water symbolism in african culture and afro-christian churches

Water Symbolism in African Culture and Afro-Christian Churches

David Olugbenga Ogungbile

Religious historians are growing more interested in the study of the relationship between the sacred and the natural worlds.1 They are paying considerable attention to the great influence that indigenous culture exerts on the religions that have been introduced into African soil, such as the Judeo-Christian and Islam faiths. This relationship not only encourages indigenization of Christianity, but also helps in huge production of Africa's own brand of Christianity, which is not necessarily syncretistic. These Afro-Christian churches, commonly called the Aladura Movement2 in Nigeria, have benefited immensely from their special use of some African cultural elements and values, which have produced what we now call African Christianity.

This indigenization process resulting from the integration of certain symbolic elements from the African sacred cosmos with central tenets of the Bible has also given birth to African Theology or African Christian Theology.3 Water, being the most common natural phenomenon, finds expression in the healing ministries of the Aladura Movement not only in Yorubaland, where each of the four main branches took off, but also in the whole of Nigeria and some other parts of the world. This element is greatly responsible for the various branches' growing popularity. To Africans generally, water transcends its scientific properties or chemical composition (H20) as testable in the chemistry laboratory. The sacred quality of water has diverse symbolic meanings and applications in Yoruba religious traditions, and these

1 This study benefited immensely from Professor Jacob Olupona's essay "Some Notes on Animal Symbolism in African Culture and Religion," Anthropology and Humanism 18(1) 1993: 3; and Dr. D. O. (¡Mayiwola's essays (notes 41, 43, and 44) on the Aladura Movement.

2 The four major groups of the Aladura Church Movement are the Christ Apostolic Church, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, the Church of the Lord (Aladura), and the Celestial Church of Christ. They are collectively called the African Independent Church.

3 For fuller discussion of this subject, see A. Shorter, African Christian Theology: Adaptation or Incarnation? (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1975); A. Hastings, African Christianity: An Interpretation (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1976); C. U. Manus, "Contextualization: Theology and the Nigerian Social Reality," The Nigerian Journal of Theology, 1, no. 1 (December 1985): 21-42; and E. O. Babalola, "Phenomenon of African Christianity vis-á-vis Adoption of the Bible and Cultural Awareness in Nigeria," African Journal of Biblical Studies, 6, 2 (October 1991): 90-105.

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22 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

characteristics have been adapted by the Afro-Christian Movement. Therefore, the concern of this article is to examine the symbolic and religious significance of water in Yoruba religious traditions and water's interactions with, and adaptation by, Aladura churches in their therapeutic ritual processes.

Symbolism and Water in Universal Religious Context

Mircea Eliade, a historian of religion, has devoted much attention to the study of symbols and symbolism.4 He notes that all the religious beliefs of man, being a homo symbolicus, have a symbolic character.5 Symbolism translates a human situation into cosmological terms and vice versa; more precisely, "it reveals the continuity between the structures of human existence and cosmic structures."6 Religious symbolism has two qualities through which it reveals the modality of the cosmos: presentational and representational. This revelation explains why a religious symbol may have a depth of interpretations.7 Thus Charles Long writes:

[Rjeligious symbols are multivalent; that is, they have the capacity to express a number of meanings whose continuity is not obvious on the level of ordinary experience. In consequence . . . the religious symbol has the capacity to systematize or integrate a number of diverse meanings into a totality, thus expressing in a profound and intense manner the paradoxical structure of that which is ultimately real.8

Subjects such as words, ideas, rituals, pictures, gestures, sounds, and social groupings find expression in religious symbols and differentiate the direct expression and performance of the bond that relates the subject with inten-

4 His three famous works on symbols and symbolism include Mircea Eliade, "Methodological Remarks on the Study of Religious Symbolism," in The History of Religions: Essays in Methodology Mircea Eliade and J. M. Kitagawa ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959): 86-107; Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism (London: Harvill Press, 1961); Patterns in Comparative Religion, rev. ed. (London: Sheed and Ward, 1976).

5 Eliade, "Methodological Remarks," 95. 6Ibid., 98. 7Ibid., 98-103. 8 Charles Long, Alpha, pp. 9-10 cited in Stan Lusby "Art and Symbol in Religion" in S. Lusby

Religious Studies 301: Religious Myth, Symbol, and Ritual (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee, 1990), 59.

