Sakalava

Religion

Christianity is followed by about 35% of Sakalava, and arrived with European traders. In early 19th century, the Sakalava sought military support from European colonial powers in order to contain the reach of the Merina kingdom. The French, led by Captain Passot, arrived in Sakalava ports with Jesuit and other Catholic Christian missionaries. The island town of Nosy Be became their mission post, and by early 20th century numerous Catholic churches had been built in the Sakalava regions. Protestant missionaries have attempted to convert the Sakalava, but the animosity of Muslim Sakalava royalty towards the Protestant Merina nobility and the refusal of Sakalava to abandon their traditional practices (particularly royal spirit worship and Tromba) has ensured a low rate of conversion. Protestant missionaries view ancestral possession as "demonic" and associated with Satan. Exorcists called fifohazana (also called mpiandry) undergo special training and will help remove spirits from the possessed.