A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF RITES OF PASSAGE IN BASSAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION AND CULTURE

Abstract

Rites of passage are religio-culturally constructed phenomena with associated symbols that represent the cultural identities and values of a people. Yet our scientific understanding of this core religious and cultural phenomenon remains limited. The objective of the work is to create an awareness of the deep-rootedness of ritual experience and expression in Bassan traditional religion and culture. As a qualitative research, the study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The researchers gathered data through oral interviews, books, journals, and published and unpublished materials. Data collected were subjected to historical and phenomenological analysis to present them objectively. Findings indicate that the Bassan people had a robust worldview that impinged on all human activities as manifested in the rites of passage: birth, naming, circumcision, marriage, and funeral.  Generally, rites of passage play a role in giving meaning to a people’s ways of life, promoting African brotherhood against individualism, bridging the profane and the sacred, helping the people out in a state of lifelessness and despair, vital in making life real, emotional and purposeful, as is very much needed in the current Nigeria situation. Though rituals may not be static as changes occur in forms and practice, when exposed to modern agents of change, however, they remain the heart of the people’s religion and culture.