WATER SYMBOLISM IN AFRO-CHRISTIAN CHURCHES & CULTURE 23

tional objects in a religious community.9 Those subjects evoke the deepest feelings and most important meanings in the lives of a religious group. Thus religious symbolism plays a more startling and creative role in the religious life. It carries on the process of hierophantization because it transforms objects into something more than what they appear to be in the natural sphere.

In most known religious traditions of the world, water is taken to be a first significant element of the universal order. The image of water across these traditions takes on many different figures. In most mythical narratives, water is present in the world from the most ancient times, that is, at the time of origins.10 The first myth of Genesis shows the primordial existence of waters at the formless state of the earth.11 The Babylonian creation story follows the biblical myth of a watery chaos on which the earth was later to float.12 An Indian myth tells of many variations on the theme of primeval waters on which Narayana floated, carefree and happy, symbolizing the state of rest and formlessness.13 Varieties of African creation myths ascribe pri-mordiality to water. These cosmogonie myths raise the image of waters to universal motherhood. Beyond the level of mythology to human level of ritual ceremony, water has its regenerative and transforming qualities.

Purification by water has an effect of dissolution, breaking up of every form of human existence, as in Judeo-Christian baptism. Quoting John Chrysostom, Eliade writes, "It represents death and burial, life and resurrection. . . . When we plunge our head into water as into a tomb, the old man is immersed, wholly buried; when we come out of the water, the new man appears at that moment.14 In Islam, ritual purity (Al-Taharah) is significant for its cleaning and purifying effects. In his Ahadith (Mishkat 3), Prophet Muhammad considered purification as "half the faith."15 Both the Ghusl (bath) and the Wudu (ablution) are required preliminaries to prayer {Salai). Eliade summarizes the universal value of water:

9T. M. Ludwig, The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1989), 6.

10 J. Rudhardt, "Water," The Encyclopaedia of Religion, 15, M. Eliade, ed. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1987), 350-58.

11 Gen. 1:2. 12 Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, 191. 13 Ibid., 190. 14 Ibid., 197. 15 A. R. I. Doi, The Cardinal Principles of Islam (Lagos, Nigeria: Islamic Publications Bureau,

1972; reprint, 1981), 86.


To state the case in brief, water symbolizes the whole of potentiality; it is fons et origo, the source of all possible existence. . . . Waters are the foundations of the whole world; they are the essence of plant life, the elixir of immortality, like the amrta; they ensure long life and creative energy, they are the principle of all healing, and so on.16

Further, he writes,

Symbol of creation, harbour of all seeds, water becomes the supreme magic and medicinal substance; it heals, it restores youth, it ensures eternal life. The prototype of all water is the living water.'17

Image of Water in African Religious Traditions

Water, in almost all African societies, is a product of divine action.18 The Yoruba of Nigeria have a world-view symbolized in water at different levels: mythical, mystical, natural, and metaphorical. The transportation of water from its profane use to sacred value is expressed in various Yoruba proverbs, pithy sayings, and narratives. The Yoruba cosmogony, lucidly narrated by Idowu19 and summarized by Awolalu and Dopamu,20 tells of an endless stretch of water (orni) and wild marshes in the timeless beginning. Olódumarè, after due consideration, decided to turn this marshy waste into a useful spot, and so he sent Orisanla with a leaf packet of loose earth (or a snail's shell full of sand). Orisanla also was given a white hen and a pigeon that would spread the earth on the watery space. The scratching and scattering of the earth resulted in the dry land, which was claimed to have started in Ile-Ife. The uneven scattering of the loose earth further resulted in the formation of hills, mountains, valleys, seas, and oceans. The well-covered space became habitable for human beings and animals after due inspection by the chameleon that was sent by Olódumarè.

16 Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, 188. 17 Ibid., 193. 18 E. G. Parrinder cites some African communities' practices to show the relevance of water to

African rituals, myths, temple worship, and symbols. See Parrinder, African Traditional Religion (London: Sheldon Press, 1962), 49-52.

19 E. Β. Idowu, Olódumarè: God in Yoruba Beliefs (London: Longman, 1962), chap. 3. 20 J. O. Awolalu and P. A. Dopamu, West African Traditional Religion (Ibadan, Nigeria:

Onibonoje Press, 1979), 54-57.


