Return to the Land of Souls-gctid51531

[Okomfo Akosua]

Not just another documentary but a story that is being  told of how OUR spiritual traditions of Kmt are continually  threatened and how we must diligently fight to preserve them!  An excellent video that I encourage you to share with others.

In the 21st century, many ancestral beliefs are struggling to survive  in a hostile, fast-changing world. In southeast Côte d'Ivoire, some  Akan communities still make contact with the spirits through Komians or  animistic priests who go into a trance and are possessed by  the spirits  of the Forest and the Waters.

Jean Marie Addiaffi (1941-1999), a writer and intellectual from Ivory  Coast, fought to conserve the Akans' oral literature, myths and  legends, and the knowledge and uses of the plants.
In Return to the Land of Souls, Yéo Douley, a disciple of Jean  Marie Addiaffi, will set out on a journey to visit his master's grave  and carry out a ritual libation. On his travel, he will attend the  initiation rites of three people chosen by the spirits and witness one  of them proclaimed as the new Komian, or high animistic priest.

 Watch the video for free here:
Return to the Land of Souls | Watch Documentaries Online | Promote Documentary Film

Purchase it here:
DER Documentary: Return to the Land of Souls

More about the film here:
Return to the Land of Souls

Enjoy and share your thoughts!

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Sini wei bɛyɛ anika pa ara. Meda ase! :hello::Kmt:

[NyameNti]

Okomfo Akosua;51531 wrote: Not just another documentary but a story that is being  told of how OUR spiritual traditions of Kmt are continually  threatened and how we must diligently fight to preserve them!  An excellent video that I encourage you to share with others.

In the 21st century, many ancestral beliefs are struggling to survive  in a hostile, fast-changing world. In southeast Côte d'Ivoire, some  Akan communities still make contact with the spirits through Komians or  animistic priests who go into a trance and are possessed by  the spirits  of the Forest and the Waters.

Jean Marie Addiaffi (1941-1999), a writer and intellectual from Ivory  Coast, fought to conserve the Akans' oral literature, myths and  legends, and the knowledge and uses of the plants.
In Return to the Land of Souls, Yéo Douley, a disciple of Jean  Marie Addiaffi, will set out on a journey to visit his master's grave  and carry out a ritual libation. On his travel, he will attend the  initiation rites of three people chosen by the spirits and witness one  of them proclaimed as the new Komian, or high animistic priest.

 Watch the video for free here:
Return to the Land of Souls | Watch Documentaries Online | Promote Documentary Film

Purchase it here:
DER Documentary: Return to the Land of Souls

More about the film here:
Return to the Land of Souls

Enjoy and share your thoughts!

Thank you Okumfo Akosua!  I just finished watching Return to the Land of Lost Souls.  I am so overwhelmed!  There is so many things that I don't understand.  This place, the people- all engulfed in a place called Kmt.  
....even more ironic is now I can understand that with all the odds against me I remain a woman that in spite of my eureurasiaan tendencies, feels something that has pulled and pulled and pulled me to this very place in time in my life.

And again I say thank you to the ancestors who when called upon, will show you the place in which you belong.:sankofa:

[Okomfo Akosua]

Sista NyameNti, Kmt is yours!  Claim it.  Little by little, you can learn and understand the culture and traditions that seem so foreign to you now.  All you have to do is commit yourself to studying and open your heart.  Give in to the pull and call upon your Divine and Benevolent Ancestors of Black/Kmtyw decent to guide you.  The re-Kmtywization process will take time but it is a process that brings healing and completeness to ones soul!!!:Kmt::Kmt::Kmt:

[Okomfo Akosua]

Obadele, I don't know what you said but I am assuming you enjoyed the video.

:D

[Okomfo Akosua]

The Sacrifice of Queen Poku.The Baule people Cote d'IvoireThe Baule people is one of the largest ethnic group in the Côte d'Ivoire.


