Celebrations and Collectivism

Africans live for celebrations: national holidays, weddings, baptisms, inaugurations, graduations and even funerals. They are something to look forward to, something to mark accomplishments or hopes, a reason to gather. In a collective society celebrations bring meaning to life. Life is lived together, plans are made together, dreams are dreamed together and life, from beginning to end, is celebrated together.

a Ba'Aka pygmy graduate

Celebrations aren’t taken lightly. People travel long distances, give long speeches, sing, dance, and eat a lot of food. The men wear suits, the women put on wigs, and the children wear shoes. When it comes to celebrating there seems to be an unspoken rule that if a little is good, a lot is better. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of talking, lots of singing, lots of celebrating… which logically equals lots of meaning to life. (This might explain why there seems to be an overabundance of national holidays.)

This week I have had the honor of taking part in two celebrations. The first was a groundbreaking ceremony for a new learning center at the Grace Brethren Seminary and the other was a graduation ceremony at the Mbaiki Bible Institute. Both events held a lot of significance for those involved.

the dedication stone at the site of the new building

Grace Brethren pastors from all parts of Central Africa and from the United States gathered together to celebrate the dedication of the new building project at the James Gribble Leadership Training Center (the Grace Brethren seminary). The leaders of the seminary and missionaries have been dreaming and planning together and this celebration marked an important step forward in reaching their goal of equipping Central African leaders for ministry. It was a somewhat serious sort of celebration including prayer and talks to remind those gathered of the vision and perseverance it takes to accomplish the work God has called them to but a celebration none-the-less. 

Barb with the pygmy graduates

The Mbaiki Bible Institute graduation was a more light-hearted celebration. It was particularly significant because there were seven pygmy couples who graduated this year meaning that when combined with the pygmy graduates from the other Bible institutes, the number of Bible Institute trained pygmy pastors is nearly tripled. For these pygmy couples and the other couples graduating it was a celebration of the end of three years of study and the beginning of a life of leading, teaching, and ministering among their tribes. The graduation involved much more dancing and music than any of my graduations ever did! One of the most fascinating parts of the graduation was when, after walking (or dancing) up to receive their diploma, the graduates would walk over to their spiritual mentor and hand over their diploma and awards. It was a way of saying, “Thank you for dreaming dreams with me and for helping me accomplish what I have today. I want to honor you because you have helped me become who I am.”

lots of people at the Mbaiki church

In Central Africa life is lived as a group and life is celebrated as a group from beginning to end. People pray together, dream together, and learn together. Like anything involving people, this way of life has its flaws but this past week I saw the beauty of what it means to be part of a collective society.