Rivers, lakes, springs, and the sea are believed by the Yoruba to have spirits dwelling in them, and cults are constructed for them. Some of these waters are believed to be the metamorphosis of certain divinities like Yemoja, Qya, Qsun, and (¡)bà. Certain things are common to these water divinities. Each of them has a dual existence or nature: each has a primordial, existence with some principal divinities (Imnmqlè), and a human nature through which state they live as human beings. Also, they are all female at both their divine and ecological states. They are claimed to have mystical qualities, functions, and powers transferred to their metamorphosed states, and they are all functional in the ecological circles, being wives of a male divinity, Çàngo (divinity of thunder and lightning). The waters fetched from these rivers are used for medicinal purposes. Because of Qsun's ecological significance, utilitarian values, and relationships with other Yoruba divinities that justify certain traditional beliefs and practices, Qçun water divinity shall be given prominence in our discussion of the image of water.21

The myth of Qsun has various versions, Qsun is claimed to be an offspring of Yemoja, the goddess of the sea;22 a co-wife with Ç)bà, Yemoja, and Aásá;23 the senior (co-wife with Ç)ya) wife of Càngó;24 a co-wife with (¡)ya and Ç)bà;25 a wife of Qrunmìlà and later of Çàngo;26 and a co-wife with Yemojì Yemoja.27 Deidre Badejo's presentation as collected from Qsetúrá assists us in our discussion of Ç)sun. Qsun's role in a creation myth emphasizes her cosmic and social significance as possessing fertility images. (¡)sun was the wife of Qrunmìlà and the only woman among the seventeen Irún-moìè who were sent down by Olódumarè to maintain the world. She possesses some unique qualities. She is the leader of Ajé (witches) and knowledgeable in the art of divination, which she acquired from Qrunmìlà. She

21 Among all Yoruba female divinities, ^)sun has a wider acceptance to both the indigenes of Òsogbo where it is being worshiped, the Nigerians, and people outside Nigeria. It was observed during our fieldwork in August 1995 that those who came for (j)sun Òsogbo Festival 1995 included visitors from Brazil, Philadelphia, and some parts of Germany. See my article "Yoruba Cultural Identity: A Phenomenological Approach to ^)sun Festival" in Religion, Science, and Culture (a publication of NASR), (forthcoming).

22 O. Daramola and A. Jeje, Àwon Àsà àtì Òrìsà Uè Yorûbâ (Ibadan, Nigeria: Onibonje Press, 1967; reprint 1975), 248.

23 C. L. Adeoye, Àsà àtì íse Yorûbâ (London: Oxford University Press, 1979), 42-45. 24 T. A. A. Ladele, O. Mustapha, I. A. Aworinde, O. Oyerinde, and O. Oladapo, Àkójopò

ìwadìi ìjìnlè Asà Yorùbà (Ibadan, Nigeria: Macmillan Press, 1986), 35-37. 25 R. Hallgren, The Good Things in Life: A Study of the Traditional Religious Culture of the

Yoruba People (Loberod, Sweden; Bokforlaget Plus Ultra, 1988), 34-36. 26 C. L. Adeoye, ìgbàgbó àti Èsìn Yorùbà (Ibadan, Nigeria: Evans Brothers, 1985), 203-14. 27Ibid., 221-22.


divorced Qrunmìlà and married $àngó because of barrenness.28 Through performances of sacrifices and mystical experiences with divine beings, she was led to the abode of children in heaven. Many children at the heavenly place followed her because of her pot of beans. She led them to a place called Àràgbànsà, the midway point between heaven and the earth, before they retreated. She gave them more beans, and they continued to follow her. But when Qçun looked back to see the children, they had disappeared! She started to weep.

