The origin of the Jolas According to Senegambian oral history, the Jola ethnic group is among
the ethnic groups who have been longest resident in the Senegambian region.
The Jolas for centuries continued to hold their ancestral African beliefs
about the sacredness of the earth and the divine energy found in certain
rocks and trees. They express their religion and beliefs in song and dance as
well as in shrines, which is called "Bakin". The Jolas developed a
high concept of one god, which they called Ata Amit A Luuke (Meaning God the
supreme being). It is sad to note that many people do not still know how long the Jola
culture existed in the Senegambian region. Though the origin of the Jolas is
still unknown, it is now confirmed by both oral and written history that they
are the people who have been longest resident in the The Jola Cassa The Jolas are called Bachuki by the Manjago ethnic group,
another ethnic group that also was among the first settlers. Bachuki in
Manjago means first. To the Manjago it means the Jolas were the first
settlers they know in the region. Of all the sub groups of the Jola people
today, it is the Jola Cassas that still maintain 99 percent of all the old
Jola traditional ways of doing things, still reject Islam and Christianity,
and only a few of them go to church. Most of the Jola Cassa who go to church to day do so because if they
don’t, their children would find it hard to secure a place in the Christian
schools. African governments have no funds to build schools all over their
countries. Most of the schools in remote places of The Jola Community The Jolas are found in great numbers on the Atlantic
coast between the southern banks of the Their communities way of
settlement are based on the extended family settlement, that are normally
large enough to be given independence and names of their own. Names like Jola
Karon, Jola Mlomp, Jola Elinnkin, Jola Caginol, Jola Huluf, Jola Jamat, Jola
Bayot, Jola Kabrouse, and Jola Foni etc (See article Patience Sonko-Godwin) Economics
and Craftsmanship Although Jolas have a lot of traditional economic
activities like fishing, farming groundnuts, taping palm wine, processing
palm oil, just to name a few, their most intensive economic activity is rice
cultivation. They had this knowledge long before the first European (the
Portuguese) came to their region. This work activity (rice cultivation) is
tied up closely to their religion and their social organisations. They have a
good knowledge of animal husbandry and do raise a lot of different animals
like cows, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep and ducks. In the area of craftsmanship, the Jolas have a great
variety of craft knowledge like weaving baskets, pottery, and house building.
Jolas are also palm oil manufacturers and great palm wine tapers in the
Senegambian region. The Jolas are able herbal medicine practitioners. Their
high adaptation to the nature and environment made them to be able to create
musical centred civilisation, natural medicine centred civilisation, and most
important of all rice cultivation centred civilisation which they do
effectively by using a locally made farming tool called the Kajandu. The religious intervention Unlike most of the rest of the ethnic groups of the The Jolas have a concept of one God that they
associated with the natural phenomena like sky and rain. They call this one
god Amit (God) or Ata Amit (the Almighty God). (See article J. David Sapir)
However, like any other religion, the Jolas have charms or sacred forests and
sacred lands which they honour and worship as supernatural spirits that can
protect their families, their villages, their rice fields, and even protect
them from conversion to Islam and Christianity. These supernatural spirits
are called Bakin (Mandinka Jalang). Unfortunately people who don't understand how Jolas
pray and relate to their God think that the Jolas have no God but spirits,
because they offer sacrifices to the Bakin. But the Jola knows the difference
between his/her God (Ata Amit) and the Bakin. Jolas believed strongly in living a good humanistic
life in this world. They believe that if one lives a bad life in this world
when the person dies the soul of the dead person is punished to become an
exile spirit and with no bed to lie on (In Jola Cassa this exile spirit is
called A Holowa). This exile spirit becomes a roaming spirit with no respect
from the other spirits. All Jolas, before the influence of Islam and
Christianity in their ways of beliefs, placed great respect in the proper
observation of funeral ceremony, and still today some do, for they are of the
belief that it enables the dead person’s soul to go to its final destination,
(his or her ancestors). It was and still is strongly accepted by those Jolas
who still practise their ancestral religion that without performing these
funeral sacred rites, the soul is prevented from entering the presence of the
creator (Ata Amit), and the ancestors. The political system Like most of the indigenous ethnic groups of the
Senegambian region, the Pepel, the Manjago, the Balanta, the Konyagi etc, the
Jola ethnic group did not develop a political scale that expanded beyond
village level compared to ethnic groups that migrated to the region like the
Sonikes and the Mandingos. But this does not mean they did not develop a
sophisticated political system. The egalitarian nature of their societies, structured
around the limited village environment gave them the possibilities to develop
a political system based on collective consciousness, which they worked
through their initiation rites. In a sense the Jolas political achievement in
the village was representative socialism based on leadership among equals. It
was totally tied to their religious belief (Bakin). This political
achievement to any one who knows politics is not easy to reach if the society
that runs it does not have well defined rules of administration and
penalties. * A more extensive material on the Jola Community will be available in
a few years time when I hope to have finished my
dissertation “The Senegambia Akonting and the Origin of
the Daniel Jatta (Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta) |
