CHAPTER V

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CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH DEATH.

“Qualis vita Finis ita.”

29.—TRANSITION FROM THE SUPERNATURAL.

We have now spoken of the gods—their nature and number—their prophets and priests, the occasions of their worship, and the nature of the offerings. This finishes what we have to say on the supernatural. Before descending to the natural, we shall cross the dark border-land that lies between.

This border-land is Death (30-43). By and by we shall reach what we may call the Natural (44 and seq.) By the time we reach section 103 we shall have brought before the reader many things that he may class as the Unnatural.

To shew that there is nothing so very unusual among these African tribes, let us remark that in that model of ancient civilisation—the Roman Republic—prisoners were slain at the tombs of heroes that fell in battle, and slaves were sacrificed at the funerals of all rich people. The advance of civilisation allowed such victims to kill each other, when the custom gave rise to the exhibition of gladiators.

30.—ILLNESS.

We have seen already (19) that a sick man may be removed from his village to a solitary hut in the fields, and that he may return in good health; but very often when a man leaves his village for this solitude he never comes back. We have mentioned that the diviner or oracle-man may be able to cope with the witch who is the main cause of the man’s illness, but very often the diviner fails entirely, and the disease takes its course.

There is another man, the herbalist or physician (jua sing’anga) that is often called in, and to whom we have already alluded; he carries on his cures by the use of charms, which in many cases are really medicines (I). When a person is sick his friends go in search of a physician.

They generally carry a present for him. He considers for a little, and gives his answer which may be, “I refuse to attend this patient; I cannot do you any good. The witch that has taken him on hand has medicine more powerful than mine.” On other occasions he is more hopeful, and will try. He goes to the woods and the fields and searches for medicines, and then comes with them to his patient. If the patient recover the mediciner gets a large fee, but if the patient die he gets nothing; on the contrary, an unsuccessful physician may be accused of murder, and we have known a great fine paid for the crime. We only knew of one case of this kind, and the victim was an English doctor. We do not think the occurrence is at all so likely in purely native cases. But in other parts of Africa a mediciner may pay for the patient’s death with his own life.

All the natives soon become very disheartened when they fall sick, chiefly owing to the fear that they have become the prey of some cruel witch.

31.—DEATH.

Every charm has failed, the attendants see that the end is near, the sick man too is aware that he is leaving this world. In civilised countries many a man toils for fame. He would regard himself happy if he were sure that he would be remembered after death. The dying man before us has this fame ready made for him. He knows that after his death he will be worshipped as a god. Does this make his death bed happier? Do his last thoughts turn with delight to the prospect? Alas, no! The poor man would live longer if he could, and the last desire he expresses is generally this, “You will take care of my children when I am in the grave,” then he enters on the dark journey alone.

32.—SLAVES ESCORT THE DECEASED.

Did we say he went forth alone? This shall not be, if his friends can help it. His death must be concealed for a few minutes. If he be a man of some property in slaves, and belong to a certain family of the Wayao tribe (say to the Abanda or the Amilansi), he will have a great many slaves to accompany him. Some of the attendants leave the dead man at once. If any of his slaves are sitting outside the house they are told that their master is better, that he is doing well; but suddenly a capture begins, and many slaves of the deceased are made fast in slave sticks. When their master is buried they will be put in the grave along with him.

This terrible custom does not prevail among all the families of the Wayao tribe, but where it does, as many as ten slaves may be killed to follow an important chief, and rather fewer to accompany one who is not so rich. Kapeni, a chief that belongs to the Abanda family, told me that he was going to give up this custom now because of the English; but not a few of the slave refugees at Blantyre have run away from his dominions to escape the dreadful fate. Though the chief were opposed to the practice himself, he would not regularly interfere between his people and their own slaves or goods. It is said that the slaves must be caught before they have taken part in the mourning. This furnishes one escape for them. If they run away and stay till the funeral rites are over, they will be comparatively safe on their return. But they are liable to be sent after their master (28) if he should ask for them.

The practice of sending messengers to the world beyond the grave is found on the West Coast. A chief summons a slave, delivers to him a message, and then cuts off his head. If the chief forget anything that he wanted to say, he sends another slave as a “postscript”.

33.—WAILING AT THE DOOR.

If the man do not belong to the families that require an “escort,” the mourning begins as soon as he is dead. There is no stratagem practised for catching slaves. One of his wives has likely been in attendance, and she will raise the sad wail, which is heard afar off, and is easily recognised. A great assembly of mourners is soon collected. The mourning consists of plaintive chants, drumming, and dancing. If powder be available a great many guns are fired that people at a distance may say, “there is a mourning in yonder village”. This is called the “mourning at the door” of the house (ku mlango), and continues until the deceased is buried, which may be in one or two days. In the case of an important person, the mourning at the door may be continued for five or ten days, or even for a month. In mourning the Wayao put flour on their heads, the Achikunda, I have observed, doing this at what was quite an ordinary dance, so far as I could see. The Anyasa put strips of bark round their arms and various parts of their body. If it be a chief that has died they use strips of cloth instead. One time we tried to buy some badges of mourning, made of plaited grass, but were told that the wearers would not part with them. They are worn till they fall off.

