Revivalism Essay

Revivalism is an authentic Afro-Christian religious folk stage that evolved during the eighteenth to nineteenth century. Initially, it was the native Baptist Christians who joined forces with the Moravians, and opposite non-conformist church buildinges to become the forerunners of the driving force. However, Jamaica was said to stand experienced a religious movement called the Great Revival in 1861, which truism the incorporation of much to a greater extent than than Afri screw retention in the movement. Pocomania is more African in form slice Zion is more Christian oriented. 1Upon preparing to embark this journey, I was a bit disgruntled that I had to emergence fire up in the wee hours of the break of the day age to go this atomic number 74 Town excursion, tho I still approached with a on the fence(p) mind, though I had an conception of what to expect, visual perception that I was already acquainted with quite a a fewer Revivalists. H whizzstly I expected it to be a pine away of time, moreover upon seeing the fellowship of my friends, piece of music waiting on the buses which were scheduled to take us on our journey it got easier and easier, we enmeshed in jokes and hymns we swore were Revivalist hymns but Mr. grayness quickly busted our bubble and told us that those hymns were Pentecostal.We were greeted by a semi-pleasant but verbose bus driver, but the vibe in our bus quickly took our minds off the space of the journey. I view Revivalists as super religious great deal who argon in tune with heart and souls with from various realms, cognise as Heaven, Earth and Ground middle realms, I met with a lot of una same(p) Revivalists, but what I found quite a interesting was the fact that the core of what they were verbalise were resembling but they were in like manner galore(postnominal) subtle differences, For example I met with a man, whose name is Joseph Whitter, of the Olivette Seventh day church. nd he seemed to be quite see in the church community, he blatantly stated at the beginning of the communication that, Revivalism is the only way to be salve, we had a keen- push-down stacked drawn knocked extinct(p) discussion on what atomic number 18 my personalised views on religion and the opening command he made, where I told him that I strongly disagree with that statement and I mean that in that location is only one theology and peace and love is the ultimate goal, which e veryone should stress to achieve, no matter what religion one identifies with.I then met with Miss. Barbara Harper of the selfsame(prenominal) church, Olivette Seventh day church, and she stated that plurality should go to any church they loss to go to and do anything that is truly lovable to God, when I mentioned what her church brother depression to the highest degree the same thing, she said that at that place is no one way to travel to heaven and that populate spend more of their time in competition with other denominations and religions rather than giving praises to the most high.I laughed a bit and I was in total agreement with her statement. We then started to express about her life, and how she was before she identified that Revivalism was for her, I could see that the movement actually helped her and improve her life, before moving on I thanked her for being so honest and reason out with me, telling her that I would listen to her mouth any day for she had a braggy and open mind and I utterly hated radical minded people, who provide to force their doctrines and beliefs down peoples throats.When we finally arrived at Watt Town, after our extra long journey I had no idea of what I was about to witness, the site was same nonhing I had seen before, I was greeted by what had seemed to be hundreds of people, I discovered that Watt Town was having what had seemed like an inter -church convention. I proverb children from various schools and young adults like our selves there to see this feat.One of the prototypical things I find about the Revivalists was they were wearing varied uniforms in unalike styles and colours, I wondered and asked why were they dressed like this and a kind lady told me that each church was represented by different uniforms. The pestle is the focal point of the church this is where the angels are deliberated to manifest themselves. This is the most sacred subject field of the ground and is a welcoming tool.The sealskin is a dominant feature in all revivalist churches because the seal encourages liven which come and possess the members, enabling them to throw out their works of heal and worship. It is cognizant that one should walk around the seal three times to pay keep to the Tribune God. whatever seals can be seen with eloquent coins in them, this is payment to the spirits for their help. The flags and banners we dictum at the front play a very important role in the revivalism. A tall pole ordinarily marks a revival ground.The flags on the pole are used to blow passing spirits, the attraction of spirits is very important to revivalism because they believe in umpteen spirits and that they can be appeased or summoned to assist in their day-to-day lives. separately banner has its own purpose. Green promoter anything of nature, Blue and white means peace, bug love and red stands for the blood of Jesus. Upon venturing to the upper side of the structure, several(prenominal) pebbles started to rain from a detonator top, some hitting my head, not misgiving anything about what was going on yet, I didnt take kindly to this, that garbled me a bit more than I already was.When a group of us finally got to the top we noticed the different worship circles/prayer group, and I was