The Tragic Tale of the Mayi-Mayi

Mike Combs

mikecombs@aol.com

Copyright © 1996

        From the Associated Press comes a story detailing yet another cruel abuse of the human capacity for believing the fantastic. Elsewhere in this webpage I have commented that one of the problems with belief in the paranormal is that the unscrupulous use them to bilk the credulous, and that such beliefs can sometimes have deadly results. Here is a situation where the reprehensible use belief in magic to not only take advantage of the naive, but to sometimes send them to their deaths.

        In the African nation of Zaire, there is a war raging between government troops and rebels. It is not the intent of this article to debate the justness of this war, or the correctness of either side. The only point I wish to make regards the warping of reality for political gain.

        As has happened far too often in some wars, children have been enlisted into this battle.

        Those with a sense of personal honor have an honorable concept of warfare. In this concept, the role of the warrior is to leave his wife and children at home to go do battle with the enemy. He is fighting to protect them from harm. But those who fight not in the cause of honor, but of political ambition, sometimes bring their sons to the battlefield with them.

        This is what we find happening among the rebels in Zaire. Children, some as young as eight, are being pressed into battle. That by itself would be deplorable, but the rebels go beyond this, taking advantage of a child's penchant for belief in the fantastic to convince them they are invincible, and cannot be killed.

        The rebels promote a pre-existing myth of mystical warriors known as the Mayi-Mayi. Children who are indoctrinated in this belief are taught that wearing a green vine garland with leaves or grass around their heads can confer invisibility. They are prohibited from touching a non-Mayi-Mayi, and are warned not to touch any object picked up off the ground until after sprinkling it with a special powder. Most of all, they are told their belief in the magic must be absolute in order for it to work. This is, of course, the one universal doctrine of everyone teaching an irrational belief system.

        A Mayi-Mayi warrior is reputed to be invulnerable to injury in battle. "Look, these are where bullets hit me," says one youngster, pointing out abrasions on his chest. "Here is where a rocket hit my head. You see, the bullets turn to water when they hit me." Remarks like this should demonstrate for all time the utter worthlessness of personal testimony in the pursuit of truth.

        "We are training them, but they are already fierce fighters," a rebel officer who identifies himself as Captain Chuck Norris assures us. "Just because they are small does not mean they do not have a reason to fight." But it is the reasons of those who send them off to fight which should be questioned.

        The regular rebel soldiers wear new uniforms, and are well-armed. The Mayi-Mayi youth fight with weaponry ranging from machine gun rifles down to lead pipes or slingshots. They wear either tattered old Zairian Army uniforms, or whatever they came with. Most are adorned with rosary beads and other talisman. Some sport a old shower hose worn over the shoulders like a military braid, or a drain plug dangling from the shirt. When asked, they explain these are symbols of the magic water which is part of their initiation ceremony.

        These youngsters enthusiastically sing and dance their way into battle, which reportedly rattles the nerves of the enemy troops. The troops whisper darkly of the Mayi-Mayi's proclivity for cannibalizing fallen enemies. Nor is this just more silly superstition on their part. Independent observers have documented cases of these child warriors eating the hearts of their victims, motivated by the belief that in so doing, they are denying their enemy's soul a place in heaven.

        One government commander, frustrated with his troop's acceptance of the invulnerability of the Mayi-Mayi, ordered a captured prisoner shot with a rocket grenade in full view of his men. We skeptics typically applaud the testing of paranormal claims, but most would probably draw the line at blowing up a child.

        When the rebels go on the offensive, who do you suppose leads the way? The rebel leaders naturally make the logical choice, placing the fighters who cannot be injured or killed in the front, with the regular troops bringing up the rear.

        But at this point, one is likely to ask, "Surely some of the Mayi-Mayi get wounded or die in battle. How is this accounted for?" Indeed this does happen. Don't think for a moment that it in any way hinders belief in the magic. Those who are killed or injured, it is explained, did not follow the strict code of the Mayi-Mayi with sufficient diligence. Another possibility offered is "friendly fire", as the magic only protects one from the projectiles of the enemy.

        This all reminds me of the Arabic warriors of history who were given drugs, and, while still high, "serviced" by prostitutes. When they came out of their drug-induced daze, it was explained to them that they had temporarily left this world, and had visited Paradise. Evidently Paradise has everything but the rock-and-roll. The men were assured that any fighter who died for the cause was guaranteed a place in Paradise. The result was fearless warriors, eager for martyrdom. So the use of faith in the supernatural for the recruitment and motivation of soldiers is nothing new.

        Whenever one embraces an irrational belief system, it makes one easy prey. Prey for those pursuing the quick buck. Those seeking to motivate you toward a political end. And throughout history, in all places, time and time again, those in need of cannon-fodder for their wars of ambition.