Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa. Nwando Achebe

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СКАЧАТЬ the goddess ani decrees to be right or wrong). Being a female oracle, ibiniukpabi’s mouthpieces were men, who served her ably as priests. Ibiniukpabi served as the supreme court of the Aro people. She heard and settled cases, particularly murder, witchcraft, poisoning, and family cases. Her pronouncements were final. Offenders received their judgment by walking into ibiniukpabi’s tunnel, otherwise known as the “tunnel of disappearance.” If the accused was guilty, he or she would never be seen again. The offender would be “eaten up” by the “Red River,” which would turn red as an indication to the offender’s family that the said offender had been found guilty and ibiniukpabi had “eaten” him or her.

      However, ibiniukpabi’s priests became corrupted during the height of the transatlantic slave trade, and would, instead of carrying out her decrees, clandestinely redirect offenders to be carried away into slave networks.³⁹

       Great God’s Helpers: Female Medicines

      Medicines can be private or public, protective or aggressive. They can also be manipulated by the diviners and priests who prepare them for the community. Some medicines are believed to derive their power from God. They are also believed to be able to act from a distance without direct contact. These medicines range from personal amulets or crossroad medicines to great, powerful shrine-type medicines that enjoy widespread high reputation.

      The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade had a transformative effect on indigenous societies of western Africa. In fact, internal “slavery” continued unabated for many years, thus shepherding in a period of great instability in the West African interior. Even after the so-called destruction of ibiniukpabi between November 1901 and March 1903, Aro slave activity soared in the Igbo interior, wreaking incalculable havoc and destruction on the communities the Aro confronted.

      In the mid- to late nineteenth century in the northern Igbo town of Alor-Uno, a great medicine, adoro, emerged in response to the incessant slave-raiding activities of the Aro and Nike. The people of Alor-Uno desired protection, a worthy protector from their neighbors’ slave raiding. Thus, the community pooled its resources and engaged the services of the most powerful medicine-making family in the region. The medicine makers concocted a powerful protective female medicine called adoro, meaning ka fa donata (may they return), to both safeguard Alor-Uno’s citizens from further devastation and appeal to the exiled Alor-Uno populace “to return home.” And protect them she did. With adoro in place, no longer were the people of Alor-Uno cowed by the action of their enemy slavers. The Alor-Uno people were therefore able to remain in their present place.

      In the course of her life, Alor-Uno people would elevate adoro from a medicine, which was merely venerated, to a universally respected and worshipped female deity who married wives in a process called igo mma ogo (becoming the in-law of a deity), therefore fulfilling the “birthing” responsibilities of the mother goddess. In fact, adoro remains one of the most powerful expressions of female religious and political power in Igboland. She is believed to be so powerful that as many as five male attamas (priests) are needed to minister to her, one in each of the Alor-Uno villages. The most senior attama serves as the onyishi (head) of all the attamas.⁴⁰

       Female Spiritual Monarchs: The Lovedu Rain Queens

      Droughts are common in southern Africa and are a threat to the well-being of the nations of the region. Thus, Sotho-speaking people routinely practice rain rituals that are directed to the ancestors of their past rulers, asking that they intercede on their behalf. The Lovedu believe that if these rain rituals are not performed drought will occur.

      Rain is essential for survival in the arid area the Lovedu inhabit. It is necessary for drinking water and subsistence farming. The Lovedu rain queen (modjadji) is the only one endowed with the power and authority to perform rituals and evoke the necessary medicine to bring forth rain. Rain queens also have the power to control and transform clouds into rain. They are therefore referred to as khifidola-maru-a-daja (transformer of clouds). Their power and authority also allow them to send rainstorms and hurricanes; and withhold rain from Lovedu enemies.

      The rainmaking ceremony is one of most important rituals of the Lovedu. The ceremony is held annually at the beginning of the rainy or wet season. Sacred cycad trees are used in the rainmaking rites. The purpose of the rainmaking ritual is to appeal to the ancestors, gods, and goddesses to supply sufficient rain for human consumption and to ensure a good harvest and adequate grazing for livestock.

      When rain is needed, the Lovedu sacrifice gifts to inform their rain queen of the “crying of her people” and the need for her to protect them. The rain queen then gathers secrets from her “rain potion” medicines, which are stored in rock shelters and prepared in clay pots. The chief ingredient used for rainmaking is the skin of a deceased chief. The rain queen grinds various medicines, empties them into a pot filled with water, and stirs so vigorously that froth appears on top of the pot. Once this happens, the pot will “create” rain. She also mixes medicine into the “rain horns,” and when burnt, the smoke rises into the air and produces clouds. As the only being that can produce clouds, make and withhold rain, and make and withhold hurricanes, her power, authority, and influence are boundless.

      In the Lovedu kingdom, the modjadji reigns supreme. Unlike elsewhere in Africa where there is a dual-sex or complementary system (in which male rulers take care of what is important to their male subjects, and female rulers take care of what is important to their female subjects), the Lovedu have exclusively female leadership structures. But this was not always so. Oral tradition suggests that the first rulers of the Lovedu were male. The first of these male rulers was one Makaphimo, who ruled the Lovedu until around 1800. Makaphimo was succeeded by his son Muhale. The Lovedu also had other male rulers, including Peduli, Khiali, and Mugede. The last known male leader was Mugede. During Mugede’s reign, his rainmaking ability was in decline, and in order to rejuvenate these powers, Mugede committed incest with his daughter. This abominable act ushered in a shift in leadership from men to women. In fact, Mugede’s daughter would become the first modjadji of the Lovedu.

      Referred to by European observers and surrounding Africans as “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed,” the modjadji was renowned, respected, and feared throughout Southern Africa. Lovedu kinship, politics, economy, and religion were united in the person of the rain queen. The modjadji was the living embodiment of the rain goddess; as such, she was inaccessible and mysterious. No one could claim to have seen the rain queen. This inaccessibility, compounded by the fact that the rain queen was immortal and thus could neither be killed nor die from natural causes, elevated the influence and authority that she had. In fact, the modjadji had to take her own life in ritual suicide—a selfless and powerful act—but not before she chose a successor.

      Although the rain queen guaranteed the yearly seasonal cycle and fertility of crops, her emotions were believed to influence rain. If she was dissatisfied, angry, or sad she would not work well and the rain would not come. In 1934 or 1935, during the reign of Modjadji III, the first rains did not come until December. The consequential drought was attributed to her being upset about her daughter’s liaison with a commoner.

      There have been six rain queens in recent times: Maselekwane Modjadji I (1800–1854); Masalanabo Modjadji II (1854–95); Khesetoane Modjadji III (1896–1959); Makoma Modjadji IV (1959–80); Mokope Modjadji V (1981–2001); and Makobo Constance Modjadji VI (2003–5).

      Maselekwane Modjadji I was feared for her power and famed for her diplomacy and influence. When she assumed office, she turned the chaos of her male predecessor’s reign into peace and prosperity. She was, however, surrounded by restrictions that drove her into seclusion. She used Lovedu women for diplomacy by pacifying intruders in the Lovedu kingdom with beer and girls. She won fame and influence, which drew many foreign ambassadors to her court. Some came with cattle; others, with their daughters or sisters—gifts with which they would show homage or supplicate СКАЧАТЬ