deity. From Ra's eyes came the tears that were to give birth to [Page 263]women and men. Similarly, the Ankh, the symbol of life in ancient Egypt, was often used as a sign for water during rituals. Streams of libations were represented by ankhs on some of the temples' walls.

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