Hausa animism , "Maguzanci" or Bori is a pre-Islamic traditional religion of the

Hausa people The Hausa ( autonyms for singular: Bahaushe ( m), Bahaushiya ( f); plural: Hausawa and general: Hausa; exonyms: Ausa; Ajami: ) are the largest native ethnic group in Africa. They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language ...

of West Africa that involves magic and

spirit possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and rel ...

. Most of the adherents of the religion accepted

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

after the 18th century Jihad by the Islamic reformer

Usman dan Fodio Usman Ɗan Fodio ( ar, عثمان بن فودي, translit=ʿUthmān ibn Fodio; 15 December 1754 – 20 April 1817) was a Fulani scholar, Sunni Islamic religious teacher, revolutionary, and philosopher who founded the Sokoto Caliphate and ruled ...

Terminology

''Bòòríí'' is a

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also * ...

noun, meaning the spiritual force that resides in physical things, and is related to the word for local distilled alcohol (''borassa'') as well the practice of medicine (''boka''). The Bori religion is both an institution to control these forces, and the performance of an " adorcism" (as opposed to

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

) ritual, dance and music by which these spirits are controlled and by which illness is healed.

Pre-Islamic Hausaland

An aspect of the traditional

Maguzawa Hausa people Maguzawa are a subcategory of the Hausa people. Most of the citizens are found in the rural areas close to Kano and Katsina and other parts of Northern Nigeria. They are known to have facial scarification similar to early rulers of Kano and Katsina ...

's religious traditions, Bori became a state religion led by ruling-class priestesses among some of the late precolonial

Hausa Kingdoms The Hausa Kingdoms, also known as Hausa Kingdom or Hausaland, was a collection of states started by the Hausa people, situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad (modern day northern Nigeria). Hausaland lay between the Western Sudanic kingdoms ...

. When Islam started making inroads into Hausa land in the 14th century, certain aspects of the religion such as idol worship were driven underground. The cult of Tsumbubura in the then-

Sultanate of Kano The Sultanate of Kano was a Hausa kingdom in the north of what is now Nigeria that dates back to 1349, when the contemporary king of Kano, Ali Yaji (1349–1385), dissolved the cult of Tsumbubra and proclaimed Kano a sultanate. Before 1000 AD, ...

and many other similar Bori cults were suppressed, but Bori survived in "spirit-possession" cults by integrating some aspects of Islam. The Bori spirit possession priestesses maintained nominal influence over the Sultanates that replaced the earlier Animist kingdoms. Priestesses communed with spirits through

ecstatic dance Ecstatic dance is a form of dance in which the dancers, sometimes without the need to follow specific steps, abandon themselves to the rhythm and move freely as the music takes them, leading to trance and a feeling of ecstasy. The effects of ecs ...

ritual, hoping to guide and maintain the state's ruling houses. A corps of Bori priestesses and their helpers was led by royal priestess, titled the ''Inna'', or "Mother of us all". The Inna oversaw this network, which was not only responsible for protecting society from malevolent forces through possession dances, but which provided healing and divination throughout the kingdom.

Post-Islamic and contemporary practice

Muslim scholars This article is an incomplete list of noted modern-era (20th to 21st century) Islamic scholars. This refers to religious authorities whose publications or statements are accepted as pronouncements on religion by their respective communities and ...

of the early 19th century disapproved of the hybrid religion practised in royal courts, overzealous Muslims were to use this hybridization as an excuse to overthrow the Sultanates and form the

Sokoto Caliphate The Sokoto Caliphate (), also known as the Fulani Empire or the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Ful ...

. With the birth of the Caliphate, Bori practices were partially suppressed in Fula courts. Bori possession rituals survived in the Hausa refugee states such as

Konni Konni may refer to: * Konni (dog), Russian President Vladimir Putin's dog (1999-2014) *Konni, Kerala, a town in Kerala state in India * Konni (Hausa state), a traditional Hausa state in south central Niger * Birni-N'Konni (shortened to Konni), a to ...

and Dogondutchi (in what is today southern Niger) and in some rural areas of Nigerian Hausaland. The powerful advisory roles of women, exemplified in the Bori priestesses, either disappeared or were transferred to Muslim women in scholarly, educational, and community leadership roles. British and French colonialism, though, offered little space for women in the official hierarchies of

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by variou ...

, and the formal roles, like the Bori, for women in governance largely disappeared by the mid 20th century. In modern Muslim Hausaland, Bori ritual survives in some places assimilated into

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...

practices. The ranks of the pre-Muslim "''babbaku''" spirits of the Maguzaci have been augmented over time with "Muslim" spirits ("''farfaru''"), and spirits of (or representing) other ethnic groups, even those of the European colonialists. The healing and "luck" aspects of the performances of Bori members (almost exclusively women) provide new social roles for their rituals and practitioners. Bori ritual societies, separated from governing structures, provide a powerful corporate identity for the women who belong to them through the practice of traditional healing, as well as through the performance of Bori festival like the ''girka'' initiation ritual.Masquelier, Review (1992). In spirit possession all over Africa the

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

of the possessing spirit takes precedence over the gender of the possessed. A man possessed by a female spirit for ritual purposes takes the personality of a woman, while a woman possessed by a male spirit takes the personality of a man. This often has no relevance to everyday living. Bori possession cults exist in countries all over Africa under different names. They are, however, found only among certain ethnic groupings and are totally absent from most. '

References

. "Lightning, Death and the Avenging Spirits: 'Bori' Values in a Muslim World". ''Journal of Religion in Africa'', Vol. 24, Fasc. 1 (February 1994), pp. 2–51. *Kari Bergstro
"Legacies of Colonialism and Islam for Hausa Women: An Historical Analysis, 1804-1960"
Michigan State University Graduate Student Papers in Women and International Development Working Paper #276 (2002). *Jacqueline Cogdell Djedje. "Song Type and Performance Style in Hausa and Dagomba Possession (Bori) Music". ''The Black Perspective in Music'', Vol. 12, No. 2 (Autumn 1984), pp. 166–182. *I. M. Lewis, S. al-Safi Hurreiz (eds). ''Women's Medicine, the Zar-Bori Cult in Africa and Beyond''.

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

(1991). . *Fremont E. Besmer. "Initiation into the 'Bori' Cult: A Case Study in Ningi Town". ''Africa: Journal of the International African Institute'', Vol. 47, No. 1 (1977), pp. 1–13. *Frank Salamone. "Religion as Play: Bori, a Friendly 'Witchdoctor'". ''Journal of Religion in Africa'', Vol. 7, Fasc. 3 (1975), pp. 201–211. *Umar Habila Dadem Danfulani."Factors Contributing to the Survival of the Bori Cult in Northern Nigeria". ''Numen'', Vol. 46, No. 4 (1999), pp. 412–447. *A. J. N. Tremearne. ''The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa''. London: Heath Cranton (1919). *A. J. N. Tremearne. "Bori Beliefs and Ceremonies". ''The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'', Vol. 45, January - June 1915 (January - June 1915), pp. 23–68. *Ross S. Kraemer. "The Conversion of Women to Ascetic Forms of Christianity". ''Signs'', Vol. 6, No. 2, Studies in Change (Winter 1980), pp. 298–307 *I. M. Lewis. "Spirit Possession and Deprivation Cults". ''Man'', New Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 (September 1966), pp. 307–329. {{Authority control Traditional African religions Animism in Africa Hausa Islamic extremism in Northern Nigeria Religion in Niger Religion in Nigeria Spirit possession

Terminology

Pre-Islamic Hausaland

Post-Islamic and contemporary practice

References

Further reading