epidemics, drought, famine, plagues, pestilence,
and so on. Hence, traditional Africans are always
careful not to violate or break a taboo.
TaboosandModernity
Taboo in Africa is faced with the problem of
rationale and scientific verifiability in the face of
modernity and globalization. Christianity and
Islam, coupled with modernity, claim that taboos
stemmed from myths that do not correspond to
historical chronology, and that therefore, belief in
the potency of taboo is tantamount to primi-
tivism, backwardness, and superstition. To obey a
taboo is therefore considered absurd and incon-
gruous with development. But taboos in Africa are
truth forms that are independent of the confines
of time. Taboo is sacred; the fact of its potency
can be found only in the depth of the mind, where
merely rational thought cannot penetrate so as to
discover its reality. This, in our opinion, is the
tragedy of Western science and modernity, where
reality is subject only to rational and scientific
verifiability that, in fact, has no access to the real
content of the sacred or the divine.
SignificanceofTaboo
The significance of taboo can at least be seen in
the contribution it makes to the cultivation and
promotion of life of carefulness and reverence for
the sacred, including nature. In the midst of injus-
tice with which our contemporary world is
plagued, the existence of natural and divine jus-
tice, that is, justice that is devoid of the rigors of
litigation, is a validation of the relevance of taboo.
Deji Ayegboyin and Charles JegedeSeealsoSacrifice
Further Readings
Gyekye, K. (1995).An Essay on African Philosophical
Thought:The Akan Conceptual Scheme.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Idowu, E. B. (1973).African Traditional Religion:A
Definition. London: SCM.
Ross, W. D. (1930).The Right and the Good. Oxford,
UK: Clarendon Press.
Wenger, S. (1983).A Life With the Gods in Their
Yoruba Homeland. Wörgl, Austria: Perlinger Verlag.TALLENSI
The Tallensi people live in the northern part of the
modern country of Ghana. They are descended
from an agricultural people who inhabited the
savanna region of Ghana. It is believed that the
Tallensi govern their land with an elaborate clan
system based on kinship. All government must be
under the control and guidance of the high priests
of the Earth, as well as the kings of the people.
These two groups represent two independent
clans, and therefore the functions of the priests and
the kings are always separate, a sort of separation
of the church and state. The current population of
Tallensi is no more than 300,000. Speaking the
Talni language, the Tallensi have been closely iden-
tified with the Gur language group.
Almost all of the Tallensi customs, traditions,
and values are related to rituals dealing with the
first-born son. As a polygamous people who trace
their lineage through the father’s line, that is, a
patrilineal kinship system, the Tallensi value inher-
itance founded on the principles of father–firstborn
son relationships. Like other African ethnic groups,
the Tallensi value family and see the kinship links
as sacred. Thus, the relationship of parents to
children, and especially father to firstborn son, is
fundamental. Therefore, the Tallensi believe that it
is the purpose of families to produce children, and
the aim of every father is to have a son. The essen-
tiality of producing a son creates all types of social
and behavioral responses that may cause tensions
in the family or the village.
The reason for this strong emphasis on having a
firstborn son or firstborn daughter is that a person
can never achieve the fulfillment necessary to become
a revered ancestor after death if he or she does not
have children to carry on rituals. The birth of a first-
born son or firstborn daughter makes a man truly
mature and fulfilled, and it represents his ascendance
to the highest position in the society. This is also the
beginning of the decline of the man because his child
will one day supplant him in the world. Many
Tallensi rituals, ceremonies, and taboos are related to
the firstborn son and the father.Tallensi 647