Spitting is common today in African communi-
ties on the continent. Spitting on cuts, bruises, and
sores is a fairly common practice among children.
Spitting is also known to be practiced by adults.
Many traditional healers spit preparations directly
onto affected parts of the human body. Ritual
spitting is also part of the living libation ritual in
some parts of Africa (e.g., among the Ewe people,
who live mainly in Ghana and Togo).
Africans in the communities abroad have also
retained this tradition, but in a truncated form.
Many Africans in these parts of the world will spit
onto Mother Earth, or into their own hands, as
a way of showing that what they are saying is a
sacred oath, which must therefore be taken seri-
ously because Africans do not make this oath
except on the most serious of occasions. In West
Africa, among the Kru people in Sierra Leone,
spitting on the ground is a way of showing agree-
ment or emphasizing a point. In Suriname, a Winti
mother licks her child’s forehead three times and
then spits three times in different directions during
an afterbirth ritual. This demonstrates the ritual
significance of spitting, which is the focus of our
discussion here, as well as the ritual significance of
the number 3.
Kimani S. K. NehusiSee alsoBlessing; Rituals
Further Readings
Faulkner, R. O. (Trans.). (1969).The Ancient Egyptian
Pyramid Texts.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Ritner, R. (1993).The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian
Magical Practice(Studies in Ancient Oriental
Civilization No. 54). Chicago: The Oriental Institute
of the University of Chicago.
SUICIDE
Suicide in Africa has an indigenous aspect, a mod-
ern aspect, and a large grey area where the two
blend that has yet to be thoroughly studied. The
relatively few modern studies include such small
populations that any general statement would be
inadequate, except that suicide exists in modern
Africa, and most of the cases documented are
linked to depression, drug or alcohol abuse, pesti-
cide poisoning, physical illness, or mental illness.
However, in the traditional context, suicides were
seen as the result not of personal troubles but of
a conflict between one or more members of the
community. For example, a person who kills him-
self would do so with the understanding that, as a
ghost, he could inflict evil and harm on his ene-
mies more effectively. Also, the person who kills
himself knows that the community will go after
the person or persons who caused him to commit
the act, which is another way to exact revenge. In
fact, it could be said that an indigenous African
community’s perspective on suicide is that it is an
act of homicide. That is, if a person were to take
his life, the community would immediately begin
to look for the person who caused the person to
kill himself, or “the murderer.” Among the Tshi,
if a particular person was named during the sui-
cide, that person could possibly be killed in the
same manner. This type of suicide was rare, and if
it happened, families would opt to receive dam-
ages by the offending party. With the living forced
to bear the burden of a suicide, the threat of sui-
cide in the traditional setting was a serious matter.
Nor was death in this context feared. Kassena
women of northern Ghana knew that if they
killed themselves, it would ruin their husbands.
Husbands were well aware of this fact, and it
functioned as a form of social control. Among the
Bavenda, all the relatives of the person who has
committed suicide are called before the chief, and
the goods and wife of the person are confiscated
until the guilty party declares himself. A diviner
may be consulted to determine the cause of death.
If it was a spirit, then the goods are returned to
the family. Even in suicide, African religious cul-
ture is consistent. First, suicide is not just about
the individual. The community in some way is
held accountable and suffers the consequences.
Second, the spirit world plays an active role in the
perception of suicide. If Africans did not believe
spirits have the ability to interfere with man, sui-
cide, as a form of revenge, would be a pointless
endeavor.Denise MartinSee alsoDeath; TabooSuicide 635