Sacre impronte e oggetti - Università degli Studi di Torino

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Michael Singleton
ways of tracing the presence of the invisible in Africa. Invisible yet not
inaudible, African spirits speak and can be spoken to, but they do not
talk about themselves. They make an impression on others but without
leaving prints pointing to themselves. The behavioural response such
“spirits of affliction” (as they are technically called) occasion constitutes
the most tangible trace of their passing presence. It is true that
they can make themselves painfully felt here and there in their victims’
body and indirectly leave their mark on social networks but I never came
across any such spirit affecting gratuitously the physical world. Though
the tone of their voice (usually high pitched) differed slightly from the
ordinary speech of their victims, the spirits of Mapili did not make the
possessed behave differently even during seances – as sometimes happens,
for instance, in the case of Voodoo sessions where, for example, the
martial character of a spirit can be visibly played out by the person it
possesses. It is important to note, however, that no MKonongo in his or
her right mind would go out of his or her way to become possessed. The
phenomenon has thus nothing to do with the mystical union between
the divine and the human sought after by some Christian Saints and
which lead to their being rewarded with such visible signs as the stigmata
(St Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio) or the sacred heart transplant undergone
by Catherine of Sienna.
The predominantly pragmatic orientation of spiritual dialogue in
Africa is especially clear in the case of prophetic inspiration. Though he
had become increasingly irrelevant, the WaKonongo knew of an ancestral
spirit called Katabi. “Ancestral” in that he had probably been an historical
figure but also because he (similar to our Charlemagne or Barbarossa)
had come to transcend mere humanity, being associated with
what we call natural phenomena such as the rain or earthquakes. I
learnt more about him from the literature and archival material than
from oral tradition. He was wont to suddenly possess unsuspecting
young girls in out of the way hamlets. For the same sound sociological
reasons 16 , the Blessed Virgin too is also given to seizing upon relatively
16 The layman might wonder why when God has something to reveal of vital
importance for mankind as a whole instead of getting immediately in touch with
the highest authorities (the High priest of Jerusalem or the Pope in Rome), He
contacts peripheral proletarians in godforsaken backwaters (“Jesus… of Nazareth
of all places!” expostulated the Jewish elite in 30 A.D.) or even prefers not putting
in a personal appearance, dispatching His Mother to appear in the most out-