34.—THE UNDERTAKERS—THEIR DUTIES AT THE HOUSE.

Soon after life is extinct the undertakers (awilo) are sent for. They are generally two in number. As a rule they are not relatives of the deceased, though from the derivation of their name I think they may have been so originally (kuwila, compare juakuwilwa, bereaved). Some make it a point that the undertakers must not have seen the deceased during his illness, but this is not universally observed. In some families the slaves of the deceased are the undertakers, and the slaves of a deceased chief may invest his successor with the insignia of office.

The undertakers wash the body (mtembo) of the deceased. For this purpose they use water from the stream—the ordinary water used at the village (if the deceased be a woman her body is first partially washed by female attendants). They close the eyes; some fail in this, and are considered unskilful. They dress the body in calico, covering it all except the eyes and the upper part of the face, which may be left uncovered until they are on the point of carrying it to the graveyard. They tie up the deceased in a mat, the very mat which was his deathbed. The Wayao are buried with the legs bent, the Wanyasa with the legs straight. When all these ceremonies have been finished, the undertakers come out of the house and wash their hands, not in ordinary water but in water of medicine, “because they handled a corpse”.

35.—PROLONGED WAILING.

If the wailing is to continue for a long time they procure the bark of a large tree and encase the body therein. The body is then set in a position nearly upright; a hole is dug in the floor of the house so that the putrid matter may drop (kusulula) into it. Should the body be in an advanced state of decomposition, they burn Indian hemp (chamba), and carry beside it on the way to the grave, this is done to neutralise the smell. But in cases of prolonged mourning the deceased is often buried in his own house.

36.—DEATH IN WAR.

If a man be killed in war, his friends, if they can procure his body at all, do not “show it at the village,” but bury it on the war path. If his enemies find the body they disembowel it and cut off the head, taking certain parts for charms. Enemies allow no burial, but cast forth the mangled remains to the vultures and other carrion eaters.

When a man is wounded in an engagement he is carried back, not to his own dwelling—there are bad spirits in it—but to a little hut made ready for him in the bush (19) at some distance from the village.

If a person die through drinking mwai (and this constitutes an enormous percentage of the older natives), he is denied the ordinary rights of sepulture. Several years ago the burning of witches was practised. At present this would not be done unless the witch refused the poisoned cup, which she is, on the contrary, most eager to drink to show her innocence.

37.—JOURNEY TO THE GRAVE.

When the ‘mourning at the door’ is finished they proceed to the grave. A large bamboo is passed along the body, and projects beyond the coffin or mat (ugono), both behind and before, and the body is carried shoulder high. One of the undertakers carries at the head, and the other at the feet. The undertakers have the charge of carrying the body to the grave, although others may assist, but there is not so much changing as is seen in Scotch funerals. A large procession of men and women now set forth to follow the deceased to his last resting place. They have a drum with them, and march to certain very plaintive and not unmelodious chants.

Some of the men carry hoes to dig the grave, and a small bowl or basket (chiselo) to throw out the earth. They carry also an axe to prepare palisades for the sides of the grave. The women follow in the rear, carrying some porridge, with the usual relish (mboga), as also a pot of beer. It is not every one that is allowed to follow the funeral procession—a person that has not been at the mysteries may not go. Thus a boy of six years may have a brother or a playmate die, but he will not be allowed to accompany the funeral party. No one that is very closely related to the deceased will go to the grave. A father will not go to the funeral of his child, nor a husband to that of his wife; but, in cases of poverty where there is difficulty in employing undertakers, or if the death take place on a journey, the nearest relatives have to be present at the funeral rites; but in ordinary circumstances, if they follow the remains at all, they turn back at the chikomo, that is, the path that leads from the village to the main road. A mother is allowed to go to the funeral of her child only if it die in infancy. One reason why the chief relative of the deceased does not go to the grave is that he has to prosecute the witch that caused the death: going to the grave would unfit him for the task.

38.—DIGGING THE GRAVE.

The grave is not dug nor marked out at all, till the funeral party arrive. On their arrival the body is laid down on the ground under the shade of a large tree, and the grave-digging begins. As hoes are the implements used, the process takes a long time. It often begins about noon, and is not concluded till night. No one enters the grave except the undertakers. After a sufficient depth has been reached they bring forward the body to measure whether the size and shape of the grave will exactly suit. After this measuring is completed the body is again laid aside out of the hot rays of the sun. By and by other men are at work with an axe cutting pieces of trees to form a kind of palisade round the inside of the grave. The shaping of these sticks takes a long time. The structure when finished resembles the piling used to keep the banks of a river from falling in or being washed away. It forms the sides of a strong wooden house which is erected over the body. When these posts have been securely fixed two forked sticks are driven into the ground, one at each end of the grave. The body is then lowered, and the forked sticks receive the projecting parts of the bamboo that carried it to the grave. The body when lowered is suspended between these forked sticks, and remains hanging without touching the ground. Other logs are put above so as to form the roof of this strong wooden house, and afterwards the earth is filled in; only before filling it in they have certain articles to bury with the deceased.

