English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy
Stop Press: The Forthcoming Dagara Festival.
The Green Lady dramatized by Shaun MacLoughlin from
Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Patrice SoméRitual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
Among the Dagara of Burkina Faso there is no distinction between the natural and the supernatural: the living converse with ancestral spirits, and those with proper knowledge routinely travel to other worlds.
Malidoma Patrice Somé was born in a Dagara village only to be abducted as a small boy and taken to a Jesuit mission school, where for for fifteen years he was harshly indoctrinated in European ways of thought and worship. When he returned to his people, he had to undergo an initiation so rigorous that it might have killed him. Instead Malidoma's passage between two worlds resulted in an assignment to convey his people's knowledge to the West, leading to this story of rare healing and wisdonm.
Of Water and the Spirit dramatised by Shaun MacLoughlin as The Green Lady is a remarkable sharing of living African traditions, offered in compassion for those struggling with our contempoorary crisis of the spirit.
"Here is a man who has experienced ancient initiation in our time. The spiritual depth of African culture becomes clear." - Robert Bly.
It is planned to record this script
The Beginning of the Dramatisation
| CHANTING AND PERCUSSION AND THE SOUNDS OF THE AFRICAN BUSH (BURKINA FASO) UNDER OPENING ANNOUNCEMENTS. FADE | |
|---|---|
| MALIDOMA: |
My name is Malidoma. It means 'Friend to the Stranger'. I was born of the Dagara people in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Burkina Faso means 'Land of the Proud Ancestors'. We Dagara believe that each of us comes into this world with a special destiny. We believe our ancient spiritual knowledge can help to heal Western society before it is too late. When I was four I was kidnapped by Jesuit priests who tried to force me into the priesthood, but at the age of twenty I escaped. I walked a hundred and seventy five miles back to my village. There I risked my life to undergo a young man's initiation and be accepted by my people. But I never lost my Western education. I am a man of two worlds. This is my story. |
| A WOMAN WALKING AND SINGING TO THE CHILD STRAPPEDTO HER BACK | |
| MALIDOMA: | My mother used to carry me on her back when she collected wood. She loved music and perceived nature as song. |
| SOUND OF BOY RUNNING THROUGH BUSHES AND STOPPING | |
| MALIDOMA: | When I was three, I chased a rabbit into an earthen hole, but instead of finding it, |
| FADE IN POSSIBLE ELECTRONIC MUSIC, SAMPLED FROM INDIGENOUS MUSIC | |
| MALIDOMA: | I met an old man as small as the rabbit and dressed in Dagara costume. He had a glowing rainbow around him. Behind him I caught a glimpse of an immense world. |
| OLD MAN: | Why do you want to hurt the rabbit? He is your little brother. What did he do to you? |
| MALIDOMA AS A SMALL BOY: | I .... I ... don't know. |
| OLD MAN: | Be friendly to him. He too has a mother who cares for him. What would your mother say if you were hurt? |
| FADE MUSIC | |
| MALIDOMA AS AN ADULT: | Children see many things that adults, especially adults in the West, don't see. But my mother believed. She told me I had seen a kontomblé, a spirit from the underworld. She was worried that I had seen him too soon. To save me from danger I should need initiation at a very early age. 
My most important relationship was with my grandfather. Grandfathers will soon return to where their grandson has come from; so grandsons are the bearer of important news. He used put me to sleep through hypnosis in order to question me. He was the priest and counsellor of a family of over fifty souls. He wore filthy clothes, because the Dagara believe that the more intense the involvement with the life of the spirit, the more wise and holy an individual is, the less attention is paid to outward beauty. In the village he was known as the "upside down shooter". Because if he wished to destroy an enemy, he would retire to the quiet of his chambers, place an arrow upside down on his bow, and magically hit his target. He had done this to many white men. He also regarded food as a necessary evil. He used to rage against adolescents who had no control of their appetite. |
The Dramatization continues, and later in the play we come to:
The Green Lady
In dramatising Of Water and the Spirit I was so inspired by this part of Malidoma's initiation that I named my dramatisation The Green Lady.
