LIVING: A Charismatic Festival

Religion plays a central role in the lives of many in Ghana. Over the past weekend we were first hand witnesses to a vibrant religious festival held in the schoolyard next to the library.


The sounds of Ghanaian worship were known to me already. My first days in Ghana, in Accra, I was woken by the sounds of distant singing and praying early in the morning. When Ebenezer drove Sonja and I around Accra we heard the amplified voices of several preachers over the sounds of traffic. Billboards advertising churches (and their preachers) were everywhere. The north of Ghana is purportedly Muslim, but there is scant sign of Islam in the places we have been; Ghana as a whole is 70% Christian. Many taxi owners name their taxis something religious (like for example "Gods Victory Taxi" or "Our God Is Good Taxi"), the same goes for shops ("Christ is King Beauty Parlor"). In contrast to the west, where we have a mentality of keeping religion out of the public square, Ghanan's seem to revel in displaying their faith every chance they get.

Thirty-two Methodist churches, what is called a "circuit", gathered for this annual festival in Busua. Its location rotates among the member churches. We observed the proceedings out of our kitchen window and through the cracks in our bamboo fence (at first we considered attending, but soon realized that we would know understand very little, they did speak English, but lapsed into their local language so frequently that it would have been a lost cause). We didn't think it was right to take pictures of the event after talking it over with Emmanuel. Tents and chairs were setup along the perimeter of the yard for the faithful. Two stacks of speakers were setup on Friday morning, the sound check only hinted at their true power, soon we would face their volume for 3 days.

The global phenomenon of the Christian Charismatic Movement has probably effected every major branch of Christianity. Catholicism has Life in the Spirit in Slovenia and America, for example. People are drawn to the Charismatic movement for its active, spirit filled worship. But worship here in Ghana is very very active. Dancing, screaming, exorcisms, four hour long speeches,and altar calls--all backed by a live band playing soft jazz (it fit in a strange sort of way)--complemented more traditional sermons and bible study.

Many Ghanaian churches have morning and evening services daily, here at the festival they started very early on Saturday and Sunday. Then they just kept on Going (all the way until 11 p.m. on Saturday). Saturday was a hot dry day. With the Ghanaian sun beating down on him the Reverend began to talk. He had a voice like Louis Armstrongs, not as deep but just as raspy, just as powerful. A loud deep boom, like a digitized drum, slammed out of the speakers as he saturated the audio feed again and again, exhorting the people to have faith in the Lord. Repetition, songs, chants, call-and-response: high energy worship under the hot sun, dressed in his Sunday clothes--a dark black suit--pacing back and forth within the tent perimeter between the two stacks of speakers twice as tall as a man, with a band behind him. He kept it up for four hours; even considered solely as a feat of stamina it was amazing. His voice would rise in repetition, exhortations followed by a base shock-wave as the people called out Hallelujah, Amen, clapping. Then he would start singing, out of tune to a western ear (I think out of tune to a Ghanaian ear too, but I can't be sure) and the people answer in snatches of song that seem disconnected because I only understand the English parts. In contrast with the singing in Slovenia, which for all its beauty tends toward the technical, the singing of the people and the minister substitutes raw strength for all the other virtues of music. I heard snatches of hymns from back home in Forest Hill seemingly interspersed among native hymns and often breaking down (or rising up?) into slow machine gun like chants of a single phrase, with people joining in. I observed the proceedings from the kitchen while frying bananas, the last row of chairs started a meter from the window. I had a good view of the preacher. On Friday the power ran out, so the generators added their loud hum to the mix. The participants were dressed in white, the leaders dressed in black suits. The men wore long pants (men in Ghana usually wear long pants). Most of the older women had turbans on. The energy level seemed to increase as dusk fell on Saturday. Several bouts of repetition. One women began to scream, then other voices joined periodically; an exorcism--or several--took place, I think. A women in front of the kitchen window starts to scream the scream of the possessed and falls over, event volunteers rush to help. They begin collecting people out to the side of the library. People now stand up out of their chairs, at the behest of the preacher they begin to stream into the center and join him. His voice gets faster and faster, repetition. Then it stops, total silence. Then it starts again, and builds, and builds, and builds, and stops, total silence. Again. Again. A few women are screaming, most are singing and praying . Then it is over. A small group continues to pray softly in the center.

On Sunday, after speeches, sermons, and bible study, everyone streams into the center and they begin to dance, the older people stand and dance in their seats.   I see the mayor of Busua standing off to the side, he seems pleased and proud that everything is going so well, (later Emmanuel would confirm that the event was a big success, something I could only guess because I had never seen one before) he makes eye contact with me and I exit our living complex to greet him. He asks how I am enjoying it. It's interesting, I've never seen anything like it. I think it's a little loud. He assures me that today it will be over by midday. As I talk to the Mayor everyone is dancing and singing, a few hours later the yard is empty except for the people taking down the event.

All in all, a very intense way to worship.