Qrunmìlà appeared to her, then consoled and congratulated her on the gift of children. By the third month, Qsun's pregnancy had shown. On the ninth month, many barren women had conceived and joyfully delivered babies. There were 124,000 babies born to these women, but these children started to fall ill. Qrunmìlà was consulted. It was revealed to them that Qsun had opened the way for them to become pregnant, but the women did not acknowledge or show gratitude to her. Some sacrifices were then prescribed for them to take to Qsun to appease and thank her. They did so and the children regained their health.29 Qsun was then recognized as the bes-tower of the wealth of children and health. In the words of Badejo, the Qsun goddess became "the quintessence of fecundity, a giving, replenishing, and nurturing spirit."30

How did Qsun metamorphose into a river? One of the myths as presented by Òsogbo indigenes, whose worship of Qsun assumes a dignified status, is as follows: Ç)ya, Qsun, and Qbà were the most popular of Çàngo's wives. Qçun, a very beautiful woman, became the favorite of Çàngo because of Chun's delicious meal, which contained a vegetable soup of est (pumpkin) ingredient.31 Qbà, out of jealousy, wanted to win the affection of Çàngo, their husband. She inquired from Qsun about the ingredients used to cook the soup, which usually attracted their husband. But Qbà misheard est (pumpkin) for eti (human ears). Qbà cut off her own two ears to prepare soup for Çàngo. Qbà presented her meal to $àngo. Çàngo was surprised when he saw human ears in the soup plate. He could not eat the food! Qbà felt dejected and deceived. This "deception" and the shame caused by the removal of her two ears led to a quarrel between her and Q^un. The ensuing

28 D. L. Badejo, "Oral Literature of the Yoruba Goddess (¡)sun," in Religion and Society in Nigeria, J. K. Olupona and T. Falola, ed. (Ibadan, Nigeria: Spectrum Books, 1991), 81-86.

29 Adeoye, ìgbàgbó àtì Èsìn Yorùbà, 203-14. ^Badejo, "Oral Literature," 82. 31 Est is an Ijesa-Yoruba word for the common Yoruba word, elégédé (pumpkin). Both are

pronounced with the same tone-marking and stress.


bitterness and enmity led each of them to go out of their matrimonial home. Qbà went her way to Èjìgbò (a town in Yorubaland), while ()sun went to Ìgèdè-Èkìtì (another town in Yorubaland), where each individually metamorphosed into a river.32 Qsun's hierophanty to Tìméhìn and Laroóyè (co-founders) at a place later to be known as Òsogbo gave the 0sun divinity some ritual significance in Òsogbo. For instance, 0sun was claimed to have halted the Fulani jihad war of 1840 by mystically poisoning the enemies who invaded the town. She again promised to be the protector of the people and bestower of children as long as the people would acknowledge her during the annual festival. Thus during annual festivals the former residents come home to express their thanks to Qsun for the year and to make special requests for children, wealth, good health, safety, security, progress, and so on. Apart from the festival, during which time they make a pilgrimage to the Q^un riverbank, people still today go to the Qsun palace shrine to collect the sacred water fetched from the Qsun River in bottles and other containers by the priestess. Some also do ritual bathing in the Qsun River.

The feminine image of the Qsun divinity shows that women's power is more immediate in life in that they possess the power to arrest fertility, forestall harvest, and spoil crops.33 Full-time devotees of Qsun (who are usually at the (¡>s\xn palace shrine) have many songs that they use to invoke the spirit of Qsun into the sacred water that clients and patronizers come to collect. Three of those songs, which were collected during interviews,34

follow:

(1) Let me be in the company of mothers of children, oh! Let me be in the company of mothers of children; Do not hinder me from participating in the assembly, Let me be in the company of mothers of children.

(2) I worship so that I may have children, Yes! I worship Qsun so that she may give me children.

32 Personal interviews with Prince Samuel Adojare Adenle, the secretary to the Òsogbo Cultural Heritage Council and a prince of the immediate past king of Òsogbo; Chief Gabriel Oparanti, the chairman to Òsogbo Cultural Heritage Council and the Otun Ajagunna of Òsogboland, Ataoja's Palace, Òsogbo, 7 August 1995,10 August 1995, and 21 August 1995.

33 Badejo, "Oral Literature," 83. 34 These songs were collected during my fieldwork interviews with the Chief Priestess of (¡)sun,

Iya < )̂sun, Chief Asande Oyaweoye, (Qsun's Palace Shrine, Ataoja's Palace, Òsogbo, 10 August 1995; more were collected during the people's procession to Òsun grove, Ì8 August 1995.


