Hausa animism

Hausa animism, Maguzanci or Bori is a pre-Islamic traditional religion of the Hausa people of West Africa that involves magic and spirit possession. While only a part of the Hausa people (mostly within urban elites) converted to Islam before the end of the 18th century, most of the adherents of the religion did the same between the jihad started by the Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio around 1800 and the middle of the 20th century, while a small minority converted to Christianity.^{[citation needed]} Religious affiliation to this traditional religion is virtually nonexistent at the beginning of the 21st century; however, Hausa animism and Islam among Hausa people have coexisted for centuries, and some practices related to animism carry on locally.

When discussing "bori", there is a distinction to be made between the beliefs of the Manguzawa (which consist of pagan or heavily pagan influenced Hausa religion), the general belief in spirits and animism that persists even among Muslim Hausa, and the possession-trance group that puts on dance performances and ceremonies.^[1]

Terminology

Bòòríí is a Hausa noun, meaning the spiritual force that resides in physical things, and is related to the word for local distilled alcohol (borassa) as well the practice of medicine (boka).^[2] The Bori religion is both an institution to control these forces, and the performance of an "adorcism" (as opposed to exorcism) ritual, dance and music by which these spirits are controlled and by which illness is healed.^[3]

Spirits are called bori, iska (plu. iskoki), or aljan. Iska has a non-Muslim connotation, so many Muslim Hausa prefer to use the term aljan, which comes from the Arabic word jinn.^[4]

Possessing spirits in the possession-trance group are called the spirit(s) "on (your) head".^[4] Possession-trance group members are called yam bori (children of the bori), dam bori (son of the bori), yar bori (daughter of the bori), doki (horse) for male devotees, and godiya (mare) for female devotees. Attendants who help the yam bori but don't trance are called masu kiwo (herders or grooms), and help them get dressed and keep the spectators safe.^[5]

Pre-Islamic Hausaland

An aspect of the traditional Maguzawa Hausa people's religious traditions, Bori became a state religion led by ruling-class priestesses among some of the late precolonial Hausa Kingdoms. When Islam started making inroads into Hausaland in the 11th century, certain aspects of the religion such as idol worship were driven underground. The cult of Tsumbubura in the then-Sultanate of Kano and many other similar Bori cults were suppressed, but Bori survived in "spirit-possession" cults by integrating some aspects of Islam. The Bori spirit possession priestesses maintained nominal influence over the Sultanates that replaced the earlier Animist kingdoms. Priestesses communed with spirits through ecstatic dance ritual, hoping to guide and maintain the state's ruling houses. A corps of Bori priestesses and their helpers was led by royal priestess, titled the Inna, or "Mother of us all".^[6] The Inna oversaw this network, which was not only responsible for protecting society from malevolent forces through possession dances, but which provided healing and divination throughout the kingdom.

Post-Islamic and contemporary practice

History

Dogondutchi (in what is today southern Niger) and in some rural areas of Nigerian Hausaland. The powerful advisory roles of women, exemplified in the Bori priestesses, either disappeared or were transferred to Muslim women in scholarly, educational, and community leadership roles. British and French colonialism, though, offered little space for women in the official hierarchies of indirect rule, and the formal roles, like the Bori, for women in governance largely disappeared by the mid 20th century.^[8]

In modern Muslim Hausaland, Bori ritual survives in some places assimilated into

Maguzaci have been augmented over time with "Muslim" spirits ("farfaru"), and spirits of (or representing) other ethnic groups, even those of the European colonialists. The healing and "luck" aspects of the performances of Bori members (almost exclusively women) provide new social roles for their rituals and practitioners.^[9] Bori ritual societies, separated from governing structures, provide a powerful corporate identity for the women who belong to them through the practice of traditional healing, as well as through the performance of Bori festival like the girka initiation ritual.^[10] The possession-trance group is only one aspect of the Maguzawa religious practice, and it is the major one that has held on in Muslim communities.^[11]

Beliefs

The beliefs espoused by Bori-Islam about a person are similar to the multipart soul concept found in other cultures. In the body of each person, there is the soul, residing in the heart, and the life, which wanders about inside the body. They have a bori of the same sex, which is an intermediary between the human and the jinn. Between puberty and marriage, most have a second bori, of the opposite sex, which most be consulted before marriage to prevent the fallout of its jealousy, as it has intercourse with the human as they sleep. In addition to all this, there are two angels over a person's left and right shoulders, recording their evil and good thoughts.[12]

