Introduction

In African cultures, whether Bantu or Arab-Berber, the elderly have a certain prestige that is sometimes beyond the comprehension of other cultures. Why is that you may ask? What is it that makes elders so honoured in African communities?

Who is Considered an Elder?

In Black Africa, an elder is simply a physical or spiritual person who has a profound knowledge of life and therefore great wisdom, and who has an unrivalled honour. The spiritual person is given supernatural power. Spiritual persons refer to ancestors living in the spiritual world. In Black Africa in particular, elders are regarded as inescapable treasures.

Why are Elders so Honoured?

The first category of elders concerns the spiritual people traditionally known as ancestors. This category deserves respect because of the supernatural powers attributed to them. Some African peoples devote extraordinary worship and adoration to them. This category of elders is considered to be the forebears in the afterlife who have knowledge of the future and the power to help. The second category of elders refers to physical persons who are still alive. They occupy a very important place in African society. Among the Bantus, they have the power of decision and the power to depose or enthrone a king. This decision-making power is granted to them because of their knowledge of the world, their great wisdom, their experience, and their knowledge of the history and culture of their respective peoples. What’s more, the elderly are regarded as veritable treasures, as younger people learn from them about almost every aspect of African life: family genealogy, joking kinship, custom, tradition, traditional laws, history, art and traditional medicine. Older women are great role models for younger women, to whom they teach almost everything about women: the art of cooking, architecture, seduction, personal hygiene, etc. Even children benefit from the elders. For example, the tales and parables told by the elderly contribute to children’s social education.

Conclusion 

Elders have an important place in Africa, unlike on other continents. No African people dishonour their elders under penalty of a thousand curses. These elders, characterised as spiritual and physical persons, are considered to be inescapable treasures in terms of their experience, their wisdom and their knowledge of the world. To paraphrase Ahmadou Hampâté Bah, in Africa when an elder dies, an entire library burns.