(3) A stream of vegetable decoction, A torrent of vegetable decoction; Has been 0sun's children's bathwater, Before the coming of western medical experts (doctors).

The singing of these songs is usually accompanied by Qçun's drums and much dancing by women devotees. Worshipers participate in the singing and the dancing.

Another type of Yoruba water symbolism is metaphorical. This symbolism draws from the linguistic applications of the form, nature, and structure of the water, such as well, spring, stream, oceans, seas, and other rivers. In Yoruba cosmology, liquids from the coconut (cocos nucífera), oranges, and so on are also called water (orni). They are mystically applied for certain therapeutic purposes. The Yoruba (African) prodigious use of water has a great cultural influence on Afro-Christian Churches.

Content, Power, and Authority of Water in Afro-Christian Churches

The significance of water in Afro-Christian churches, otherwise known as Aladura churches, in Yorubaland has a historical context. The leaders of these movements claimed that they received revelations and authority to use water for healing. For instance, Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola, the leader of the 1930 Nigerian Great Revival and the founder of the Christ Apostolic Church (C.A.C.), said that "God gave him the Orni ìyè (Living Water) as a sign for the power of healing. . . . [T]he Lord made the Orni ìyè a clarion to call all people unto Him for Salvation and a healing medium for all illnesses and sicknesses" (Isa. 55:1-7).35 During the Great Revival, it vas claimed that Apostle Babalola's efficacious use of water caused him to tower above the herbalists and cult-men of his time, which made most of them renounce their practices. As John Qdunayo Ojo records it,

[T]he River Àayò, sanctified and blessed at Òkè-Oòyè (in Ilesa, the revival centre), in the name of the Lord produced two outstanding classes of people. Some drank of its water and confessed all the atrocities they had committed while others drank of the same water and received healing, deliverance and Baptism of the Holy Spirit.36

35 J. O. Òjò, The Life and Ministry of Apostle Joseph Ayodale Babalola, (1904-1959). (Lagos, Nigeria: Prayer Band Publications, 1988), 207.

36Ibid., 8.


Thus, Àayò River became a rallying point for the large revival crowd; the people fetched the water into various containers that they took to the revival ground to be further blessed by the Apostle.37 Babalola took time to do a socio-biblical exposition to convince his antagonists of God's support and command for his use of water. He commented that not only does water have a universal utility, but also it is not out of place for healing purposes. His exposition highlighted the traditional domestic use of water, medicinal significance, agricultural importance, and natural immunity to destruction. He quoted several biblical references to justify his position.38

Moreover, during his revival services, members of the crowd sang songs to show their belief and expectation of miracles through the use of water. For example,

Jesus the Living Water is here, Living Water, I will live. The Holy Spirit, the Living Water is here, Living Water, I will live. The Father, the Living Water is here, Living Water, I will live. The Trinity, the Living Water is here. Living Water, I will live.39

It further became necessary for Apostle Babalola to sanctify rivers in most other communities where he staged his revivals. Such rivers include Orni Babalola in Ido Ajinnare and Orni Qni in Çfon Alààyè, both in Ondo State of Nigeria. Some rivers from Ipetu-Ijesa, Ikeji, and other places were sanctified. These consecrated rivers are still being patronized today by people from various places within and outside Nigeria.40

D . O . Qlayiwola,41 in a recent research paper on the Aladura Movement, reports a particular case of historical use of water by some leaders of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, which eventually led the society to be given unreserved toleration by a Yoruba traditional king. In 1926, Prophetess and Captan Abiodun Akinsowon (now Emmanuel) led an evangelical team of the Church to Ilesa for missionary campaigns. This campaign tour coincided with the confusion brought about in the town by drought and a

37Ibid., 48-51. 38Ibid., 52-67. See, for instance, Exod. 23:25; 15:23-6; 17:17; Gen. 2:1; 9; 2 Kings 5:1-16;

2:21-22; Isa. 8:5-8; 55:1-7; 38:21; Jer. 2:13; 17:13; 46:11; John 5:4; 2; 9; 7:37f; 6:48; 1 John 5:7-8 (KJV); Acts 10:47; Rom. 11:1-8; 14.

39 Òjò, Life and Ministry, 72. 401 have visited River Ayoo, in particular, several times, and it was usually full of people who

came to take baths. The indigenes said that people came from home and abroad to fetch the water as medicine.

