6.4. The Honor and Honoring our Ancestors
We
love and honor our ancestors, and we know that our opo'
(ancestors) were from among us. They are those, to reiterate Taulu,
whose lives brought the well-being of their puyun
(lit. grandchildren; offspring). This same tradition we find among
the Akkans in Ghana, West Africa. As Bediako puts it, “only those
who lived exemplary lives and from whom the community derived some
benefits” are considered ancestors.1
Saruan writes, “Minahasans respect and honor the ancestors as when
they were alive, because death is understood as moving from this
world to another while still bearing continuity, and therefore their
roles, functions, responsibilities and authorities, characters and
status are deemed operative.”2
This understanding serves a particular function in our traditional
society. As Saruan further explains, in the Minahasan tradition, se
puyun
(the offspring) understand that they live in fellowship with their
ancestors in all aspects of their lives.3
Taking Bediako's
insight in relation to our experience, since we share the same
tradition, the "ancestors cult,” meaning the respecting and
honoring of the ancestors, is “ensuring social harmony by
strengthening the ties that knit together all sections and
generations of the community, the present with the past and those as
yet unborn.”4
In Minahasa this across-all-time fellowship, as Saruan points out,
“produces prototypes that encourage physical and spiritual
prosperity, in this world and the one to come.”5
Unfortunately, as Saruan acknowledges, oftentimes there is a
“penghormatan yang
berlebihan” (an
excessive reverence) to the ancestor which can lead into idolatry.6
Our
ancestors were not demons, as was often suggested in the past,
although when we get into this kind of “excessive reverence,” it
is rather obvious that we are risking our ancestors to be deemed as
such. Because in making them into the objects of worship, which only
belongs to God, then indeed they may become a manifestation of other
spiritual powers. As it is for the Akkans, it is also for the
Minahasans; our ancestors do not originate from the transcendent
realm. It is for community harmony and the hope for prosperity and
security of the puyun
(offspring) that they
were remembered, honored and appeased through different kind of
posan.
Given their shared humanity with their puyun,
Minahasan ancestors would not intend to be worshiped by their puyun.
They for sure expected that we would respect our parents, the
elderly, and their ideals for the community; we are to remember them
as pillars of the community, to imitate them and make their spirits
(semangat)
as our source of inspiration in building up our place
of living and fellow neighbors (wanua
wo se kasuat tou).
With this understanding, while respect and appreciation for our
ancestors, including the desire to imitate their exemplary life,
should remain with us, our hope has to be with the One who has proven
Himself worthy above any other powers in this world.
Jesus
Christ has shown us that He is worthy to serve as our Great Walian
for
He
has
ushered one posan
for the Minahasans as well as for the rest of the world. This posan
did
not take a wooden doll, or a pig, or any other animal. It did not
take the blood of other fellow human beings. In fact, it is His blood
that He offered, and it was His own body that was stricken. He died
almost like a waraney
with red-blood clothing all over His body, yet He was risen in a
white robe sumeringat
tanu si edo
(bright like the sun). Empung
Yesus si
Kelawiranta (The
Lord Jesus is our Salvation).7
-------
1 Bediako,
Jesus and the Gospel in Africa,
30.
2
Saruan, “Profil Etnik Minahasa,” in Etnik Minahasa Dalam
Akselerasi Perubahan, 394 (translation mine).
3
Saruan, “Profil Etnik Minahasa,” in Etnik Minahasa Dalam
Akselerasi Perubahan, 394.
4
Bediako, Jesus and the Gospel in Africa,
30.
5 Saruan,
“Profil Etnik Minahasa,” in
Etnik Minahasa Dalam Akselerasi Perubahan,
394.
6 Saruan,
“Profil Etnik Minahasa,” in
Etnik Minahasa Dalam Akselerasi Perubahan,
395.
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