Rites of Reclamation

Rites of Reclamation have the explicit purpose of reclaiming African culture. These rites can include taking an African name; giving children African names; adopting African dress and cultural practices; celebrating Kwanzaa, Odunde, Juneteenth, Fi Wi Sinting, or Nakumbuka Day; traveling to the slave fortresses of West Africa; making pilgrimages to Kernet; and practicing traditional African religions. These are just a few of many activities that could be considered rites of reclamation. Whatever form they take, Rites of Reclamation have been an essential aspect of the African experience since Africa's encounter with Europe in the 15th century.

In more recent times, Rites of Reclamation have focused on efforts to reclaim African cultural values. Kwanzaa is a prominent example of this because it is inspired by African social values and uses the language of Kiswahili. Odunde, which means Happy New Year in Yoruba, is a festival started in 1975 and held the second Sunday in June. It resulted from Lois Fernandez reinterpreting the processionals to the river orisa Osun in West Africa for an African American neighborhood in [Page 574]Philadelphia that dwells along the Schuylkill River. Other festivals held in June are the various “Juneteenth” celebrations that commemorate the news of emancipation reaching the last of enslaved African communities. Nakumbuka, a Kiswahili term meaning “I remember,” is a solemn public remembrance held each November to commemorate those unknown Africans who suffered and died resisting enslavement.

Jomo Nkombe, a Tanzanian who lived in Canada, conceived the idea of Nakumbuka in 1990, and it was embraced by the World Pan African Movement held in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1991. Nakumbuka Day celebrations are now held throughout the African world. The Fi Wi Sinting, again a Kiswahili phrase meaning “It is ours,” was started by Pauline (Sister P) Petinaud in 1991 as a way to raise funds for a rural school in Jamaica. It has grown into a yearly celebration of Afro-Jamaican culture held during Black History Month. Although these celebrations began relatively recently, have structure and regularity, and in a sense have become neo-African rituals, Rites of Reclamation can be traced back to the early stages of the encounter between Africa and Europe, when they were far less formal. These rites included physical and spiritual resistance to enslavement, such as shipboard mutinies, uprisings, and escapes; and secret meetings held in the woods, where Africans refused to let European saints, Gods, beliefs, and styles of worship replace African ones. A more sobering Rite of Reclamation was enacted by those Africans who chose suicide as a method to reclaim themselves. Not all rites of reclamation involve the living.

In Vodun, there is an actual ritual called Rites of Reclamation (Retire Mo Nan Dio). This is performed 1 year and 1 day after a person dies. The purpose is to call the animating force of the body, the person's Gros Bon Ange (Big Good Angel), from the community of the Ancestral Dead. Once it is in its new “body,” a special container called a Govi, it can participate in the living community once again by giving guidance and advice. This practice is essential to Vodun cosmology, which acknowledges that life constitutes a cycle and people must be reclaimed from the land of the ancestors so that they may continue to be active members of the community. Whether it is reclaiming a person's spirit, preparing a home altar, or journeying on a trip to Kernet, rites of reclamation have been and continue to be an essential aspect of the African experience.

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