TABOO

Th e wordtaboo meansthesystemor actof setting
apart a person,anobject,or a place as sacredor
accursed. In African socie ties,taboo primarily
se rvesth e purpose ofritualprotectionorritual
hygiene.Recent African studies corroboratethe
factthattaboois embedded in themythsandre li -
gionof Africans.Among th e Akan,Ewe, Yoruba,
Wolo f Shona,Zulu,Kikuyu,andGa,andin most
African countries and co mmunities, taboos are
nu merous, they cover almost every aspect of
Africans’life,andtheyaretaken seriously.There
aretaboosassociated withini tiation,childbirth,
marriage,excretion,di se ases, sex,gender re stric-
tions, death, andburial. There are al sotaboos
connectedwitheating,drinking, languageex pres-
sions,occupation,andassociations,while some
alsoguideadministrationof rituals.

Meaning

Th e originalmeaningof the wordas sh ownbyits
etymologyis itsderivativeof thePolynesianterm
tabu , whichmeansforbidden.It is similarto the
wordisfet in themost ancientAfricanlanguageof
Mdw Nt r andals o tosacer(inGreek),ka desh
(inHebrew),nso(inIg bo),an dèèwo in Yoruba.
AmongtheAkan,it isakyiwade, whichalsomeans
th at whichis notpermissible. Another wordin
Akan,mmusu , conveys theideaof thatwhichmust
no t be touched,done,or used to avertev il or dan-
ger.Amongthe Yoruba, thewordèèwo conveys
th e samemeaningas Akan’smmusu— something

or someactionforbiddenforreligiousor otherrea -

sons,personsor objectsnotto be handled,a place

not to be entered,andsomethingnotto be associ-

atedwithor used.

Taboosand Morals

Tabooin thestrictest senseis notethics,andit has

no t muchto dowithmorality.Forexample,steal-

in g,lying, infidelity, homicide, and so on are

moralbut nottabooissues. Mostofthemoral

issuesareuniversal,an d theycanbe codedbythe

societyan d arenotnecessarilycultural. Buttaboo

may either be religious or cultural; it is better

pl acedwithinthedomainof Africanmeta-ethics.

Africanethicsis beyonddosanddon’ts.Theyare

thedi mensionsof Africans’ wayoflife that is

beyond moral or general et hi cs ; they ca n be

si mply deityserviceor religious.Un likeordinary

wrongs,taboos,especially the mmusu type,are

takenmoreseriously.Sacrificemaybe requiredto

appease thedivinitiesandseektheirforgiveness

whenoneengagesin whatthesocietyde em s as

mmusuor èèwo. Mosttaboosstemfromhistory

or themythof a communityandinitiationintoa

deityservice.Theymayapplyto a community,a

family,or anindividual.

SomeTaboosandTheirPurportedReasons

AmongtheYorubaandin most Africansocieties,

therearetaboosconnectedwithgender,especially

femalerestrictions.TheYorubasayobinrinki m’

oro(i .e.,it is forbiddenfora womanto seeor take

partin an ancestralcultcalledoro ).It is evenheld

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