Religija igra osrednjo vlogo v življenju mnogih Gancev. Prejšnji vikend se je na šolskem dvorišču, v neposredni bližini knjižnjice, odvijal verski festival.
Prvič sem zvok ganskih molitev slišal v Accri. Zgodaj zjutraj me je zbudil oddaljen zvok petja in molitve. Tudi ko smo se a Ebenezerjem vozili po Accri, so odmevali ozvočeni glasovi pridigarjev iz bližnjih cerkva. Plakati, ki so oglaševali cerkve in njihove pridigarje, so bili vsepovsod. V celotni državi je okrog 70% kristjanov. Sever Gane je sicer muslimanski, a na območjih kjer se gibljeva o tej religiji ni niti sledu. Nasprotno od zahoda, kjer prevladuje mentaliteta, da religija spada v sfero zasebnega, jo Ganci uvrščajo v javno življenje. Svojo versko pripadnost razkazujejo na vsakem koraku. Npr. številni taksisti svojemu vozilu dodajo kako religijozno frazo – »Taksi božje zmage«, taksi »Naš Bog je dober« itd. Podobno je s trgovinami (npr. »Lepotni salon Jezusa Kralja«). 

Na letnem festivalu v Busui se je zbralo 32 metodističnih cerkva. Lokacija vsako leto rotira med udeženimi cerkvami. Dogajanje sva spremljala skozi kuhinjsko okno in odprtine v bambusovi ograji(imela sva se namen dogodka udeležiti, a sva hitro ugotovila, da bi bolj malo razumela). Po posvetovanju z Emanuelom sva se odločila da dogodka ne bova fotografirala.
V petek zjutraj so organizatorji postavili šotore, stole ter dvoje velikih zvočnikov. Že ob preverjanju zvoka sva slutila, da bo naslednje tri dni zelo zelo glasno.:)

Krščansko karizatično gibanje je globalni fenomen, ki je zajel vse večje veje krščanstva. Primer v katolištvu je npr. gibanje Prenova v duhu. H karizmatičnim gibanjem ljudi pritegne predvsem aktivna, močno poduhovljena molitev. 

V Gani je molitev zelo zelo aktivnaJ. Tradicionalne pridige in biblične ure dopolnjujejo ples, vriskanje, kriki, eksorcizem, govori dolgi (tudi po štiri ure), pričevanja...Vse to ob spremljavi mehkega jazza (ki na nek nenavaden način sovpada z dogajanjem).

Večina ganskih cerkva ima maše vsak dan zjutraj in zvečer, na festivalu pa so z molitvami začeli že zgodaj zjutraj, nadaljevali čez dan, zaključili pa šele pozno zvečer (v soboto ob enajstih zvečer).
Sobotni dan je bil izjemno vroč, suh. Pod gansko pripeko je pastor začel s svojim nagovorom. Njegov glas je bil raskav, močan, spominjal me je na mogočen glas Luisa Armstronga. Ponavljanje, pesmi, napevi, intenzivno čaščenje pod vročim soncem; pražnja obleka; premikanje naprej in nazaj med zvočniki, dvakrat višjimi od njega; za njim glasbena skupina. Z vsako ponovitvijo je volumen njegovega glasu naraščal, ljudje so mu odgovarjali z aleluja, amen ter ploskali. Tako je pastor nadaljeval štiri ure. Že samo njegova vzdržljivost je bila neverjetna!
Med ganskimi napevi sem zaznal tudi odlomke spevov, ki sem jih slišal še doma, v Forest Hillu.

Dogajanje sem spremljal iz kuhinje, med cvrtjem banan. Zadnja vrsta se je namreč začela približno meter stran od okna. Imel sem dober razgled na dogajanje, tudi na pridigarja.
Udeleženci so bili oblečeni v bele, vodje programa pa v črne obleke. Moški so nosili dolge hlače (kot je v Gani, kljub vročini, običajno). Večina starejših žensk je imela na glavi turbane.
V soboto se mi je zdelo, da se je energija, ko je padel mrak, le še stopnjevala. Stopnjevali so se tudi »vali« intenzivnega ponavljanja, ki so izzvali krike nekaj udeleženk. Dobil sem občutek da izvajajo neke vrste eksorcizem. Ženska, ki je stala pred kuhinjskim oknom, je med krčevitim kričanjem celo padla  po tleh. Te vernike so organizatorji poslali na stran prizorišča, ostali pa so vstali in se pridružili pridigarju v sredini. Njegov govor je postajal hitrejši in hitrejši, ponavljanja vedno bolj intenzivna. Ozračje je kar vibriralo v tempu, nakar se je pastor ustavil. Nastala je popolna tišina. Ponovno je začel, počasi, tišje, napetost je naraščala in naraščala, in ponovno tišina. Spet in spet. Ob tem je nekaj žensk kričalo, večina pa pela in molila. 
Okrog enajsih se je obred zaključil. V sredini je v blagi molitvi ostala le še manjša skupina.


Srečanje se je sklenilo v nedeljo, po govorih, pridigah in biblični uri,ko so se udeleženi ponovno zbrali v sredini in zaplesali ob spremljavi duhovne glasbe. Starejši verniki so se jim pridružili na svojih mestih. Zagledal sem župana, ki je stal ob strani, vidno zadovoljen z dogajanjem. Stopil sem do njega, veselo me je pozdravil in vprašal ali uživam v festivalu. Odvrnil sem mu, da je zelo zanimivo, da nisem še nikoli videl česa podobnega, da je sicer malenkost (pre)glasno. Zagotovil mi je, da se bo okrog poldneva srečanje zaključilo. In res, nekaj ur zatem, ko so vsi še tako radoživo plesali in peli, je bilo dvorišče prazno.

Če sklenem svoje vtise: bila sva priči zelo zelo intenzivnemu verskemu češčenju.

Tomaž