living world, attempt to transform into humans.
However, their attempt often fails, leaving them
trapped as animals or strange beings. In The
Famished Road by Ben Okri, for some curious
reasons, the spirits are unable to transform cor-
rectly. They try to hide and exist among humans,
but seem to have difficulty remembering what liv-
ing humans look like. Consequently,abiku(spirit
children) see them because they have oddly
arranged their human parts and are readily identi-
fiable to those who have one foot in the living and
one foot in the spirit world. Transformation is the
ability to change from one form to another, an
ability shared by both the living and the deceased
in both the sacred and secular contexts.
Khonsura A. WilsonSeealsoNeb Ankh
Further Readings
Okri, B. (1993).The Famished Road. New York: Anchor
Books.
Tutuola, A. (1994).The Palm-Wine Drinkard;and My
Life in the Bush of Ghosts. New York: Grove Press.
TREES
Trees have served as important symbols and spaces
in African traditional religion. Although the actual
significance attached to trees differs from region to
region, Africans could call on a shared spiritual
vocabulary that gives trees a sacred and cosmic
meaning. In fact, many African creation stories des-
ignate cosmic trees as the source of all human life.
Because of this association with life, trees are also
linked to fertility, regeneration, and even death.
For example, one creation story from the
Mbuti tells of how a tahu tree housed a
chameleon. When the chameleon heard noises
from within the tree, it knocked back on the
bark. Suddenly a flood of water rushed out, car-
rying Earth’s first man with it. It is clear that this
tree served as a cosmic metaphor for the process
of labor and birth. Because of their central role
in creating and sustaining human life, some trees
were also thought to have been protectors of
newborn children. Other African groups believed
that nuts from the branch of a palm tree could
help a barren woman become fertile again.
Trees were also metaphors for regeneration.
Some African groups believed that the nuts, leaves,
roots, or branches from trees could help cure sick-
ness, thus regenerating those who were ill. Trees
also acted as sacred spaces for important coming
of age and initiation rites. For example, initiation
into Kore society among Mali’s Bambara cultural
group involved bringing young boys into a sacred
grove (a cluster of trees that performed as a site of
spiritual activity). The boys would lie around the
sacred tree in the center of the grove, where they
would experience a regenerative second birth.
After they had been regenerated by the power of
the tree, the boys would mark the end of their
childhood and their entrance into adulthood.
Just as trees are traditionally associated with
life and regeneration, they are also linked to
death. The Akamba, for example, believed that
the wild fig tree was the place where dead souls
resided. Southern Nigeria’s Indem tribe pos-
sessed trees that served as intermediaries
between the world of the living and the world of
the Dead. When villagers would die, their souls
would pass through these sacred trees. Other
powerful spirits and minor gods could also dwell
in African trees, as the Xhosa believed the tree
spirit Huntin did.
Different trees, of course, had different mean-
ings in the various traditions of Africa. The iroko,
baobab, fig, palm, and silk-cotton trees all had
their own particular significance to different
groups in Africa. Nevertheless, Africans have long
associated trees with the qualities of life, birth,
fertility, regeneration, and death.Edward E. AndrewsSeealsoCreation; Death; Groves, Sacred; Rites of
Passage; Spirit MediumFurther Readings
Mbiti, J. S. (1970).Concepts of God in Africa.
New York: Praeger.
Parrinder, G. (1962).African Traditional Religion.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Zuesse, E. M. (1979).Ritual Cosmos:The Sanctification of
Life in African Religions. Athens: Ohio University Press.670 Trees