Sites of Rituals: Temples, Churches, Synagogue, Caves and Trees
Most have often mistaken gatherings at trees, caves or rivers for idolatry practices but there is always a better and more educated way to look at this aspect. The spiritual or religious significance of a site comes from various experiences all of which were beneficial to the community that gathers at such places. That events that occurred at these places were a manifestation of God is also beyond doubt. In any society that has not abandoned its spiritual roots, legends abound.
Take for instance the case of a lake in Congo. It is a revered place for a very curious reason. Legend has it that a long time ago, a band of migrants lead by a prominent chief found itself stuck without water and doom was hovering over their heads. When all hope was lost, the group said their libations and retired for the night. No one had hoped to see the morrow since hopelessness had seized the camp. With his people, the chief went to sleep in is lean-to. The following morning, some of the dazed and thirsty campers woke up and went to the chief's shelter. Lo and behold! the chief had disappeared. Where he had slept, they found a pool of clear water. The pool had the shape of a man. To the campers, God had intervened to save the multitude and the chief had acted as the intercessor. Now that everyone was saved, the place would become a holy site. God had shown his mercy while the chief had sacrificed himself for the salvation of his people. Although this sounds rather dubious a legend, it is curious to note that the lake, big as it is, it has the shape of prostrate man when viewed from an aerial vintage point. This case it not drastically different from the Biblical tale in which Moses implores God to help feed the starving Israelites as they were dying of hunger in the scorching desert.[Exodus 16] According to that Biblical legend, God answered by sending manna. Were the Israelites to gather at this site to express their gratitude to Divine Providence such a congregation would not and should not be idolatry.
Continuing with the Biblical theme and how it relates to non-Middle Eastern religious practices, the case of shrines and trees is considered. Whenever people gathered to worship, it was almost imperative to have good shelter against inclement elements. Environmental factors determined the kind of shelter that would be used. In the desert climes of the Middle East, trees were scarce. Without enough trees to afford decent canopies against the sun, the only choice that gatherers had were tents. A tent for religious rites was called a tabernacle [Exodus 25 and 26] which was also convenient for a nomadic people. All they had to do when it was time for rituals was take the rolled tent off the back of a camel, drive a few pegs and supports into the ground to afford a tabernacle. Packing the tent would be just as simple when it was time to move on to a new oasis or valley with adequate grazing for the livestock.
In climes where the economic and environmental factors could lead to a less peripatetic way of life, people had to find alternative places of worship. In the tropics, the heavy rainfall afforded lush vegetation. With an abundance of trees with heavy foliage, there never would be a need to pitch a tent to shelter worshippers from the sun. Even in instances where subsistence farming would necessitate a migration, an abundance of trees would render the need for a tent unnecessary. I am quite familiar with a particular species of trees found in the Savannah climate of my native country. This tree known as muhacha in my native tongue, is an evergreen and thus quite convenient for shelter. In the dry season, most tree lose their leaves to conserve water. A tree that has too many leaves tends to lose a lot of water through evaporation unless the leaves of the tree are heavily coated with a waxy material that reduces evaporation. A muhacha tree has such an in-built mechanism to minimize water lose without having to shed any leaves. It is also noteworthy to state that in an agrarian economy, economic activity that would require a lot of manual labour was always at a minimum during the dry season. So, it is without surprise that given the agrarian economic forces, people would have ample time to gather for rituals and other social functions during the dry season. When people would gather under a muhacha tree to feast, sing and dance as a way to be thankful for what the ancestors and God had done for the preceeding season, it would be a mistaken and ill-construed conclusion that would call such a thanks-giving gathering a drunken revelry indulged in the worship of a tree. Middle Eastern religious rites involve such gatherings: Eid Mubarak for Moslems following the holy month of Ramadan, Pentecost for Judaism. Even derivatives of these religious have similar rites: Christmas for all Christians and some of these have variants in the secular world and good examples are the Thanks-giving festive holidays of Canada and the USA.
Closely tied to the use of trees as sites of worship was the use of caves. Once a group had firmly established itself in an area and caves were available, they could use a suitable cave in lieu of trees. Caves would offer perennial shelter regardless of the weather unlike trees that could only provide shelter from the sun but not torrential rains. A shrine such as a cave would need an attendant, normally the village oracle who would also be the custodian of that community's mores. Where the community could produce enough food, it was not unusual for the oracle to dwell in the cave all year round. The fruits of the harvest would be used as tithes not as sacrificial offers to the gods of the caves as the world has been made to believe. If the oracle had other callings in life, there was no need for permanently living in the cave or its vicinity. However, permanent occupancy could be necessary if there was a regular stream of people consulting the oracle or where the code of conduct or religious dictates were in a physical form like scrolls, tablets et cetera. To ensure the security of such paramount material, it was instructive to have a permanent guardian at the shrine. A classic case in point is the custodian of the Ark in Ethiopia.
In cases were it was necessary to have perennial tenancy, anyone who wished to consult the oracle was obliged to approach the cave in a respectful way. This might entail squatting on the ground on one knee while clapping hands. The clapping was not a haphazard process but a carefully performed act that would produce a particular sound with a characteristic tone. Again the clapping and obsequious posture were not so much acts of deference to the concocted gods of the cave but the general respect accorded any place where there is the presence of God. I will harken to Middle Eastern rites as a point of reference by pointing out that it is imperative for a Moslem to remove shoes when entering the sanctuary of a mosque. An abrogation of this simple act can have far-reaching ramifications as the late Shah of Iran tragically found out in 1979. The Bible offers another gem. When Moses had fled Egypt and tending sheep in Midian, he saw a bush on fire and, much to astonishment, the bush was not getting consumed. [Exodus 3] It was then that he heard God's thundering voice commanding him to remove his shoes; "For the ground you stand on is holy." Moses was not paying religious fealty to the ground nor the burning bush. It was the manifestation of God that rendered the place holy thus necessitating the act of respect. Christians, at one point at least, had a dress code for church attendants. Acts that could be mistaken for worshipful obeisance to earthly structures were and are still a common occurrence in Middle Eastern religions. Moslems walking around and kiss the Ka'aba during the Hegira while their kindred kiss, weep and worship at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
It is quite evident that practices that might pass for paganism have their equivalents in the more celebrated and, dare I say, truimphalist religions of the world. The Bible says that the righteous man's spiritual wealth is in his holy place. That place could be a cave, a tree, a synagogue, a rock, a wall, a temple or a church but all share the same thing: At such a place is the presence of God.
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