Soatanana, city of men dressed in white
In the heart of Madagascar, at one hour driving from Fianarantsao in the Betsileo country (one of the 18 official ethnic groups of the island), we arrive at the end of an uneven track in the town of Soatanana (meaning beautiful city in the Malagasy language). We can find here the historical centre of a religious community called Fifohazana “the Revival of God’s Apostles”. All year long, these fundamentalist protestant apostles are entirely dressed in white, including when they labor in fields. They live of rice and geranium growing. At the end of the 19th century, Soatanana was nicknamed by its founder Rainisoalambo “THE NEW JERUSALEM”.
This community is unique in the sense that it strangely looks like a religious communism (which is a stunning paradox). Like wrote the sociologist Lucile Jacquier-Dubourdieu (director of research in the department of Agriculture in Madagascar, then in the Institute of the research for the development):
“Soatanana is based on a well-structured collective economy. All financial resources are centralized by the board of the ancients, they manage funds for everyone’s sake. The community owns its own bush taxi, its private high school, its free clinic and a system taking care of sick and old people”.
Like everywhere in the island, we move towards the person in order to get the authorization to share a little bit of their daily activities and to take some pictures of it. And here, we are surprised to be solemnly welcomed by Dada Ravita Petera the President (this is his attribute) of this community, his wife and the board of the ancients, nothing more, nothing less!
At the bottom of the President’s house, other disciples are singing, and by the way, they will sing for all the duration of our trip, from the beginning to the end of the day, during our meals, gracefully offered after they washed our feet! Sunday’s ritual the day we arrived. Their songs are magnificent (actually, they are prayers) between the Bulgarian songs and the Corsican polyphonies.
Their precepts: love your fellow man, humility, welcome, charity and repentance.
As soon as possible, “God cannot wait,” we are told, we go to mass in a cortege, among this white crowd, quickly going through the town… singing!