Origin, symptoms and complications
Keywords
| Baby branding | Imaginary ritual that will reinforce the theme of the essay |
| The Spirits | Ultra ancestral emissions that are visible only to the Spiritonauts |
| The Spiritonauts: | sufferers of Spiritits (Somali men) |
| The Body | Somali people |
| The Organs | Clans, Sub clans, etc. |
| The Face | Mogadishu |
| The Cells | Members of a clan, sub clan etc |
| The Brain | Government / Mind |
Culturally correct insanity (Part I)
There is a tradition which I consider to be the major cause of the Somali tragedy. Somalis are reluctant to discard it. The saying “Abrogation of a tradition would bring the wrath of Allah” is a proof of it. The tradition is a ritual called “Baby-branding – Saqiir-sumadayn”. It is made for the preservation of the spirits of our ancestors. Both boys and girls undergo this ritual when they are three weeks old. Without this ritual, a person cannot be considered as an original Somali person!!!
Animals are slaughtered during the baby branding ceremony. Two selected men raise the baby to their arms’ level. One of them, using a sharp and clean knife, makes a small cut at a part of his body (e.g. shoulder, thigh, heel, etc) which symbolizes baby’s ancestral spirit. Then they smear the incision with the secretion of Dhuunkaal – a poisonous tree. Bleeding stops quickly. The secretion passes through the incision and then to the blood vessels. It mixes with the blood. Then a new brownish matter is formed within the blood. After a short time, it starts a long and slow journey via the blood vessels
By the adolescence stage, the brownish matter reaches the brain. After that, all the nerves of the body are weakened, numbed or disabled, except those that originate from the branded part. Gradually the brain starts to get strong impulses only from the branded area. Then a new mental process called “Spiromorphosis” starts, whereby a person thinks or assumes that he is a spirit of an organ (Spiritonaut) rather than a person (Somali). This rare disorder, which we unknowingly consider as our tradition, is medically known as “Acquired identity disappearance syndrome – AIDS2”.
By the same token, each organ of the body considers itself as a separate being. For instance, the cells of the Neck mini clan believe that, they are different, stronger and handsomer than those of the left Thumb nano clan. There is no way to explain to them, that they have the same DNA and Genes. The following example (meeting of the leading cells of the Right leg clan), illustrates why the conferences of the cognate spiritonauts are always doomed to fail:
“Knee-clan (mainly proud camel herdsmen) is independent from the highly respected Femur (thigh) clan and would not listen or accept anything from it; Knee-clan cannot decide alone! It is subdivided into the warring Tibia clan and fibula clan. There is also the Ankle sub-clan within the Tibia clan, which belongs to the Right foot clan. The Right foot clan (mainly farmers) itself consists of Ankle sub clan, which is composed of seven Tarsal mini clans, Instep mini clan and the five toes mini clans. The Instep mini clan is also divided into five Metatarsal nano clans. The Tarsals and the Metatarsals belong to the Arch of the foot clan. The Metatarsals have a strong maternal relationship with all the fourteen unruly Phalanges (nano clans) of the five toes mini clans!!!”
The AIDS2 has affected also our eyes. The strong ultra-ancestral emissions that come from the brands have concealed our bodies. We can see one another as spiritonauts but not as Somalis!! If two cells having different spirits meet by accident, each one will get an imminent-danger signal. Their situation reminds one of Don Quixote and the windmills. If the two cells are in a foreign country, they confine themselves to a “Fadhi-ku-dirir” – exciting bursts of verbal kicks, jabs and slaps – which are held mainly in Somali Arenas (Restaurants, Teashops and Somali TV debates).
Spiritonauts are not violent or aggressive in the vicinity of foreigners. Foreigners have no spirits; hence, our eyes can see them as real images (persons). We know how to treat foreigners with respect and consideration. With foreigners, we are extremely so nice, polite, civilized, educated, understanding, tolerant, sympathetic, social and humorous people with never ending smiles!! This fact does not originate from naivety, ignorance, idiocy or love of foreigners but from the Spiritits.
The sudden nationwide outbreak of AIDS2 was provoked and activated by the Somali civil war of 1991. As long as the brain and the nervous system of the body are functioning normally, AIDS2 remains dormant. When the brain is injured (e.g. insurgency or uprising) or is in coma (e.g. civil war), and the use of ‘instinct’ by the organs of the body is reactivated, only then will the disorder be seen and its risks come to the surface.
The first victim of the Somali quake was the last ill-fated central government. Then all sorts of state arsenal fell on the hands of the spirited cells. In a state of frenzy, the organs of the body started to mutilate one another. Each organ used the ‘antibodies’ of the body as Technicals. Each one saw the other as ‘Pathogen’. The worst and the most serious injuries were on the face of the body. Within a short time, the pearl of the Indian Ocean was transformed into a Ghost house.
No one was guilty of any wrong doing. Spiritonauts are not responsibility for their words or deeds. The spirits are accountable for everything – good, ugly or bad! It is almost impossible to prosecute a spiritonaut! The ultra spirits’ aura makes them invulnerable. No spiritonaut can testify against or abandon the felonious cells of his organ, as the Somali proverb indicates, “A religious scholar (Fiqhi) never chooses Jannah (paradise) and forsake his clan (tolkii)”.
Next: Part III – Shock Therapy
Culturally correct insanity (Part I)
Hashi Yassin Osman
Switzerland
hashiyosman@hotmail.com
