It was clear night in Northern Ghana, the heat had not diminished much with the setting of the sun, so I was sweltering under the layers of rough, hand-woven cloth that my friends had given me to wear. I was travelling with my best friend from university and she had taken me home to visit the remote village where she was born.
The village was so remote, that we had had to walk for three miles carrying our backpacks, mostly filled with presents for Gail's family, because even the sturdy 4x4 was unable to take us any further. And it was so remote, that some of the small children ran away screaming when they caught sight of me. They had never seen a white woman before, Gail explained. The last missionaries had given up and left a few years ago, driven away by the villager's refusal to drop their ancient rites and traditions in favour of a mysterious God they could not even see.
But Gail's homecoming was not as happy as it should have been. The rains had failed to come for the sowing of the fields, the land all around the village was brown and barren. Only in the valley of the dry river, a few dark green trees gave shade, though their leaves were coated with dust.
Thus tonight, I was going to be the first white person to witness a Summoning of the Rain Spirit. While I did not believe in spirits and ghosts, I respected the traditions of the people and hoped that their ritual would be met with success, the land really, desperately needed rain.
All the adults of the village were gathered in a circle around the fire, grandfathers with sightless eyes but wise minds, swaggering young men oozing bravado to cover their fear, work-weary women staring into the flames. Everybody wore the same clothing, coarse, hand-woven cotton cloths patterned in earth colours. One was knotted over the left shoulder, covering the wearer's right side from armpit to ankle, the other crossed over the first to be tied on the right shoulder.
The low murmur of conversation ceased abruptly when the holy man bounded into the circle. He wore a fearful looking mask, but otherwise he was buck-naked, his chocolate skin glistened with oil and contrasted starkly with the white designs he had painted onto his chest and abdomen. Then the drums began. I counted twelve drummers who stood at the edge of the firelight, setting up a slow, hypnotic rhythm.
Fascinated, I watched, as the holy man began to sway to the rhythm and dance around the fire, his movements lithe and sensuous, though he was not a young man any more. Every now and then, he would take a pinch of powder from a bowl beside the fire and throw it into the flames, making them flash and flare in a myriad colours.
Gradually I realised that the cadence of the drums was becoming faster and the holy man was dripping with sweat. Gail, sitting beside me, leaned a bit closer and whispered in my ear, "Oh damn, I don't think it's working."
"How do you know?" I muttered back.
"The Rain Spirit is supposed to come and choose a woman. If he doesn't, that's it, he isn't going to answer us." Gail replied.
I was just about to ask how the Rain Spirit would make his choice known, when a young woman seated opposite us began to shudder while wisps of a pale, fog-like substance wavered around her. The holy man danced toward her and the drums beat faster and faster while two women, helpers of the holy man, rose from their seats to walk to the chosen one.
The women took the chosen girl's hands and helped her to her feet, guiding her to the centre of the circle. While the women helpers began to undo the knots of the girl's clothing, the misty substance seemed to gather closer and closer around the chosen girl. Several men got up and went into the holy man's hut, returning with a large, round mahogany table that gleamed, darkly polished in the firelight. The men placed it in the circle of people, near the fire, then returned to their seats.
Meanwhile, the chosen girl was naked, her body beautifully rounded. The mist gathering around her seemed to be stroking and pleasing her, her nipples stood out hard and proud, her groin and thighs gleamed with her moisture.
Now the women began to stroke the girl, taking her breasts in both their hands, kneading her flesh and tugging at her nipples until she groaned loud enough for me to hear her above the sound of the drums. The women coaxed the girl to sit, then lie back on the table. One woman continued her attention to the girl's breasts, the other coaxed her legs apart to reveal the startling pink of her intimate lips that contrasted starkly with her chocolate-toned skin.
"What's going to happen to her?" I breathed in Gail's ear, spellbound and more than a little afraid for the girl.
"The women are going to shave and prepare her. Then the Spirit chooses two or three men to mount her, get her ready for him. If she pleases the Spirit, he will come and take her. He'll take her away with him and give us rain." Gail explained.
Now more scared for the girl than before, I watched as one of the women bent over the chosen girl to suck on her nipples while the other covered her mound in a soapy lather, preparatory to shaving her. The swirling fog left the girl and hovered around the circle before descending on a man who was seated a short distance from us. It enveloped him as he rose to his feet and seemed to caress him, as the bulge in the front of his robe grew to an even more impressive size.
Walking to the table, the chosen man stood waiting, watching while the women finished preparing the girl. She was shivering in spite of the heat and when she turned her head, squirming as one of the women rubbed oil into her freshly shaven lips I could see that tears were running down her face and she was sobbing quietly. The misty substance was back, enveloping her and the women who had now finished rubbing her body with oil, went to the chosen man and disrobed him.
'This can't be happening,' I thought, 'how can they do that to one of their own?'
Just as the impulse to jump up and try to call a halt to it all, Gail's hand gripped my shoulder hard. "She won't get hurt." She whispered in my ear. "The Rain Spirit does not demand pain, only pleasure from his chosen ones. So stay calm. You could get yourself and me killed if you interfere."
Now the holy man was at the girl's head, offering her a drink from a small bowl but she turned her head away.
The chosen man stepped up to the girl on the table and spoke to her, we could not hear what he said but his smile was kind and he began to stroke her gently, his caressing hands visible through the mist that surrounded them both. Moving closer, the man positioned himself so that he could penetrate the girl. The thudding of the drums stopped, the sudden silence shocking.