| MALIDOMA: | We were each told to select a tree. We were told to sit, stand or kneel about twenty metres from it and look hard at it. We were supposed to see something but were not told what. I chose a yila tree about ten metres high with a trunk less than a metre in diameter. As the sun got warm end warmer I stared at the tree for the next five hours. It got more and more exasperating. I thought about other things, about my life in the seminary. Sweat fell into my eyes and made them burn. I scratched around for leaves to rub them, when I heard a voice behind me. |
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| ELDER: | Back to work - now! You think cleaning your eyes will help? |
|---|---|
| MALIDOMA: | I noticed some of the other students were strolling around. Why didn't the Elder pick on them? |
| ELDER: | You won't get anywhere if your thoughts are watching one thing and your eyes another. Those boys have finished their assignment. |
| MALIDOMA: | I went on staring. As evening approached I heard the elder talking to another about me. |
| ELDER: | In his belly he is a full-bred White. He can't see. He can't push through the veil. Can the White man's power can only be experienced, if he first buries the truth? |
| MALIDOMA: | He came up to me. |
| ELDER: | That's it for the day. If you cannot see in the light, do you imagine you can see in the dark? |
| ROAR OF FIRE AND SINGING AND DANCING. | |
| MALIDOMA: | That night first we painted each other. Then we sang and danced around the fire. I soon lost my analytical sense and began to experience the other people there through a different sensory apparatus than the usual five senses. I experienced indescribable joy and had a vision of a river flowing golden like lava. I jumped into it and blacked out. |
| FADE SINGING AND DANCING | |
| The next day I was ordered to resume my gazing exercise. I was more relaxed than before, but there were a lot of elders watching me. I was determined to concentrate. | |
| BUZZ OF INSECT, GRUNT OF PAIN AND THEN LAUGHTER OF ELDERS | |
| It got hotter and hotter and then an insect bit me on the back. I scratched where it hurt and the elders started laughing. I decided I was not going to torture myself for the sake of a tree. I decided I would trick them. I called out. | |
| MALIDOMA: | (CALLING) I see an antelope sitting on its hind legs. (NARRATING) I kept my eyes fixed on the tree as if in fascination. |
| ELDER: | (LAUGHING WITH THE OTHER) An antelope sitting on its hind legs? Keep looking. (TO THE OTHER ELDERS) What did I tell you? He has become a liar like the white men. |
| LAUGHTER DIES AWAY |
| MALIDOMA: | I was crying. I'd failed at my first initiation. What's more I'd been caught out in a lie. I went on looking at the tree. Then I began speaking to it as if it had a life of its own. I told her it was not her fault, but mine, I couldn't see. I was empty. It was mid afternoon when I felt a flash in my spirit like mild lightning and a cool breeze ran down my spine and into the ground. The sun, the forest, the elders and I, all began to realize I was in another reality and witnessing a miracle. |
| MUSIC | |
|
The trees around my yila were glowing like fire. I felt as if I were at the centre of the universe, weightless, weak and innocent. For a moment I experienced deep fear, as one must feel when death is approaching. I looked at the tree again, I became aware that it was not a tree at all. Out of nowhere where the tree had stood appeared a tall woman dressed in black from head to foot. She wore a veil, but somehow I knew she was extremely beautiful and powerful. I felt intensity emanating from her and was pulled towards her, as one is to water after a day in the desert. She lifted her veil revealing an unearthly face. She was green, light green from the inside out. Her eyes were small and luminescent. She was smiling. Her teeth were violet and there was light emanating from them. It was as if her body were filled with green fluid and that this green was the expression of immeasurable love. Never before had I felt so much love, but it was not like a romantic or filial love. I was grateful to heaven for releasing her back to me. We flew into each other's arms. My body became millions of conscious cells all longing to reunite with her. I felt as if I were moving backward in time and forward in space. She embraced me as if I was a small boy in her powerful arms and she spoke softly and tenderly to me. No human could sustain this degree of happiness for even a day. I cannot divulge what she said to me. That is a secret that must be honoured. I lifted my face and read departure in her eyes. In despair I clung hard to her soft body ..... FADE MUSIC But the hardness became rough under my hands and when I opened my eyes, I realised I was clinging to the tree. The elders had moved closer to me. | |
| ELDER: | (GENTLY) Go and find something to eat and make your bed for the night. |
The dramatisation continues until, after his initiation, Malidoma is required by the Elders to bring the Dagara's ancient, healing wisdom to the West.
Learn about The Healing Wisdom of Africa from Malidoma's profound and beautifiul companion volume.
The Dagara Cultural Festival - 21 - 28 February 2010
The ambience will be incredibly lively with spontaneous dancing and singing erupting throughout the day and night as the musicians perform. The festival will be an attempt to interest youth in the values of the traditions of their ancestors so that they can preserve it in themselves amid the sweeping changes of modernity.
Malidoma writes: "I do not need to make a case of how important this is to me, personally, to the Dagara people in the County of IOBA, and to everyone who has been moved by the values of Dagara culture in the West. This is an opportunity of a lifetime in which I feel that with the sanction and support of the country's authority, I can finally manifest some of the dreams of bringing the values of the ancestors to the soil of its birth. We cannot let this opportunity pass. We are being invited to step up to the plate and show the extent of our appreciation of the wisdom that is now an endangered species in its place of birth.
"The plan is to raise $15K or more in the next few months for this weeklong event which will happen in February of 2010. Next, we will want as many people as can make it to prepare to be physically there to partake in this event so that the population of all the 37 villages of the area can see how your effort acknowledges the importance of this crucial moment.
"This is a call to rise for it is now our time to shine."
For more information please go to Malidoma Somé's Website. and to Drums of Change, Drums of Spirit for some inspiring you tubes.
I should like to thank John Minshall for introducing me to Of Water and the Spirit.
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