Ubantu:Contents:Religion:Kanisa

Kanisa ya Kidini

The word "kanisa" used in term of The Church gives an incorrect idea of central organization. Unlike the Abrahamic religions, Kidini evolved in a world where magic is very real, and the will of the ancestors easily known. The authority of Kanisa comes from Mizimu, not from God or the Pope or anything like that. Furthermore a static central religion does not mesh well with the Bantu world of mind. While religion must protect the traditions of the past and revere the ancestors, it must also change and adapt as the people do. Since new people are dying and becoming ancestors daily, it is normal for the views of the ancestors to change over time.

One way to understand the Kanisa is to trace it's origin and evolution over time. There were three major traditions and dozens of minor ones at work among the people who chose to remain with Ditaolane. The first were the sorceror-priests from Zimbabwe, who knew the secret of written language and were influenced by the traditions of the Lemba Jews. The second tradition originated in the Kongo kingdom of Vungu, who had a very powerful type of spirit-magic that allowed them to open direct portals to the Realm of the Dead via their Prenda cauldrons. The final tradition came from the Embo kingdom, which had a rich animistic tradition with a vast oral literature of animal archetypes and nature spirits, along with many stories about the First Man, Inkulunkulu. In Embo secular and religious authority were one and the same, the royal clan performing the rituals of marriage, birth and day to day life. The three traditions today manifest themselves in the three basic orders of the Kanisi, priests, oracles and book-sorcerors.

Zimbanje, who later became a kind of scholar-saint, was from the society of sorceror priests in Zimbabwe. He recorded the first verse of the Msafu ya Umajina, the Many Names of God. The Mfuradi ya Majina Mengi, called the Primaverse in modern times, was taught to every priest of every stripe in the first years of Siyathemba in order to unite the various peoples. It was never the custom of Bantu people to call on God directly, but King Ditaolane desperately needed a way to unify his people. The word "Kidini", the holy way, was coined in this time. The Primaverse itself took on a role like the Islamic Shahada, a way for the priests and oracles and faithful to show their devotion to finding a common path. It is worthwhile to note that the founder of Kidini was neither priest nor oracle, but a sorceror, but then again, this kind of cross-over is par for the course in Bantu religions.

In the early days of Siyathemba, written language was still regarded as sorcery. The followers of Zimbanje took it on themselves to record every single bit of mythology and folklore they could come across, trying as best they could to translate it into the then very rough pidgin of Kiokoka. The sorceror-priests had spells to turn blood into ink and raw hides into something like vellum, but no way to make any real kind of book or mass produced scrolls.

There are three orders of priests within the Kanisi, tracing their origins back to the three traditions in Siyathembe. The first order is that of the Watawa, given the English translation of "cleric" because it has a mild association with clerks and paperwork. Watawa perform the day to day rituals of marriage, birth, etc in addition to their primary job of recording geneologies in the Vitabu vya Mizimu. The most important rituals are funerary rites, which protect the soul until it can be firmly established in Kuzimu. There are five ranks. All initiates to the Kanisi start out as rank 1 Warongo.

The second order is that of the oracles, the Wayombe, who tend the Prenda and channel the spirits. The title of Myombe is specific to the Kanisi, those who channel the spirit in other culture or outside the Church are called Mwaguzi. Most of the power of a Myombe comes from his levels of Initiation and the abilities that come with it.

The third order is that of the Walozi, who are book-sorcerors who use the Masafu to cast spells. Walozi are semi-independent, having their own ranks.

ranks - mrongo rank 1, village kasisi rank 2, local mtawa rank 3, regional mtawa rank 4, master theologian rank 5