I couldn't have come across this story at a more perfect time...
There is a tribe in East Africa in which... the birth date of a child is not counted from the day of its physical birth nor even the day of its conception, as in other village cultures. For this tribe the birth date comes the first time the child is a thought in its mother's mind.
Aware of her intention to conceive a child with a particular father, the mother then goes off to sit alone under a tree. There she sits and listens until she can hear the song of the child that she hopes to conceive; the child that wants to come to her.
Once she has heard it - the song of this child - she returns to her village and teaches it to the man who will be the child’s father so that they can sing it together as they make love, inviting the child to join them.
After the child is conceived, she sings it to the baby in her womb. Then she teaches it to the old woman and midwives of her village, so that throughout the labor and at the miraculous moment of birth itself, the child is welcomed with its song.
After the birth, all the villagers learn the song of their new member and sing it to the child when it falls or hurts itself. The song is sung in times of triumph, or in rituals and initiations. And it goes this way throughout their life - when the child is grown, as part of the marriage ceremony, the songs are sung together.
And, then, at the end of life, his or her loved ones will gather around the deathbed and sing this song for the last time.
Excerpted from the book, Welcoming Spirit Home: Ancient African Teachings to Celebrate Children and Community - Sobonfu E. Some
No comments:
Post a Comment