The Manguzawa are either not Muslim, or are considered to have only superficially converted. Allah is considered distant, with the iskoki (spirits) instead being the active supernatural force in people's lives. There are four main elements to their beliefs: family rituals, public rituals, individual aspects, and possession-trance rites.^[4]

The family rituals are done by the Mai-Gida (head of the patrilineal extended family that works the same ancestral land, gandu), in connection to agricultural events and marriages. It consists of sacrifices made to the inherited iskoki spirits, with them drinking the blood, and the sacrifices eating the meat or giving it as alms. The family rituals are not done by urban Muslim Hausa.^[4]
The public rituals have fallen out of favor.^[4]
The individual aspects are mostly sacrifices done for personal ends. The socially acceptable of these are offerings done by groups to the relevant spirits to ensure their cooperation in their occupation, and offerings prescribed by a boka to remedy spirit caused ailments. Some may also do sacrifices to evil spirits (dodo) to get help in committing nefarious deeds.^[4]
The possession-trance group among the Maguzawa is simpler and less prominent. It's ceremonies are tied to specific events and crises.^[4]

Spirits

There are many spirits connected to people, animals, plants, and big rocks. The two personal ("friendly"^[13]) bori are like the qarin, which does not come into being until after the person it's attached to is born, as that is when a person's sex is known (one of these qarin-like spirit is of the opposite sex). All these- people, animals, plants, and big rocks- have a permanent soul (quruwa), two attendant angels, and a bori of the same sex.^[14]

There are other bori not directly connected to living people, such as those which are or are inspired by Muslim saints, well known jinn, embodiments of other tribes, ancestors, the spirits of infants, totems (such as animals), and gods.^[13] The bori are like humans, but they are not human, and they are not visible in human cities. They are considered both above humans, in heaven (because they are sometimes conflated with angels), and below humans in the earth.^[15] The bori, like people, keep cattle, though this does not prevent them from bothering human herds.^[16] Many of the bori belong to 12 families or "houses".^[17]

These spirits can cause illness and are placated with offerings, sacrifices, dances, and possession rites where dancers specially prepare to ensure being "ridden" has no ill effects. Their permission must be asked before constructing buildings, and neglect and unintentional slights may anger them. They can be entreated to help in tasks, such as finding treasure,^[13] and with solving fertility issues. In the latter case, the bori ask God's permission to intervene.^[18] The bori are everywhere, but are more concentrated near temples, where they can be imprisoned within. Certain bori may prefer to stay in specific areas, such as drains.^[13] Specific bori are associated with causing specific ailments.^[11] They are also associated with specific plants and specific types of soil, which are used medically to cure spirit ailments.^[4]

Malady and manifestation are the two main methods of communication the bori have. The former allows them to communicate their anger at being ignored or offended. The latter allows them self expression, and in the case of one origin story of the bori, functions as a family reunion.^[17]

Incense attracts the bori,^[19] and they do not like iron.^[20] Fire is not a bori, and bori do not like fires or live in them, as it would burn them. However, the bori can simply go over fires, so fire is not a ward against them.^[21] It is considered good to give as much of an offering as one can afford, because the bori love the generous and take care of them.^[22]

Precautions are taken so unfriendly bori don't possess fetuses.^[13] One method to protect newborns is to buy a black hen at around 7 months in, and to keep in the house till the baby is born. It is thought any bori lingering will possess it and lie in wait for the birth. It is then set free in the Jewish quarter to get rid of the unfriendly bori. This method is borrowed from Arabs.^[23] A young child may be protected by their mother calling them Angulu (vulture, which bori are thought to find disgusting, though this is also the name of a bori), and acting as though she'd be glad of her child was gone, as bori take children to punish their mothers.^[24]

If a person yawns without covering their mouth, they must spit afterwards, as doing so may accidentally cause one to let in a bori. Sneezing is thought to expel a bori that has entered someone without their knowledge, and this is part of why a person gives thanks to God after they sneeze. For this reason, the bori do not like pepper.^[25] The sound of laughter attracts the bori, the merriment of laughing excites them, and the open mouth, just as with yawning, allows them entry.^[16]

One story of the creation of the bori spirits says that God created everything, and at first the bori did not exist. However, some people did wicked things, and God turned some of these people into half men-half fish, and the rest were turned into bori. They were further cursed to stay in the same state; old bori never die, and young bori never age to become old.^[15] Another story is similar to the Ethiopian and Omani story of the origin of zār spirits; a Hausa family with many children tried to hide half of them from God. This angered God, who turned them into hungry spirits that can only be appeased with blood sacrifices. Possession in this context is a family reunion that restores health and balance (lafiya), and spirit and human are complementary opposites.^[17]

