allAfrica.com: Africa: Futampaf 2008 A Living Cultural Experience (Page 1 of 2)

The world-famous Gambian cultural extravaganza known as the Futampaf (initiation) took place on Thursday at President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh's home village of Kanilai.

The extraordinary display of a living authentic African culture was witnessed by a massive gathering which included Diasporan Africans from America and Europe, including the African Poetry Theatre of New York which brought a group of 30 home-comers.

The redoubtable Mrs Lawrence (the mother of murdered black British teenager Stephen Lawrence who this writer first met at the British Government's Inquest into the killing of her son in 1998) was accompanied by a dozen friends.

President Jammeh had, as in all previous Roots Festivals, agreed to sponsor the Futampaf event in full and the gathering over three days was fed entirely at the President's expense. The President met the cost of all the activities laid on, including the dinner for the gathering on Wednesday evening, the Symposium on Pan-Africanism and the entertainment went into the small hours of Wednesday night, the Futampaf itself on Thursday, the lunch that followed and the Gala Dinner at midnight on Thursday.

The first act of the initiation, Ebujeyi Surumbasu ceremony took place under an imposing Busanab Tree in the centre of Kanilai. Busanab is Jola. In Wollof the Busanab Tree is called the Bentenke, which means "Tree of Peace". This was where in traditional African society the Elders and the villagers met to discuss the affairs of the village and ensure any disputes are settled peacefully.

The Busanab/Bentenke Tree was therefore a setting for the village National Assembly, a tree of "peace and democracy" indeed. It was here then that the crowd of Kanilai citizens, citizens from all over The Gambia, the Diddayal group from Mauritania and others from the sub-region, and the Diasporans from the United States, England and from Europe, gathered on Thursday morning to await the arrival of the President and the start of what turned out to be a phenomenal African cultural experience.

The ceremony has traditionally always had gun-firing which is meant to ward off evil spirits. The arrival of the president was accompanied by the firing of thunderous mortar fire that shook the sacred ceremonial ground. President Jammeh arrived and merged with the massive crowd, some of the crowd armed with fearsome knives and ceremonial machetes! The presidential security must have been horrified, but then President Jammeh must be the most difficult president for soldiers to protect, as he always disappears into the crowd to greet and dance with the people be it in Kotu, Basse or Koina.

The president did three full circles round the massive crowd, greeting the adoring people as the drummers drummed and the dancers danced. The dignitaries, which included the vice-president, the speaker of the National Assembly and secretaries of state, stood and clapped and some even danced. The president then anointed the chief priest of the ceremony, performed the important ceremony of praying for and pouring libation (water) on the chief priest and the initiates "to appease the ancestral spirits and protect the initiates".

Then the Ebujeyi Surumbasu and the Futampaf proper commenced and here I leave the description of the ceremony to the Futampaf programme guide and my photos of the occasion in the centre-spread:

(1) Ebujeye

This is a sacrificial (slaughtering of chicken) ceremony to foretell the future and protect the initiates from evil spirits and at the same time seeking the blessing of the ancestors before going through the rites of passage.

(2) Butusab

This is a manifestation of African mystical powers whereby every participant armed with all sorts of amulets, tries to counter each other or show superiority by cutting and slitting themselves with knives or matchets without penetration through the body. This action is accompanied by singing, dancing and other cultural incantations. In this act, real men are distinguished from the passive ones.

(3) Esafeyui Ubarawu

While the guests retire for lunch, the initiates are taken round the sacred trees where libation is poured to appease the ancestral spirits and protect the initiates. They are then dressed in white as a sign of purity and maturity to manhood.

(4) Ejaw-Noken Karengaku

The initiates and their escorts (chintangolu) enter the initiation school (jujuwo) for the rites of passage to manhood. There, they are taught all the secrets of life like proverbs, riddles and other signs and symbols (passingolu and mansalingolu) which are to remain hidden and never to be revealed to the uninitiated.

(5) Jaw Bote Besindeyi

The initiates by now dressed in their new ceremonial clothes, emerge from the bush to go home followed by the burning of the Karengak (Jujuwo).

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