41D. O. (¡Mayiwola, "Hermeneutical-Phenomenological Study of the Aladura Spirituality in Ijesa Social History," Asia Journal of Theology 5, no. 2 (October 1991), 258.


smallpox epidemic that had claimed many lives. It was reported that after Akinsowon had prayed for the king (Qbà Owa Aromolaran I) and the town, she prophesied that rain would fall, the epidemic would stop, and the victims of the smallpox would heal. True to the prediction, there was a heavy downpour of rain. Furthermore, Akinsowon prayed over some water that she then took to sprinkle on the victims of the smallpox and on the land itself. People of diverse problems—barrenness, difficult pregnancy, chronic diseases—were prayed for with the use of consecrated water and were healed.42

Today, members of these churches usually invoke the spiritual power of their leaders to effect healing through the use of water. They fetch water into containers and bring it to revival grounds or churches to be prayed upon by the prophets, prophetesses, pastors, and so forth. For instance, members of the C.A.C, usually sing,

He (Apostle Babalola) used water to perform healing; He used water to perform healing; He resuscitated a dead of yesterday [through water]; He used water to perform the healing.

Content Analysis of the Sources of Water

The symbolic application of water in therapeutic rituals has a great deal to do with the sources of the water. I must mention, however, that the use of water in the four major groups of Aladura churches differs in emphasis, but all of the churches have the traditional conception of evil spiritual powers who are always at work. Words, actions, and physical objects are also used as embellishments to certain elements, which include the source, course, quality, and behavior of waters. Aladura therapeutic use of water hinges on a Yoruba saying:

Water is used for bathing; Water is used for drinking; We do not make water our enemy; Water is used for drinking.

That is, to the Yoruba, you cannot do without water. It has power both during life and at death. Its intrinsic power could be noted in the Yoruba

Headlines, no. 99 (May 1981), 10.


rites of passage, that is, child naming, acceptance of a wife in marriage, and washing of the corpse before the final burial.

In Aladura churches, prescriptions are given on which type of water to use for healing depending on the nature of sickness and the quality of the water. Seven major types of water are used in Aladura therapy:

(1) Skyey Water. These waters include òjò (rain) and ìrì (dew). Rain (òjò) has a heavy downpour. It is believed that its falling power can quench the intensity of a sickness that is metaphorically referred to as fire.

(2) Running Water. These waters include rivers, torrents, and streams. They are noted for regenerating the life of human beings by wiping away evil spirits and by possessing the ability to restore life. Rivers signify peace, purity, and freshness.

(3) Stagnant Waters. These waters include seas, oceans, lakes, ponds, and pools. Most of them are bottomless, troublesome, and intractable. They are noted sometimes for their peaceful-ness and stillness.

(4) Underground Water. An example of this water is a well (kànga), which is noted for its ubiquity. You can dig a well in the ground anywhere. It is almost the most common sources of all types of water in Yorubaland.

(5) Consecrated or Holy Waters. These waters are drawn from any or all of the natural sources of water. They are called Orni ìyàsimlmó in Yoruba.

(6) Mystical Waters. These waters are green water and Orni Ojú Iná (ritually concentrated water).

(7) Other Waters. This category includes water from other natural elements like coconut liquid (cocos nucífera). Cocos nucífera, for instance, is noted for its obscurity, secret behavior, and wonderment. The Yoruba say Kò s'éni fó mo ònà tí orni η bà wo'nú àgbon, or nobody can decipher the source of coconut liquid.

Power of Water

Power is ordered into water only when adequate prescriptions are given by the prophets or prophetesses and when the prescriptions are carried out as given. The following are common prescriptions given by prophets and prophetesses:


(1) Waters could be fetched from any of the above-named sources. Qlayiwola43 has also noted that in the Celestial Church of Christ the members of the clergy prescribe water from "Mercy Land," sea, dew, rain, stagnant river, and running river.

(2) At times, it is requested that waters be collected from three or seven of the natural sources of water.

(3) Waters fetched are symbolic of the nature of the problems to be solved.

(4) Waters are fetched into bottles, pots, buckets, and so on to be placed at the Mercy Land (He Aánú).