For the bori possession-trance group, affliction by spirits, even if it was caused by one committing a transgression, is a mark that someone was chosen by the spirits to become a horse for the spirits or gods.^[11]

Known bori include:

Angulu.^[24]
Auta, or Kulita, "the one who puts an end to birth". After a woman ceases to bear children (usually 4 or 5 years after her last one), she calls her youngest Auta, as this bori has visited her.^[24]
Ba-Toye, who sets fire to houses and burns people.^[21]
Dan Galadima, or Yerima, who is often known as the son of Alhaji and Bagwariya. When his parents aren't specifically mentioned, he is known as the son of a chief or king. He is generous to a fault, and sometimes a gambler. This generousity makes him a favorite at performances, and is seen as exemplary. He typically causes the maladies of fever and weightloss.^[17]
Kuri,^[22] or Kure, whose name is from "kura" (hyena). Brother of Doguwar Baka.^[17]
Mai-Chibi, who gives babies umbilical hernias.^[23]
Mai-Inna.^[22]
Malam Alhaji, who is pious and well read. Father of Dan Galadima.^[17]
Sa'idi.^[26]
Sarkin Aljan, the chief of spirits who rules Jangare.^[11]
Sarkin Rafi/Ibrahim, a chief of well watered land, whose personality is mad, angry, and violent. He is the husband of Nana and brother of Ali.^[17] He is summoned at the annual harvest and dances with leaps, landing on his bottom.^[11]
The Tundara, a bori in the shape of a spotted snake who may drink milk from a mother to prevent her from feeding a baby.^[24]

Totemism

As of the 1910s, totemism had limited importance and recognition. When it was recognized, each clan had a totem, regarded as sacred, which was connected to a patron bori.^[27] Both would be referred to as "kan gida" (head of the house).^[28] Children inherited the bori of their fathers, though they may also honor their mother's. Women kept their totems even after marriage, and husbands had the choice of if they would allow her to sacrifice near their home (which was more common) or if she needed to return to her father's home. One was free to marry someone with the same or different totem.^[27]

The totem tree (connected to either the bori or the totem animal) was never cut, and the totem animal was never eaten. The totem animal was only allowed to killed around harvest time by the chief men of the clan. They would smear the blood on their faces, particularly the forehead (associated with the bori). The head of the animal was sundried and put in the chief's home until it was replaced next year. The rest was buried. Everyone would bathe at least three days before, and was absintent until a day or two after the ritual. Accidentally killing the totem at other times was not punished. Intentionally killing the totem would result in death, potentially caused by the totem's bori. Eating it, even accidentally, would cause illness.^[27] A bori ceremony may be held a few days after the ritual totem kill.^[28]

Incense may be used to summon totems, and different incenses are used for different animals.^[19] Most totem animals appear in bori dances.^[20]

Ceremonies

As of the 1910s in Tunis and Tripoli, there were bori houses (temples) with appointed priestesses, and a chief priest and priestess of West African origin. The priestess must be able to speak Hausa so she can direct performances, and she must be abstinent. She was usually a widow or divorced. The chief priest does not need to speak Hausa, and must be honest and of good judgement. Neither position is hereditary.^[29]

Once one has human permission to build a house, they go to the building site and offer a sacrifice. This will always involve a white hen and a red rooster (only the bori Kuri and Mai-Inna accept these). If one can afford it, they also sacrifice a male goat, and if one is wealthy, they sacrifice a bull (all bori accept either). The blood is spilled on the ground for the bori. The future homeowner and friends eat the flesh. Another hen and rooster sacrifice is done when one moves in. The same is done when building a farm, though the goat is more optional. When moving into an already built house, one sacrifices a hen on the threshold.^[22] Similarly, when digging a well, a person would have a diviner go to the desired area, and they would use charms to point out a good dig site. The digger would sacrifice two foul and start digging.^[30]

In Nigeria, as part of the home building, one may set apart a building where incense offerings were done each Thursday, which summons the bori from anywhere in the world. Two foul were sacrificed on anniversaries of the home building. By the 1910s, this practice had ceased among Nigerian Hausa Muslims, and was not relevant to Hausa Muslims in Tunis and Tripoli, as they were not allowed to build their own homes.^[22]

