By Mical Imbukwa
Mothers and mother-figures are indispensable. In almost all cases, they are the first people we know when we enter the world. Additionally, they provide love and care for us as we grow. Once a year, countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day, a day dedicated to appreciating mothers. Rooted in different traditions and enacted by individuals who recognize the imperative of commemorating women, every country that celebrates Mother’s Day does so in varied and gratifying ways.
Mother’s Day traditions in the United States began with Anna Jarvis. She once overheard her mother, a social activist who formed clubs to promote peace and friendship during the American Civil War (1861-65), pray for a commemoration day to acknowledge the service mothers give to humanity. After her mother’s death, Jarvis spent the early years of the 20th century campaigning relentlessly and eventually successfully, for Mother’s Day to be a recognized holiday honoring all mothers. Even though she died bitter and penniless after focusing all her efforts in fighting the commercialization of the event, it lives on 107 years later. In view of Mother’s Day, what then is the significance of motherhood in Africa?
Motherhood is often defined as an automatic set of feelings and behavior that is switched on by pregnancy and the birth of a baby. It is an experience that is said to be profoundly shaped by social context and culture. Motherhood is also seen as a moral transformation whereby a woman comes to terms with being different in that she ceases to be an autonomous individual because she is one way or the other attached to another; her baby.
According to Akujobi, in many societies, motherhood is wrapped in many cultural and religious meanings. Cultural, as in what the society thinks a mother should be, that is, some elements associated with a mother, and religiously, it is what the practiced faith of a particular society attaches to motherhood. Motherhood assumes different names and shapes depending on the society that is practicing it.
The word procreation or giving birth and nurturing new life whether physically or otherwise has led to a different definitions of the words “feminine,” “maternal,” and “feminine spirituality” in many cultures and religious traditions. Motherhood in some quarters is seen as a sacred and powerful spiritual path for a woman to take.
In literature and in other discourses alike, motherhood is a recurrent theme across cultures. It is one striking term in women’s discourse that is given prominence. Motherhood has been viewed by many in different lights and presented in diverse ways. Motherhood as an experience and as an institution has and is still receiving different definitions.
Religions all over the world whether Christian, Judaic, Hinduism and Islam accord especially important place to motherhood. It is a widely exalted realm for the woman hence religious imagery sentimentalizes and idealizes motherhood.
As Akujobi puts it, Africans talk about the creation goddess often depicted as a mermaid or a beautiful woman and associated with the moon and ocean. Although Buddhism does not give motherhood such overwhelming spiritual status and significance, maternal imagery and symbolism are present in the concept of the archetypal female Bodhisattvas, these are seen as supreme mothers.
Motherhood as experienced and practiced in Africa is influenced by religious mythologies and local beliefs and is colored with examples of self-sacrifice and much more in the name of motherhood. While mothers are revered as creators, as providers, cradle rockers, nurturers, and goddesses, they also inspire awe because they are known to wedge huge powers in their children’s lives. The idea of self-sacrifice emphasizes the centrality of motherhood in African society.
Diop glorifies mother in his poems and Okigbo recognizes the power of his mother “Idoto.” In most texts written in Africa, writers refer to the mother Africa trope and it has remained a prominent subject in African discourse. Love of mother and love of nation have been taken as one and the same.
There are also patriotic songs and monuments in many countries that celebrate the nation-as-mother. These patriotic songs often invoke sentiments of loyalty toward the land of birth. Motherhood is a major theme in contemporary women’s literature so much so that it features prominently in most texts written by women.
The experience of motherhood according to Barbara Christian is an “unwritten story” and she contends that the story is just beginning to be told and this story to Christian interrogates women’s struggles to become “all that they can be”.
The role of a mother and all that goes with it as far as Christianity goes is “universally imposed” and it is the only role that everyone agrees should be the domain of the woman. John S. Mbiti recognizes the concept of mother when he says that it is central to African philosophy and spirituality.
Motherhood is a joyful and privileged state for the woman because in pregnancy, the woman is said to “glow and shine” and she receives special treatment especially from her husband and her mother-in-law. No matter the skills, the desires and the talents of a woman, her most vaunted role is that of motherhood, at least in Africa.
