justice. White clay is smeared on the novices after
they have completed some pretasks to prepare for
their initiation into the secret society. After the rit-
ual death and resurrection in the secret society, a
meal of chalk is given to the new members for con-
sumption; once all of the chalk is digested, their
shaven heads are covered with chalk. New names
are bestowed during a special ceremony that is pub-
lic after the long training. After passing an exami-
nation, they are painted white again and finally
seen as members in thenkisiinner circle (secret
society). As the new members acquire secret, sacred,
and spiritual insights, more daubs of white chalk
are placed on their bodies as symbolic expressions
that they have attained white knowledge.
Additionally, the traditional people of central
Africa associate white chalk with health and mari-
tal harmony. White chalk adorns the body while
healing songs are chanted to activate their belief
system. For large numbers of traditional people of
Central Africa, their time-tested experiences have
taught them that there is a greater chance that
healing the body, mind, and spirit can occur when
layered with good medicine, needed rest, and a
dynamic spiritual belief in recovery. The use of
white chalk in marital harmony is just as para-
mount because health and healing have a direct
connection to the survival of society. Often the out-
comes of marital harmony are babies, and their
superb health, survival, and longevity are impera-
tive to the nation’s continual development and exis-
tence. White clay is ground up to chalk and mixed
with other herbs and administered to women to
facilitate childbirth and to treat infant illnesses. As
well, they believe that a less quarrelsome marriage
is a foundation stone in attaining marital harmony
that prevents negative consequences to the mother,
children, and relationship. White-colored chalk is
included in a medicinal herbs mixture, which is lit
afire and placed on the ground to the sounds of
drumming, singing, and bells ringing. During the
ritual, the overly unlucky hunters place some of
the white chalk mixture in their mouths and spit it
on the Earth to change their hunting outcomes.
The hunters’ ritual with white chalk acts as a cat-
alyst to enhance their belief that animals will be
found and captured for food.
The last two white color ritual symbolisms asso-
ciated with the peoples of Central Africa (Lower
Congo/Democratic Republic of the Congo) are
war and death. The use of secret white chalk med-
icine placed in a sculpture while singing infuses
the confidence of invisibility and invulnerability
during war. White is believed to be a significant
attribute of the inner body. The soul is white, invis-
ible, and invulnerable. Therefore, the belief in the
protection by white chalk medicine allows a
Central African warrior to have assurance in his
immortality. When death comes, as it always does
(a transition, no end), the people of Central Africa
smear their black bodies in white chalk, symboliz-
ing mourning for the dead. White cloth mourning
bands are worn on their heads to represent that
no physical or spiritual wrong was done to the
deceased person, and all of the appropriate obliga-
tions were done when she or he walked in this
realm of existence. A white shroud is placed on the
corpse, and white chalk-smeared sculptures are
placed on the gravesite of the deceased. The people
of Central Africa believe profoundly that the use of
the white shroud and chalks in the death ritual
reveals that the deceased was a good person and is
spiritually white in the afterlife. The world of the
Dead consists of brilliant white.
The spiritual worldview of the Yorubas in
Nigeria and traditional African religion in the dias-
pora is that the Archorisha, Obatala, always
dresses in white garments to reflect his status in the
pantheon of the Orisha. Obatala is the wise com-
passionate elder and he is spiritually white. His
name is said to imply that he is a King who wears
White Cloth. Obatala’s white robe symbolically
represents his spiritual purity, moral energy, and
higher consciousness. In the mythology of Yoruba-
based and Yoruba-inspired spiritual paths and reli-
gions in the Black world, Obatala is appeased and
honored with sincerity and respect. The Creator
in Yoruba cosmogony, Olodumare, bestowed on
Obatala the honor to create the other Orishas and
humanity for devotion and service to each other.
People of African descent walk into West African-
based ceremonies in Haiti (Vodou), Brazil
(Candomble, Umbanda, and Quimbanda), Cuba
(Lucumi), Puerto Rico (Santeria), Jamaica (Obeah),
Trinidad (Spiritual Baptist), the United States
(Vodou, Yoruba, Akan, Candomble, Umbanda,
Santeria, Spiritual Baptist, and Hoodoo), and so
on wearing white in the same manner as Obatala
walks the road in a white robe—peacefully and
spiritually. During ceremonies in traditional WestWhite 715