(5) At times, water is to be fetched at a particular period of the day. For example, water fetched at the earliest period of the morning is regarded as the cleanest, clearest, and purest. This water is called orni àjipon (early morning water) and is usually used by women in early pregnancy or for women who suffer miscarriages.44

How do the Aladura prophets and prophetesses order power into water? It has been mentioned that some rivers are already consecrated by some leaders of these churches. While some waters that are not ritually consecrated are ordinarily used, it is necessary that other elements be used, such as soap, sponges, and words from Psalms and leaders of the churches. The rivers are used for ritual baths to carry illnesses and misfortunes away. Palm fronds, usually called sword of victory (Ida Zsçgun), are dipped inside the water containers at the Mercy Land to be prayed upon. The prophets and prophetesses pray and recite words of Psalms upon it. This water is used for several purposes as demanded by the clients. Mystic waters are prepared with some local ingredients like sulfur, orange juice, black soap, and so on, which are used for chronic diseases, often by evacuating poison through vomit or excretion. They are also used to exorcise children with familiar spirits, or "born-to-die children." The people believe that specific places should be used in some cases for the water to be efficacious. For instance,

43 D. O. Olayiwola, "Celestial Aladura Christianity in the Yoruba Religio-Cultural Matrix," in The Triple keligious Heritage of Nigeria: Three Essays, C. Steed and D. Westerlund, ed. (Uppsala Research Reports in the History of Religions, 1995), 62.

44 D. O. Ogungbile, "A Comparative Study of Revelation in Aladura Christianity and Divination in Yoruba Religious Traditions" (unpublished M. A. dissertation, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 1992) 131-44. See also D. O. Çlayiwola, "The Interaction of African Independent Churches with Traditional Religions in Nigeria," Studia Missionalia, 42 (1993), 367.


a client may be told to fetch a pot of water to be carried on the head to a crossroad. The person, after reaching the prescribed place, will pour the water on his or her body. That person will throw the pot behind him or her to be broken and will not look back at the breaking of the pot, which signifies the vanishing of problems.

Authority of Water

The authority of water in Aladura churches is seen as a way for the successful elimination of visible and invisible enemies who are capable of manipulating situations, events, intellect of human beings, times, and spaces. To the Yoruba and to Africans generally, no sickness has a natural cause. All sickness is traceable to supernatural causative agents. These remote causes should be diagnosed and treated spiritually. The following are specific situations in which water is variously used in the Aladura churches.

According to Elisha Babalola,45 water is not used in a casual manner. Instead it must be prescribed, and necessary order must be followed for it to have an authority to heal diseases. To Babalola, many of the Psalms are important to instill power into water to be efficacious. The most common use of water in the Aladura churches is for baptism. Through that rite, a new member is accepted into the Aladura community. Another general use of water is for dedication of a new house, a new child, a new plot of land, a new business center, and so forth. Specific Psalms are used. In these cases, "holy" or consecrated water is used.

Women with overdue, prolonged, or difficult pregnancies are told to undergo ritual baths in rivers. They recite certain statements inside the rivers. Certain numbers of sponges, soaps, and activities are ordered to be used, usually seven times, twenty-one times, or forty-two times. Such statements include the following:

Bad ori (head), away with water/stream. Foes of sorcerers and witches, pack your load. Domestic enemies and bad wishers, conquer for me. Battle of mourning, the slanders, The battle of "call and shoot" The battle of worldly lion, leopard, The battle of progress hinderers, away with streams all.

45 Personal interview with E. O. Babalola, Pastor of Christ Apostolic Church, Department of Religious Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 20 February 1996.


It is also common for these women to sing songs such as this one:

Make me deliver with ease, Lord. Make me deliver with ease, Lord. Let my [the mother] and baby's voices be heard On the day of delivery.

Women who suffer sterility, infertility, or barrenness could also be given such treatment. Additionally, "consecrated" water is usually given to them.

Poison from food and drink or poison contacted during sleep is believed to be the works of the agents of darkness, the orno aráyé, the witches, and the sorcerers. When a client goes to an Aladura prophet or prophetess, the cause of the poison is sought. In most cases, such poison causes stomach pains, swollen stomach, or prolonged stomach trouble. "Consecrated" water is given to the client to drink after some prayers are offered over the water and the patient. In the case of the Celestial Church of Christ, mystic water is used in conjunction with some other prescriptions by the prophet or prophetess.