They have played a central role in twentieth-century history of the country. They waged the longest war of resistance to French colonization of any West Kmtyw people, and maintained their traditional objects and beliefs longer than many groups in such constant contact with eureurasiaan administrators, traders, and missionaries. The Baule belong to the Akan peoples who inhabit Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. According to a legend, during the eighteenth century, the queen, Abla Poku, had to lead her people west to the shores of the Comoe, the land of Senufo. In order to cross the river, she sacrificed her own son not by killed but by , tribal baptism  ,. This sacrifice was the origin of the name Baule, for baouli means "the child has died." Now about one million Baule occupy a part of the eastern Côte d'Ivoire between the Komoé and Bandama rivers that is both forest and savanna land. Baule society was characterized by extreme individualism, great tolerance, a deep aversion toward rigid political structures, and a lack of age classes, initiation, circumcision, priests, , or associations with hierarchical levels.

Each village was independent from the others and made its own decisions under the presiding presence of a council of elders. Everyone participated in discussions, including straggers. It was an egalitarian society. The Baule compact villages are divided into wards, or quarters, and subdivided into family compounds of rectangular dwellings arranged around a courtyard; the compounds are usually aligned on either side of the main village street.

 The Baule are agriculturists; yams and maize are the staples, supplemented by fish and game; coffee, cocoa and kola nuts are major cash crops. The importance of the yam is demonstrated in an annual harvest festival in which the first yam is symbolically offered to the ancestors, whose worship is a prominent aspect of Baule religion. Ancestors are the object of worship but are not depicted. The foundation of Baule social and political institutions is the matrilineal lineage; each lineage has ceremonial stools that embody ancestral spirits. Paternal descent is recognized, however, and certain spiritual and personal qualities are believed to be inherited through it. The Baule believe in an intangible and inaccessible creator god, Nyamien. Asie, the god of the earth, controls humans and animals. The spirits, or amuen, are endowed with supernatural powers. Religion is founded upon the idea of the immortality of the soul.
 
 Baule art is sophisticated and stylistically diverse. Non-inherited, the sculptor's profession is the result of a personal choice. The Baule have types of sculpture that none of the other Akan peoples possess. Wooden sculptures and masks allow a closer contact with the supernatural world. Baule statues are usually standing on a base with legs slightly bent, with their hands resting on their abdomen in a gesture of peace, and their elongated necks supporting a face with typically raised scarification and bulging eyes. The coiffure is always very detailed and is usually divided into plaits. Baule figures answer to two types of devotion: one depicts the "spiritual" spouse who, in order to be appeased, requires the creation of a shrine in the personal hut of the individual. A man will own his spouse, the blolo bian, and a woman her spouse, the blolo bla. The Baule believe that before they were born into the world they existed in a spirit world, where each one had a mate. Sometimes that spirit mate becomes jealous of their earthly mate and causes marital discord. When this happens, a figure depicting the other world spouse is carved and placated with earthly signs of attention.

 The Baule are also noted for their fine wooden sculpture, particularly for their ritual figures representing spirits; these are associated with the ancestor cult. The Baule have also created monkey figures gbekre that more or less resemble each other. Endowed with prognathic jaw and sharp teeth and a granular patina resulting from sacrifices, the monkey holds a bowl or a pestle in its paws. Sources differ on its role or function: some say it intervenes in the ritual of divination, others that it is a protection against sorcerers, or a protective divinity of agrarian rites, or a bush spirit. The figures and human masks are elegant -- well polished, with elaborate hairdressings and scarification.
 
 Masks correspond to several types of dances: the gba gba, the bonu amuen, the mblo and the goli. They never represent the ancestors and are always worn by men. The gba gba is used at the funerals of women during the harvest season. It celebrates beauty and age, hence its refined features. The double mask represents the marriage of the sun and the moon or twins, whose birth is always a good sign. The bonu amuen protects the village from external threats; it obliges the woman to a certain discipline; and it appears at the commemorations of death of notables. When they intervene in the life of the community, they take the shape of a wooden helmet that represents a buffalo or antelope and which is worn with a raffia costume and metal ankle bracelets; the muzzle has teeth, which incarnate the fierce animal that is to defend the group.
 
