Paige- There's Power in the Blood

Akory Abye! Since our language study ended last week, we have been going out into the town and interviewing some of the local people.  In an effort to better understand the worldview of the Antaimoro people, we are asking questions that get to the heart of how they view community, their gender roles, and religion.  So far we have learned that men are the primary decision makers, education is highly valued, boys and girls become men and women around age 18, and they help each other meet needs by lending and borrowing items.  I thought all of this was pretty similar to American culture.  However, their faith and religious beliefs are not as similar.

The Antaimoro are very conscious of a spiritual world and are careful not to upset the evil spirits. They have “Fady’s” or taboos that, if broken, will cause the evil spirits to act adversely towards the party responsible for breaking them (sorry, I just sounded like a lawyer…I can’t help it sometimes).  Some examples of Fady’s are eating pork, eating pork and going into the ocean (that’s not a joke, that’s for real), eating eel and wearing red (kind of like wearing white after labor day, but waaaayyy more serious).  If a Fady is broken, some sort of repentance must take place and they have to go to a witch doctor to protect themselves from the evil spirits.  The repentance ceremony involves the killing of a Zebu (which is like a bull) and then a sprinkling of the Zebu’s blood over the person who broke the Fady.  They say that they do this because there is power in the blood.  How interesting is it that they know there is a need for a blood sacrifice, but they don’t know there has already been a perfect sacrifice named Jesus.  Continue to pray for the Antaimoro people and their reception and acceptance of the Gospel.  My heart is heavy for them but I am also encouraged that through all of their beliefs and practices, God loves them and is desperate to bring them closer towards Him.  He’s so good.

For the Kingdom,

plc