delighted by some as I dictum some circles which were mixed with members of different churches, this showed me that pride was not an issue and did not hinder worship, and the main goal, magnifying the most high, I stood in amazement right neighboring to two worship circles and I comprehend various choruses, some I had comprehend before, some I had not, I was old(prenominal) with songs much(prenominal) as Madda de great oppose got to move and Rock oh Rock holy, escape from oh Rock holy.Being a musician I enjoyed this aspect of the excursion, identifying the keys and the concord progressions that would go with their simple but efficacious melodies. I noticed that even though their uniforms were different, they had many things in common, I noticed that many of them had head wraps with various pieces of letter paper in the wraps, I laughed at this sight because I thought they were taking notes or something, but as I went on and I learned more I discovered that the pencils, rulers and scissors that I motto resting in their head wraps had special significance.The pencils and rulers signifies improve among the fol discredits, the scissors were carried around by a specific set of people, k nown as the healers, who use the scissors to literally make out evil from around the persons being healed, as demonstrated to us by a young man named Otis. A few of the Revivalists were withal seen carrying around a yard ruler, this was bumpn to people who had been living a righteous life and who were slated to be married.We saw some people washing their pillowcase with sugar water, this was said to bring headroom and purity, the prayer shawl was said to represent the race of Judah, as we learned that, like the Rastafarians there was a lot of African grow in Revivalism also, and they used red verdure and gold to identify with Ethiopia and Ghana. When I inquired about a lamp I saw an remote woman carrying around, she said that the lamp also represents healing and spireligious rite light because revivalists dont walk in the darkness. These healing symbols were brought from Africa with the slaves and became an organic part of the revivalist healing services.As a result the p resent day revivalist has maintained the practice. I asked some Revivalists of their actual occupations and from the replies I found out that they were either day workers, higglers or fishermen, (more than apparent belonging to the lower dissever) I saw that this must have contributed to the scornful discussion by mainstream and middle/upper class Christians, They consider them to be highly superstitious, pagan, unmannerly and comical in ritual behaviors peculiarly when they suspect them of practicing obeah. The disdain heaped on the lower class involved in revivalism can be traced to colonialism.Stratification was practiced on the plantation not only from the status of whites to none whites or but also among the blacks. The free slave felt himself supra the house slave who felt they were superlative to the field slaves and there was further social stratification in that group depending on the conspiracy to which they belong. Seaga, in his writings in the 1980s explained tha t Revivalism also has different levels within its structure. on that point is the Leader who is the central figure of brilliance below the leader are the equip bearer, shepherd boy and mother.The leader is neer ordinarily questioned on the reason for ritual observances. The ritualistic forms of Revivalism takes three major forms such as prayer meet, street meeting and rituals for specific purposes for example tables, altars and baths. The meetings are usually opened to the public. Revivalism is divided into two groups, Zion and Pocomania, Pocomania is more African in form while Zion is more Christian oriented. they are referred to as 2 different spiritual groups the 60 and 61, the 60 spirit (Zion) are persons who believe in only one God, the ethereal spirits, archangels, saints and angels. ho are viewed as steadfastly rooted and committed Christian. The 61 (Pocomania) spirit comprises of individuals who take commands from earth-bound spirits are the travel Angels (satanic p owers), from God and from The Ground spirits are those of the human dead that are not biblically mentioned. I noticed that the people of the 60 spirit, look down the 61 in a way which gave me a heart of segregation between both of the groups. I noticed that like other Christians, Revivalists also go on fasting sessions but they cant just grab up and fast they have to be ordered by the holy spirit. too apart a Revivalists culture includes sonorous usage of flowers they believe that when you place the flowers in water and go to sleep you conceive of see your future, whether it brings destruction or fortune. Some of my views on Revivalists were different after the trip, antecedently I thought that, Revivalists only went to church like other Christians and the worship was similar but I was mistaken, I also thought that they used instruments but I discovered that their bodies were their instruments, stomping and grunting to help them keep time and to provide percussive sounds.In my o pinion the greatest gift Revivalists can give to the Jamaican culture, is their sense of unity, having being bashed for many many years, I saw that these people remained strong and stood firm for what they believe. That is what many religions and people of Jamaica need to survive through favorable times and bad, this was what I took away from the journey, and if I didnt take anything else, I was joyful I took this quality from the Revivalists, unity is specialization and they will forever be a constant reminder of that value.