Grace is said before and after meals, but thanks is not given to the bori during this.^[25]

Different issues regarding bori may be resolved in different ways. For example, a bori may cause a false pregnancy where a woman gains weight for 9 or more months. This usually happens because a jealous woman or disappointed lover entreated a bori to do so, and can be hard to solve as bori lie about their identity to diviners, making it hard to know which is responsible. Another instance is if a woman struggles to conceive, she serks help from a boka or mallam. She burns incense for three days in a row, and breathes it in as she prays to God, Mohammed, Kuri, and other bori. This process may be intended to clear her of evil influence.^[23] An unwed girl's male bori may cause her period to stop suddenly to keep her from marrying and leaving him. When this happens, attempts are made to placate the bori in other ways.^[31]

A child who cries all the time is afflicted by a bori (usually Sa'idi) and the curative method is to hold the child over incense until it quiets.^[26] To protect a child from the Yayan Jiddari, ground nuts and sweets are placed by their head for three nights. After this, the treats are taken to a Mai-Bori, who places them in a pot for a few days. They will be eaten by the bori and vanish. If a childdoesnt develop properly, a Mai-Bori or Boka is consulted to find out the bori responsible, and the bori is sacrificed to. If a saint (marabout) is involved, the mother and other womem of the house may take the child to their tomb. There, they light a candle, burn incense, and rub the child with either the blood of a sacrificed white cock or with dirt from near the tomb. After this, another candle is lit and more incense is burnt. A gift is given to the tomb's caretaker as well.^[24]

In addition to herbal cures, one may undergo another stage of healing, which also functions as part of initation into the bori possession-trance tradition.^[11] An uwal saye (trainer) will know herbal spirit medicine, and cure the patient who has been diagnosed with a spirit causing their affliction accordingly. The uwal saye trains the new people in the dress, behavior, and personality of the spirits; knowledge of the spirit world (Jangare, the city of spirits^[11]); and what illness they cause. This training is mostly kept secret. Acting as a mount is considered a learned skill. The final stage of the cure is acting in a dance as mount, which establishes relations with the spirit, and is considered self administered. This creates a lifelong relationship of mutual benefit; the patient is healed and can help others as a medium, and the spirit can express itself in performances. Possession is important as a cure, since it is thought that if the bori are the origin of a malady, they must also be the origin of it's cure.^[17] Part of this type of cure is acceptance by the patient to be involved in the possession-trance group, and belief in it's practices.^[4]

Attendants to bori dances dress in their best things.^[32] During these ceremonies, songs and praise-epithets are sung to and about the spirits by maroka (musicians). These are not always the same songs and praise-epithets, and may vary in the same performance. This variation helps create a full picture of the spirit.^[17] The vocal music honors and calls the spirits, while the instrumental music induces trance and controls the flow of time at the ceremony.^[11]

The ideal maroka speaks clearly, enunciates well, and knows many stories and praise-epithets about spirits (sometimes knowing these about almost 300 different spirits).^[17] The spirits can't be called without their music.^[4] The maroka are professional musicians, and typically are not themselves possessed. Their music groups usually consist of a leader, chorus, praise-shouter, and an optional vocalist.^[11]

The maroka's music induces trance in the "mounts" (performing possessed) with a gradually increasing tempo, and then the spirits are called down. The mounts sit before the musicians, sometimes covered with a cloth, and move in intensity with the music. They have entered trance when they collapse or begin moving as the spirit. The mounts consciously try to disconnect and provide themselves as a vessel for the spirits.^[17] Auditory and visual intensity are used to induce trance, and this technique is also found in Hamadsha rituals.^[11]

The dancer who is possessed ("ridden") is called a horse. During possession, only the spirit speaks, and the human is not held responsible for what occurs during possession.^[20] When one wants a bori to enter, such as at this time, one does not say "thanks be to God".^[25] Two mounts of the same spirit may have it manifest differently.^[17]

Bori cures provide safety and support for marginalized Hausa, as well as entertainment in the form of dances. These ceremonies may be considered theater, sacred, or both by outsiders. Many first become involved with bori ceremonies and groups because of illnesses that could not be cured. Bori dance ceremonies may be done as often as once a week to maintain health and the relationship between human and spirit.^[17] These periodic performances promote solidarity among the possession-trance group, reaffirm their obligations, and seperate and bond together different groups affiliated with the possession-trance rites. They are frequent during the first half of the dry season and gradually drop in frequency in anticipation of the rainy season, where few ceremonies and initations are done. Performances pick up again after the harvest. Performances are not done during Ramadan.^[33]

