User:Imankey82/Somali Bantu ancestors

7).Somali Bantu ancestors practiced indigenous ceremonies that included animist beliefs and centered music and dance. However, once these people were relocated from southeast Africa to Somalia as agricultural slave labor, many converted to Islam because many Somali national people practiced Islam, and Muslims are religiously barred from owning Muslim slaves (Declich, 1995). Although most Bantu people had converted to Islam by the beginning of the 20th century, their ancestral religious traditions did not completely fade (Eno & Van Lehman, 2003). In particular, dance groups, called mviko, remained integral in Bantu life (Declich, 1995).

Traditional Bantu spiritual ceremonies are essential aspects of community well-being (Eno & Van Lehman, 2003). These ceremonies, which include dance, music, storytelling, and singing are passed down through generations, and build a cultural foundation through which a community’s history is told and cherished. Belonging to mviko groups, for example, is the equivalent to family kinships in Bantu culture (Declich, 1995). However, Mviko and other Bantu ceremonies that include playing drums and dancing are not considered appropriate for traditional Islamic practice, and were often forbidden by local Muslim sheikhs in pre-civil war Somalia (Declich, 1995; Eno & Van Lehman, 2003).

Even in the U.S., Bantus are among the more liberal Muslims in modern society. In addition to spiritual ceremonies that do not adhere to strict muslim religious practice, other evidence of this liberalism is found in the familial Bantu structure. Women are allowed to work outside the home in Bantu communities, and, in fact, make up the majority of Bantu agricultural workers. Further, although they often wear headdresses, Bantu women do not often wear a hijab (Declich, 1995; Eno & Van Lehman, 2003).

Traditional spiritual rituals, from the Bantu’s east African heritage is passed down through mothers. Harvest ceremonies, and ritual dances are important Bantu traditions (Besteman, 2016; Eno & Van Lehman, 2003). However, like other muslims, Bantu people also celebrate Eid-al-Fitr, a holiday that rings in the end of Ramadan, the holy month, and Eid-al-Adha, an occassion that celebrates the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca (Eno & Van Lehman, 2003).

The Bantus are often members of the Sunni Islamic sect, and the Ahmediya Sufi and Qaadiriya Sufi brotherhood, which are central for religious learning (Eno & Van Lehman, 2003). Like any other community, religious dedication within Bantu societies varies from person to person and family to family. Our shared Bantu ethnic heritage, though, is a powerful cultural binder. Bantu people take care of their neighbors and extend gracious hospitality to friends, family, and even strangers in need, regardless of religious affiliation (Besteman, 2016; Declich, 1995; Eno & Van Lehman, 2003).The Somali language has multiple variants, distinctive between cultures and regions. The two main languages are Af Maay (pronounced af my) and Af Maxaa (pronounced af mahaa). Both are Cushitic languages, meaning that they are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family and spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa in the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia (Wolff, 2019). Almost all Somalis speak at least one of these languages.

Af Maay, also called Maay Maay, is more predominant in southern Somalia where most Bantu people lived, as an agro-pastoral language. Alternatively, Af Maxaa is the dominant language in the rest of the country, and in neighboring countries, including in Kenya. Both of these variants were considered the official languages of Somalia until 1972 when the government decided that Af Maxaa would become the official written language of the country. This move further discouraged Bantus and other Southern Somalis from participating in government and education, and benefiting from government services (Eno & Van Lehman, 2003).

Although Af Maay and Af Maxaa have similarities in their written form, their relationship is almost unidentifiable in their spoken forms. Moreover, in the Jubba and Shebelle valleys, Af Maay was often combined with Bantu ancestral tribal languages, originating in Tanzania (Eno & Van Lehman, 2003).