Revivalism: a misunderstood folk religion Part I – Origin and nature

Myalism was a religious movement that was started by Africans who were brought to Jamaica to work on plantations. It was regarded as one of the first anti-slavery movements as Myalists worked to free themselves from enslavement, an evil caused by European witchcraft, they believed.

It went through periods of proliferation and suppression, and spiritual and ideological warfare with white missionaries who felt that Myalism was too powerful a force, which compromised their orthodoxy. But, in the late 1850s, Myalism began to evolve into what is now known as Revivalism.

“Although Myal as a separate religion probably no longer exists, core elements survived in later developments such as Revival … As a religious cult, Myalism reached its zenith after Emancipation to around the time of the Great Revival of 1860-61 and seems to have become absorbed into what is now called Revival,” Olive Senior writes in Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage. The Great Revival of which Senior writes began from 1858 to 1859 as a great Christian revival, known as The Prayer Meeting Revival. It swept across continental USA and the British Isles.

Tony Cauchi, writing online, says, “The results of this revival were filled churches, transformed lives, missionary expansion, evangelistic passion, philanthropic growth and a massive re-vitalisation of the universal church. It was extraordinary, even in Jamaica!” The fervour spread, and took root in 1860-61 in Jamaica.

Yet, Revivalism didn’t emerge as one cohesive force. There are two branches, the 60 Order or Revival Zion, and the 61 Order or Pocomania. Zion tends to have many elements of orthodox European religions, while Pocomania represents mainly elements of African spiritual worship and practices.

“In the past, it was possible to see evidence of a distinct Revival Zion or 60 “denomination” and a Pocomania or 61 Revivalism. Revival Zion was closer to Christianity without actually being the religion of the white, capitalist enslavers and colonisers. 60 Revivalism defined itself by not incorporating duppies into its practices and participating in obeah, among other things.

“However, it is difficult, today, to find Revival churches that openly identify as 61 or Pocomania because of the stigma attached to that practice of Revivalism. Additionally, many Revival organisations are seeking respectability by appearing to be Christian-like despite being a distinct African syncretic religion,” Dr Ajamu Nangwaya , a former University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona lecturer in cultural and Rastafari studies, told Family and Religion. Coming from 1860 is 60, while 61 is coming out of 1861.

ONGOING PROCESS

And, just as Myalism was regarded with much disdain by planters and missionaries who didn’t understand the sensibilities of traditional African religious practices and philosophies, the birth of Revivalism was to be another era of tension, misunderstanding, and resentment by post-Emancipation plantation owners and the established churches.

“At the time of the Great Revival, the orthodox church leaders, alarmed by what they saw as over-emotionalism and ‘heathenism’, roundly denounced the Revivalists, and this attitude has influenced popular perception to this day of what are generally referred to as ‘Poco People’,” Senior writes.

But condemnation and persecution could not dampen the fervour of Revivalism, which has evolved into a full-fledged religion. “It is a Christian religion which many people don’t know, and most people don’t know that revival means ‘from death to life’. It’s an ongoing process,” Linda Edwards, a long-time Zion Revivalist said.

The process has come a long way, according to Senior. “Once sidelined as small bands of deluded and derided cultists, Revival bands nowadays are organised churches with pastors and bishops, convention and communion services,” Senior says.

Revival churches have organised themselves into ‘bands’ or ‘bans’, led by a charismatic or influential leader called a Captain in Zion or Shepherd in Pocomania. The female leaders are called Mother and members call themselves Brother and Sister. Each band has a leadership hierarchy.

The compound on which the church is located is usually the ‘yard’ of the leader. It’s known as the mission ground, which is easily recognised by brightly coloured flags hoisted on very tall poles. “This is both to identify the ground and attract spirits,” Senior writes.

Revivalists, as the practitioners are called, are themselves easily identified, what with their colourful tunics and turbans, adorned and accessorised with personal or religious motifs. Their distinctive attire and adornments make them the most recognisable Christian worshippers. This distinctiveness is one of the reasons why some people are wary of Revivalists. They do not understand why Revivalists wear the things they wear and do the things they do.

ANCESTRAL VENERATION

While Revivalists believe in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost like some other Christians, they are connected to the spirit world in which a variety of spirits exist. They are heavily into ancestral veneration, and, as such, they communicate in their peculiar ways with ancestral spirits and have communion with them. They also turn to them for healing, atonement and advice.

“The spirit becomes the activists, the intercessionary, with the awesome power of the archangel, cherubim, seraphim, and spirits of the dead solving the problems of love, health, justice, fortune, childbearing and child-rearing. This is a complete world of its own linked by ancestral bonds to Africa and by convenient ties to the Western world,” Edward Seaga writes in Jamaica Journal Vol 32 Nos 1-12.

Revivalism, then, is a religion that embodies the beliefs and practices of a people whose ancestors had gone through a transformation from African spirituality in its diverse nature, beliefs, practices, and polytheism to a European belief in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the supreme being, and the Holy Ghost. In essence, it is a syncretism of African spirituality and European/American religiosity, an existential confluence of heart and soul at the centre of which there is much symbolism (and) of which there is much suspicion based on misunderstanding.

It is a Jamaican folk religion that thrives within social and racial boundaries; its practitioners are mainly working-class rural and inner-city people of African descent. It is not attached to any of the major European/American denominations, though Baptist is embedded in some of the church names, and some are Sabbath churches with no affiliation to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Revival churches are landmarks on the Jamaican religion landscape. They are a refuge for those in the bosom of self-determination and embracing their own eschatological understanding, trying to make sense of their existence in this unfolding universe where worlds collide, and ‘belief kills and belief cures’.