Another category of problems for which consecrated water is used includes soliciting for peace, health, wonders, and victory. Ill health or ill luck arising from an inability to get a good job, husband, or wife; incessant problems at one's work place; the liquidation of one's business; and bad omens discovered through some signs are taken to Aladura prophets and prophetesses to discover the cause and necessary ritual prescriptions. In most cases, dew water is recommended to be collected. To acquire victory, the prophets and prophetesses pray over the collected water. The client rubs the water on the palms and then on the face, the head, and the whole body for the hands of the "enemies" to be removed. At times, the dew that is collected is prescribed to be mixed with more water to use to bathe the whole body or sprinkle in one's room or business center.46 Closely related to these are clients who desire wealth, prosperity, and success. Waters from seas, oceans, and lakes are prescribed. This practice is in line with a Yoruba incantation: "Agbe ni í gbé're pàdé olókun, Àlùkò ni í gbé're pàdé olósàr (Agbe carries goodness to the goddess of the sea; Àlùkò47 brings goodness to the goddess of the lagoon). It is then believed that the goodness inherent in the sea and the lagoon has an intrinsic power of transferring wealth,

46 Personal interview with Olufemi Odanye, a former leader in the Celestial Church of Christ, Ilesa, Nigeria: Arisekola Close, Imo Street, Ilesa, 13 February 1996.

41 Agbe and Àlùkò are names of two types of birds or woodcock.


prosperity, and success of whatever type to the fetcher of the waters. The Aladura takes it very seriously to the point that some Aladura prophets, prophetesses, and members constantly go on pilgrimage to these places, especially in Lagos.48

"Holy water" in Aladura churches is also believed to be capable of resuscitating the dead. In the case of Aladura Celestians, the use of mystic water, which is designated as "green" water, is common for this purpose. However, as mentioned earlier, before water can be efficacious, there are processes to follow. The Aladura operate on the model of Explanation— Prediction—Control, which is reminiscent of the Yoruba traditional practice of If a divination.49 In addition, there is a great deal of emphasis on the Yoruba traditional conception of spiritual entities, in the form of both malevolent and benevolent beings. Moreover, the Yoruba make a huge use of symbols from traditional natural phenomena such as water, mountains, hills, and so forth.

Conclusion

Studies on Aladura or Afro-Christian churches will always interest historians of religions. The Aladura Movement as a whole undoubtedly commands the highest number of adherents. Many new aspects are yet to be learned—aspects that have much cultural significance in the process of indigenization and that cannot be seen as syncretism. The most profound finding in the study of this movement is its adaptation of cultural symbols and symbolism. Writing on the Yoruba Christological adaptation of this movement, which I find suitable to sum up my discussion, C. U. Manus50

states,

The effort of the Aladura Christians to enter into primal sources of a particular African tradition as that of the Obáship represents one of such ventures currently being undertaken in the Third World Churches towards correcting irrelevant images of Jesus. This initiative urges the other

It is noteworthy that most Aladura churches erect their buildings near streams and rivers. They also dig wells in front of their buildings. D. O. Ogungbile, "A Comparative Study of Revelation in Aladura Christianity." C. U. Manus, "Jesu Kristi Ç)bà: A Christology of 'Christ the King' among the Indigenous Christian Churches in Yorubaland, Nigeria," Asia Journal of Theology, 5 no. 2 (October 1991), 326. See also K. Bediako, "The Significance of Modern African Christianity: A Manifesto," Studies in World Christianity 1, Part 1 (1995): 51-67.


churches to begin to let go the trappings of colonial Christianity that has long been linked to the political power bases in Rome, England, and North America. Besides, these churches teach Africans that there is need to return to the spiritualities and values of our noble and ancient cultures and to reappraise their rhythms and delicate customs of rituals, loyalty, and adoration.

While I am not concluding or recommending Aladura Christianity as the "way" to salvation, the point I am reiterating here is that the movement bridges the gap between the biblical faith and African culture.

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Note on the Contributor Ogungbile, David Olugbenga, M.A., is lecturer in the Department of Re

ligious Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ilè-Ife, Nigeria. He specializes in History of Religions and Sociology of Religion.

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