Among the ancient Gwandaras, one supreme god is worshiped, goats and sheep are sacrificed to it. Other lesser gods for village are also worshiped, usually in an open circular spaces groves approached through avenues of palms. Each village has two temples, which are essential mud huts containing the village god. The Gwandara speaking people seemed impossible to be reached by the Islamic Scholars and Missionaries from the Islamic and western world but all failed to penetrate this spirit-worshiping and traditional group in northern Nigeria (the Gwandaras).
Additionally, both missions eventually acknowledged defeat and left because the Gwandará people were totally unresponsive based on the history narrated, teams of missionaries and Islamic scholars tried call to the Gwandará, with whom they share a common language, such as the Hausas but all went abortive.They received permission from the local elders to live there with their families and cultivate the land. Gradually the local people grew to trust the newcomers; then they revealed that in “deep Hausa” their name was not simply Gwandara but “Gwandará-rawa.” What was the difference? The addition of “rawa” describes “a people who prefer to dance.” The ancient story-tellers explained early in the fourteen century, this group had resisted conversion to Islam (even at sword point) in favor of their animistic worship which included dancing. And that is how they became known as “the people who prefer to dance.” The missionaries applied the best missiological thinking but all went abortive as they proceed to asked themselves, How does this new information shape our communication?
Written by: SMS – Karshi & Edited by: M.M-Mustapha Kurudu (CEO: 3M – Links Limited).
Note: Today Mosques and Churches are established among the Gwandará speaking people and all currently heads by the native Gwandaras. All of them (Gwandara) now serve at great personal cost and with remarkable effectiveness been him/her Muslim or Christian.