The ridiculously pagan "broko day"

Prior to immersion into a new culture, you somehow have a generalized notion that the holidays you celebrate are universal. However, you soon discover Christmas is not only treated as profanely as Tuesday @ the workplace but that there are apparently "other" holidays appropriate for partying like a rockstar. This last week, for eight days the Aukaan community in which I live celebrated what is known as brookodei (pronounced "broko day"). I haven't figured out why the misnomer has stood (should be "broko week") but nevertheless no one seems to have any qualms with the erroneous designation.

Brookodei is simply put, another Satan-glorifying, demon-summoning, fear-filled week for Aukaaners. For many, the week is simply a cultural tradition and this group is content at spectator status. For kids, it is somewhat of a cultural indoctrination. There's music, beverages, food and dancing. Additionally, there are a number of spiritually-dark practices which children are conspicuously seen at the forefront. These kids, not fully comprehending what they're doing entails but all the while subtly learning and respecting pagan traditions under an auspicious, rowdy environment. For adults, brookodei is vastly important to their well-being; "doing it right" means everything.

The celebration and its style has a unique African feel. The most ostentatious, garrish and ridiculous outfits are donned. There isn't a color on the spectrum absent. The brighter the outfit, the better. I couldn't resist laughing at the attire of the men. Every category of hat you could contrive from beanies to cowboy hats, bright pink sport coats, traditional sashes, gold chains and oversized dollar-sign belt buckles. Not a soul in the village had a complete and respectably-matched wardrobe. The women, as they always do, had better taste than the men. Their colorful and unique hand-sewn skirts matched their coresponding headwraps. Shame was absent and everyone wanted their picture taken. From my cultural standpoint, the most incongruous and undignified poses were rocked (i.e. Frowning, turning sideways to put emphasis on their rear end).

Humor set aside, what is the reason for celebrating brookodei? Well ancestor veberation (worship) is fundamental to the Aukaan animistic religious system. The week involves countless forms of appeasment to the deceased. Keeping ancestral spirits content and subdued is a constant concern for the living. A malevolent, vengeful spirit can wreak havoc on the village- bringing even death. While I didn't witness every day of the brookodei festivities, a few included taking sugar cane and pulverizing it with a wooden, baseball bat-sized pestle to produce syrup to be offered to the dead. An old wooden boat contained the sugar cane and a group proceeded to hit the cane in unison while singing in eerie rhythmic succession.

On another day men went upriver to cut firewood for the dead. Their return was highlighted by reckless driving antics in their motor boats. They spun in circles, curved around bends and then filled their boats with women who danced and sang while daredevils pulled stunts such as jumping from boat to boat. The atmosphere was in one sense simply ridiculous and seemingly harmless, but a closer look brought to light not only the spiritual state of the villagers, but exactly who these festivities honored.

The village generator ran all night long as people danced in a house set aside to hold dead bodies for viewing. An abundant amount of food was cooked and "thrown away"-prepared for the deceased of Godoholo. Alcohol was poured out as a libation at ancestral shrines. Moreover, men spent the entire week walking around in a drunken stupor, consuming some of the most potent, sinister liquor I've ever seen. Dances by the women were sexually-provocative and behavior lascivious. But what caught my attention more than anything else was what I didn't see in the faces around me: joy. There was plenty of shouting, hollering and jumping but peace was conspicuously absent. An underlying unease about the future pervaded all of brookodei.

As a follower of Jesus, it's not a mystery why things were this way. The "ancestors" receiving praise and honor are nothing less than demons. The food, alcohol and various gifts are not received by those intended eternally-condemned souls. Talking with Christian brothers and sisters in Godoholo, we had to laugh and comment on the fact of dogs, rats, roaches and ants getting a good meal from the thrown-away food. All the practices failed, and continually fail to alleviate a deep, dark and entrenched f fear of sickness, curses and death. I have often discussed with the villagers why it seems the ancestors, whether or not they were "good" or "bad" while they lived only threaten and bring terror.

But as often is the case here, light shined in the Midst of darkness. As I taught a Bible study during the middle of brookodei, I was blessed to see the redeemed from Godoholo come hear the Word of God and testify to how Jesus freed them from the slavery of Satan.

I rejoice to see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, victor over sickness, death and all the principalities and powers of Satan displaying his omnipotent power saving those whom he chooses to reveal himself. Now that is a reason to celebrate.