Rites and representations of the gods in African society's mindscape
Among Libyans, the divinity is perceived as a supernatural protecting force, vested in every possible part of the creation: rivers and mountains, animals, parts of the body. This way of representing the gods under the guise of wild or domesticated animals laid open to criticism, as reported by Strabo[1]. Some ancient rites survived antiquity, conducted in the ignorance of their very long history, including within a monotheist context. Some Berber cults left their marks on other religions. For a better grasp of this topic we can turn to archaeological and epigraphic evidence as well as ancient literary sources.
The cults entailed for the most part the same ritual sacrifices but some gods required human sacrifices. According to some ancient tale, children were slaughtered in Elissa's temples; another describes a Hercules-masked character being burnt alive on a theatre stage. Temples had the same functions and the same staff but the pantheon was structured after a hierarchy that must be observed. Each god had one or several powers and their followers believed them born of a father and mother. This triad (god/goddess/child) theme tallies with the import of fecundity and is present in several regions, especially in the East. The gods' names were different according to their people; festivals were set at different dates but the attributes were similar. Thus the peoples who settled at Cape Soloeis[2] congregated at the bottom of the promontory where the cult place had been built. On this sacred location an altar to the glory of Neptune, with a lion and dolphins imagery had been erected. The locals took their barren mares there to be cured.
It is known that the Berber tribal leader Guenfan turned to a priestess of Ammon to hear foretold the fate of his reprobate son. The worshipper offered a sacrifice to the god as pagan practice required. The animals' sacrificial blood ran on the altar. A bull was struck to death with a double-axe. With the animal dead, the priestess takes hold of a drum. After a while, she leaps around the altars, shrieking. She is shaking her head her whole body shudders. This to indicate that she is possessed with the divine breath; with her burning red eyes she stares at the moon shining in the night. In the eyes of the faithful, her hair standing on end and the blush spreading on her face bespoke the presence of the god. Her body radiates heat, her breath is short, through half-open lips she interrogates fate. She divulges the mysteries of the future. Then according to ancient rituals, the priest eviscerated the animals and delved into the future. He put up an altar which he covered over with sacred cloth. This ancient rite is still conducted nowadays by marabouts throughout North-Africa. The tombs used for the purpose are covered in green cloth.
At religious festivals, Libyan people lay the buffet according to custom. They organise splendid funerals for the dead killed by an elephant, or hunting, or at war. They sing hymns to their praise. As against that the Awjila people have no other gods than the manes. They swear by them, consult them like oracles and when worshiping them, they lay on graves. They hold the dreams they had in their sleep for real. And in order to secure a god's protection for their children they give them a name constructed on the name of the god.
The diversification of the gods whose names went with their specific tasks helped check the growth in requests for mediations and earn some breathing space. These gods and their action accounted for the operations of nature and the universe. Thus, to the Libyans, their temples were places of safety in war and peace. They thought that their gods were always with them whether in drought or famine. So their protection was invoked at a new birth along with that of the family. The gods were also called upon in testing times and before the most mysterious and delicate trials of all: death.
Diverse rites are reported by medieval authors, which confirm that several of these customs hark back to antiquity: in such, local people utter words the meaning of which is not known to them. On the first day of the year young children wear masks. This pageant initiates the farming year. The children head for the sheikh's house asking for dried fruits. On the day of Ashura[3], which offers, in this region, parallels with Saint John's day in Europe, bonfires are lighted in every neighbourhood in town. On the morning of Ashura, people wash with blessed water, especially the girls seeking to marry and protect themselves from illness and witchcraft. Water is, among those peoples, a factor of purification; it has the power of keeping the demons at bay by dint of spraying door thresholds.
The Libyans have not left much documentation that could help gaining a better knowledge of their ancient divinities unlike the Greek, Roman and Eastern peoples of high antiquity. Nothing is known of these gods' origin, of their version of the origins of the universe and of the human person, of their myths and of the best part of their cults. The disappearance of Tanit as a poliad[4] divinity, the gradual identification of Punic gods with the Greco-Roman gods and the blossoming of mysticism are factors that had a major impact on the changes affecting North-African populations, changes favouring the individualisation of some behaviour patterns.