Black male goats were at one point preferred sacrifices.^[16] However, chickens, guinea fowl, and pigeons were also used, though turkey and ducks weren't.^[34] Sacrifical animals are selected based on breed, color, sex, and so on, in order to correspond to the appropriate spirit.^[4]

Leadership and other roles

The principal leader of bori possession-trance groups in a region is the Sarkim Bori (chief of the bori). This role is usually filled by a man. He is nominally the authority over all other bori mediums in a region, and hosts any mediums traveling through an area. He organizes performances, sending gifts and invites to the performers. He is given a portion of the performance proceeds, and may be responsible for distributing them. This role is chosen by the possession-trance group based on an individual's experience as a medium and their popularity, and confirmed via the turbaning ceremony used for political offices in general Hausa society. The actual power and role of the Sarkim Bori varies regionally.^[5]

The possession-trance group may borrow titles associated with the emirate structure to describe itself.^[5]

The musicians (maroka) preserve the group's oral tradition, and are thought of as mediators between the mounts and their spirits. Some musicians also are boka, or are astrologers who do horoscopes.^[4] Both Maguzawa and Hausa Muslims primarily employ musicians for spiritual purposes at possession-trance ceremonies. In the Hausa social structure, which is primarily based on occupation for men, musicians, praise singers, and praise shouters are that bottom, and at the bottom of them are the possession-trance musicians. Others affiliated with the group are not ranked by their group affiliation.^[33]

Demographics and Perception

Most of the adherents to the bori possession-trance group are women, who are stereotyped as single and as prostitutes.^[11] Some bori possession-trance leaders and mounts are indeed prostitutes.^[33] Male homosexuals, transvestites, and transgender women also are involved in the group. It is officially condemned by Muslim Hausa religious authorities, but the general opinion among Muslim Hausa is more varied- the group and rituals may be thought if as colorful, dramatic, entertaining, dangerous, frightening, or even disgusting. Musicians associated with the group may be thought of as extortionists, as they receive gifts at ceremonies. It is popularly thought to be an effective cure.^[11]

The distinction between adult and child is very important in the Hausa social hierarchy. One becomes an adult after getting married. Those who are single past the right age are called karuwai, and are considered social deviants. They may be ostracized and harassed, and bori possession-trance devotees are stereotyped as being karuwai.^[5]

Boka services have competition in urban areas from malams (Quran scholars) and astrologers who do horoscopes. In urban areas, non-bori cures, such as hospitals and malams, are sought out before turning to the possession-trance group.^[4]

References

^ Besmer, Fremont. Horses, musicians, and gods: the Hausa cult of possession-trance.
^ H. R. Palmer. "'Bori' Among the Hausas". Man, Vol. 14, 1914 (1914), pp. 113–117.
^ Lewis, Al-Safi, Hurreiz (1991).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Besmer, Fremont. Horses, musicians, and gods: the Hausa cult of possession-trance. pp. 6–9.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Besmer, Fremont. Horses, musicians, and gods: the Hausa cult of possession-trance. pp. 11–13.
^ Variations included Iya, Magaram, and Magajiya. See Bergstrom (2002).
^ Robinson, David, Muslim Societies in African History (Cambridge, 2004), p. 141.
^ See Bergstrom (2002)'s discussion of this, particularly under the Zinder caliphate in Niger.
^ Umar Habila Dadem Danfulani. Factors Contributing to the Survival of the Bori Cult in Northern Nigeria.
^ Masquelier, Review (1992).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Besmer, Fremont. Horses, musicians, and gods: the Hausa cult of possession-trance. pp. viii–xii.
^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 19.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 20–23.
^ Zwemer, Samuel Marinus. Influence of Animism on Islam. pp. 114–115.
^ ^a ^b Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 27–28.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 88–89.
^
ISSN 1369-6815
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^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Bam of the Bori. p. 95.
^ ^a ^b Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 47–48.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 51.
^ ^a ^b Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 86.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 71–72.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 96–99.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 104–105.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 78–79.
^ ^a ^b Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 102.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 32–35.
^ ^a ^b Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 44–45.
^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 30.
^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 84.
^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 109.
^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. pp. 64, 67.
^ ^a ^b ^c Besmer, Fremont. Horses, musicians, and gods: the Hausa cult of possession-trance. pp. 2–5.
^ Tremearne, A.J.N. Ban of the Bori. p. 91.