Mblo is the name of a performance category that uses face masks in skits and solo dances.  Mblo masks, used in entertainment dances are one of the oldest of Baule art forms. These refined human face masks are usually portraits of particular known individuals. Mblo masks embody the core Baule sculpture style manifested in figures and decorated objects – spoons, combs, pulleys and the like. Lustrous curving surfaces, suggesting clean, healthy, well-fed skin, are set off by delicately textured zones representing coiffures, scarifications, and other ornaments. The idealized faces are introspective, with the high foreheads and the large downcast eyes. Ornaments above the face – birds, combs, horns, faces, and other decorative motifs – are chosen for their beauty, and have no iconographic significance. Fine scarifications and coiffures denote personal beauty, refinement and a desire to give pleasure to others.



Baule (Baoule, Bawule) Côte d'Ivoire
 
 Vessel for the mouse oracle. Around 1 million Baule occupy a part of the eastern Cote d'Ivoire that is both forest and savanna land. Baule society was characterized by extreme individualism, great tolerance, a deep aversion toward rigid political structures, and a lack of age classes, initiation, circumcision, priests, secret societies, or associations with hierarchical levels. Each village was independent from the others and made its own decisions under the presiding presence of a council of elders. The Baule are agriculturists; yams are the staple, supplemented by fish and game; coffee and cocoa are major cash crops. A headman and a council of elders handle village affairs. Baule art is sophisticated and stylistically diverse. Inside the carved receptacle, a device composed of sticks records the movements of mice. Mouse divination is one of several divination techniques used in Baule society. The natural proximity of mice to the earth's surface permits them to gain access to the ancestors, thus enabling them to foretell events. Boxes for the mouse oracle (in which sticks are disturbed by a live mouse, to give the augury) are unique to the Baule.
 
 Material: wood

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

@Okomfo Akosua, i found it to be quite good indeed. Any reflections on it?

[Okomfo Akosua]

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I have watched it numerous times.

[Mkwavinyika]

Bump.

[Tenkamenin]

Near the end of the film I enjoyed watching Yeo go through the water purification ceremony.  Watching the community drum, clap, sing and supporting Yeo as he cleansed his soul was powerful.  Furthermore I've never seen support like that before, not at a church not at a mosque not anywhere, the type of support is liberating and could only translate into good results if taken seriously by reflection.

I wish they dug deeper about the belief system and the importance of maintaining the culture.

[Tenkamenin]

This is one of those documentaries you can watch 3 or 4 times and still learn something new. Approximately 18 min into the documentary Yeo interviewed a disciple of Nana Addiaffi who gave a fantastic narration of Nana's journey into Spiritual Liberation. What caught my attention about the narration was the allegories used to describe Nana's spiritual transformation. For instance,

1) On a trip to the woods Nana saw a woman/ghost with large breasts. The woods representing the unknown and the woman symbolizing fertility, fullness, and attraction/curiosity. In other words Nana a former Catholic choir master journeyed outside of his element (cathedral/Christianity) and became curious of his culture.

2) On another journey into the woods Nana saw the woman/ghost again, but this time she turned into a fawn in which he tried to catch but failed. Although he failed to catch the fawn, his curiosity and determination led him into the world of Kmtyw Spirituality. Interestingly, in this scene the fawn and her swiftness symbolized struggle, frustration, and the need for focus, or in other words there is no easy path to liberation. To reach complete liberation you have to immerse yourself in the culture and the world of the Ancestors.

3) It took him 7 yrs to get through the journey of liberation. 7 representing completion and understanding.

Dope stuff! The dancing was phenomenal, the male Akoms were doing there thing.