KANKURAN SPIRIT VISITS THE BALANTA
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| Teenage girls prostrate themselves for a washing of protection. |
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July 9, 2009
by Dena McMaster
The Kankuran whirled and stomped in his costume of stripped bark while teenaged girls prostrated themselves on the ground hoping for a ceremonial washing to assure that they would someday have many children.
The Balanta people of Senegal believe that the Kankuran, a spirit who mediates between the living and the dead, is a protector of women and their newborn infants.
Missionary Dave McKee was able to observe the ceremony as the costumed Kankuran was ceremonially married to a Balanta woman who had previously had difficulty in childbirth. She kneeled before him in her hat of bark strips, becoming his wife so that she will receive his protection.
A Balanta man, whose identity is usually kept secret, plays the Kankuran spirit. Women, in particular, are not supposed to know who the Kankuran is. The long bark costume is kept hidden so that no one sees it until the Kankuran appears.
Most Balantas in Senegal have not yet heard the Gospel message. While some, through contact with missionaries, have had the opportunity to hear evangelistic Bible lessons and hear the message of truth, many still hold to traditional beliefs. They rely on ancestor spirits and religious ceremonies to protect them from bad things.
Pray that the Balanta people will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and that many will trust Christ as their Savior and be set free from the bondage of ancestral spirits.
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