GhanaStar
  • News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Music
No Result
View All Result
GhanaStar
  • News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Music
No Result
View All Result
GhanaStar
No Result
View All Result
Home Headlines

Christmas Comes In May For DR Congo’s Kimbanguists

May 27, 2017
in Headlines
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A cow carried on a stretcher as an offering plus a choir chanting effervescent songs of praise while a brass band plays.

You Might Also Like

Ghanaian Can Travel to South Africa Visa-Free

2019 – the Biggest Year yet for Ghanaian Tourism

Three Britons On Trial In Singapore Accused of Gang-Raping Drunk Woman

It could only be Christmas, Congolese style, as members of the Kimbanguist church mark their annual festival in flamboyant fashion with a massive ceremony.

Entering into the joyous spirit of things, some 4,000 people including elderly, women, teachers, rescue workers and scouts, made a pilgrimage Thursday to the holy hill of Nkamba, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Kinshasa.

For followers of the church, which is based in Democratic Republic of Congo, “true Christmas” falls on May 25.

This year, their chants of praise resounded for several hours at Nkamba’s huge temple, where worshippers rejoiced both over the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago and for what they believe was the second birth of Christ on Congolese soil in the early 20th century.

Clad in crisp green and white uniforms, members of the Kimbanguist Social and Surveillance Movement (MSSK) paraded before their god, Simon Kimbangu Kiangani.

A stocky man in his 60s, wearing a dark blue suit, he is held to be the latest incarnation of God for a church whose origins are almost a century old and which lays claim to some five million members.

Nkamba is the birthplace of Simon Kimbangu, who launched his ministry in 1921 in an enormous territory which at the time was ruled by Belgium.

According to a church leader, he brought a message of divine revelation partly hidden by Jesus Christ, whom Kimbanguists see as the saviour of humanity.

As founder of the church, Kimbangu was a self-styled healer and prophet who alarmed colonial powers to such an extent that he spent 30 years in prison until his death in 1951.

It was only in 1959 that the Belgian colonial authorities finally granted Kimbanguists the right to practise their faith.

Today, Kimbanguists worship their faith’s founder as the original incarnation of the Holy Spirit — and his three sons as the incarnation or reincarnation of the three aspects of the Holy Trinity.

It was in 2000 that they stopped celebrating Christmas on December 25 after a “revelation” they should instead mark the 1916 birth of Papa Salomon Dialungana Kiangani, Kimbangu’s second son — who is believed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

Their current leader, Simon Kimbangu Kiangani, is Kimbangu’s grandson and believed to be the second reincarnation of the Holy Spirit.

For his followers, Nkamba is no less than the holy city, “the new Jerusalem”.

At this sacred site, everybody goes barefoot, apart from the Congolese soldiers assigned to watch over the living god and his family.

As part of the ceremony, some 30 elders — or “papas” — carried in the offering of a cow on a makeshift stretcher.

But the hobbled beast was too heavy for their weary arms and ended up on the ground, mute, as the joyous ceremony continued.

After the MSSK, other groups within the church made their entry, parading across the temple forecourt in warm sunshine to the sound of a brass fanfare then flutes.

Two iron basins were placed on stools to receive donations from the faithful. Most produced a banknote equivalent to one US dollar or less, a substantial sum for many Congolese.

Several contributed wads of chikwangue, a paste made from fermented cassava, and one family gave packets of spaghetti.

One man, who was apparently disturbed, appeared, raising his arm towards the shaded area where the “Holy Spirit” was seated, only to be swiftly led away by the guardians in green and white.

“It happens a lot,” shrugged MSSK head Ruffin Asumbe who told AFP they were “isolated” for a while then released.

Before the processions, there was a six-hour ceremony at which the “true date of birth of Jesus, Son of God,” was impressed on the minds of the faithful.

The “Holy Spirit” however did not attend as he went to register at a local polling station.

Freddy-Mafu Kayita flew in from Belgium just a few hours before Thursday’s celebration began.

Born and raised in a Catholic family in Germany, he began to convert a decade ago.

Speaking to AFP, he said he had spent years researching the suffering of “the black race” and had found his answer in Kimbanguism.

“Adam and Eve were black,” he explained, saying Africans had borne the consequences of their fall and the divine anger provoked by their “sin towards God”.

But the Kimbanguist church “wants to free the black race from this curse, to give it back its lost sovereignty,” he said.

Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.

Tags: AdambelgiumChristian theologyChristianitychristmasChristologychurch leaderDemocratic Republic of CongoFreddy-Mafu KayitagermanyGod in Christianitygod"headHoly Spirit in ChristianityIncarnationJerusalemjesusJesus ChristKimbanguismKimbanguist Social and Surveillance MovementKinshasaNew JerusalemNkambaReligionReligion_BeliefRuffin AsumbeSalomon Dialungana KianganiSimon KimbanguSimon Kimbangu Kiangani

Related News

Ghanaian Can Travel to South Africa Visa-Free

by
July 10, 2019
0

Citizens of Ghana no longer need a visa to travel to South Africa. This is because the South African Government...

2019 – the Biggest Year yet for Ghanaian Tourism

by
January 24, 2019
0

2018 was a good year for tourism in Ghana with more than GH₵5.8 billion spent in the country's travel and...

Three Britons On Trial In Singapore Accused of Gang-Raping Drunk Woman

by
August 1, 2017
0

Three British men have gone on trial in Singapore today accused of gang-raping a 23-year-old woman while visiting the city-state...

Pakistani Taliban Launches Women’s Magazine

by
August 1, 2017
0

The Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday released the first edition of a magazine for women, apparently aiming to convince its target...

Next Post

Kushner 'discussed Secret Line To Moscow'

G7 Leaders Turn Attention To Africa

Categories

  • Africa & World
  • African Music Lyrics Directory
  • Business
  • Business Directory
  • celebrities
  • Computing
  • Diaspora
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Feature
  • Featured
  • Ghana Elections 2016
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • International
  • Internet
  • Jobs
  • lifestyle
  • Music
  • News
  • Offbeat
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Profiles
  • Religion
  • Security
  • Seth Terkper
  • Smart Home
  • Social Networks
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top Stories
  • World News

Tags

accra addo africa Association football Banks - NEC business Business_Finance chairman Donald Trump economy education Entertainment_Culture environment Geography of Africa ghana Ghanaian people government Government of Ghana Human Interest John Dramani Mahama john mahama Law_Crime mahama minister MPs elected in the Ghanaian parliamentary election Nana Addo Nana Addo Dankwa Nana Akufo-Addo National Democratic Congress National Democratic Congress (NDC) New Patriotic Party New Patriotic Party (NPP) nigeria politics Politics of Ghana president Social Issues Social Media Social Media & Networking sports United Kingdom United Nations United States Vice President War_Conflict

Recent Posts

  • Government of Ghana Unveils Official Portraits of President John Dramani Mahama and Vice President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang
  • Who Is the Woman (Sheena Gakpe) in Sarkodie’s Latest Hit “No Sir” and Why Everyone Is Talking about It
List of Ghana Holidays for 2020
Ghana Geocoding
Ghana Cedis Exchange API
Ghana Maps Service
Toyota Cars Auto Auction History
  • African Music Lyrics Directory
  • Business Directory
  • Diaspora
  • Top Stories

All rights reserved © 2021 GhanaStar.com

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Music

All rights reserved © 2021 GhanaStar.com