The wooden house is for the purpose of keeping away the witch who caused the death, and who now wishes to eat the flesh of her victim. It serves to keep away carrion eaters of all kinds, for the witch may assume the shape of a hyena.

39.—OFFERINGS AT THE GRAVE.

Along with the deceased is buried a considerable part of his property. We have already seen that his bed is buried with him, so also are all his clothes. If he possesses several tusks of ivory one tusk or more is ground (siaga) to a powder between two stones and put beside him. Beads are also ground down in the same way. These precautions are taken to prevent the witch from making any use of the ivory or beads.

If the deceased owned several slaves an enormous hole is dug for a grave. The slaves that were caught immediately on his death are now brought forward. They may be either cast into the pit alive, or the undertakers may cut all their throats. The body of their master or their mistress is then laid down to rest above theirs, and the grave is covered in.

After this the women come forward with the offerings of food, and place at the head of the grave. The dishes in which the food was brought are left behind. The pot that held the drinking water of the deceased and his drinking cup are also left with him. These, too, might be coveted by the witch, but a hole is pierced in the pot, and the drinking calabash is broken.

The man has now gone from the society of the living, and he is expected to share the meal thus left at his grave with those that have gone before him. The funeral party breaks up; they do not want to visit the grave of their friend again without a very good reason. Any one found among the graves may be taken for a cannibal (107). Their friend has become a citizen of a different village. He is with all his relatives of the past. He is entitled to offerings or presents, which may come to him individually or through his chief. These offerings in most cases he will share with others, just as he used to do when alive (10).

40.—TAKING DOWN THE HOUSE.

“It is unclean. And he shall break down the house ... and he shall carry them (the stones, timber, and mortar) forth out of the city into an unclean place.”—LEV. xiv., 44, 45.

The day after the remains have been committed to the grave the undertakers see to the destruction of the house that was occupied by the dead man. The house of the deceased is always taken down whether he died in it or not. No one will live in that house on any consideration. The spirit (Mulungu) of the deceased would be very angry with the man who did so, and would say, “This man is glad that I died that he might enter my house”. If he possessed a great many houses it is the house of his principal wife that he is most identified with. Her house is taken down, and the houses of his other wives are left.

The fabric is demolished very effectually. The foundations are dug out of the ground. Any remains of the deceased man’s food, the ashes of his fire, and the thatch of the roof are carried away and burned at a cross road (malekano) that the spirit of the deceased, or the evil spirits that caused his death, may enter some of these paths.

When the house is broken down, the parts of it not carried away are buried, the place where it stood is swept all over, fresh earth is put on, the spot is considered sacred. All the children are warned that they must not play on this ground. A pot is put down to receive offerings of beer, and when any special offering is given to the deceased it is usually presented here (4). If this place become too public (as when children play near and send dust into the pot), the pot will be placed under a tree at a little distance from the village.

The man may be buried in his own dwelling. In this case the house is not taken down, but is generally covered with cloth, and the verandah becomes the place for presenting offerings. His old house thus becomes a kind of temple (chilisi cha nguo). There may be cases also where the deceased is buried in the village, although not in his own house. In such cases a new house will be raised above the remains.

When the house is taken down the funeral rites (mtembo) are finished.

An important feature in these observances is that the relatives of the deceased have their heads shaved. There are a great many absurd regulations that could not be published, with reference to burying the hair. Some of it is buried at the place where the house of the deceased stood. A second shaving takes place after their hair grows again (43).

When a chief or headman dies the village is often entirely forsaken.

41.—CANONISED.

The deceased is now in the spirit world, and receives offerings and adoration. He is addressed as “Our great spirit that has gone before.” (Msimu wetu wokulungwa ulongolele).

He has now a certain power over the lives and destinies of his surviving relatives. If any one dream of him it is at once concluded that the spirit is “up to something”. Very likely he wants to have some of the survivors for his companions. The dreamer hastens to appease the spirit by an offering.

42.—CONTINUANCE OF MOURNING.

But the mourning, as distinct from the funeral rites, is not yet finished. The surviving relatives do not wash their faces or anoint their bodies with oil, neither do they cut their hair until the great day of the second shaving (43). Sometimes they eat no salt, use no warm food, and drink no beer. Cases of this kind are among the nearest approaches to fasting that we met with in the country. If a friend come to see them he will get his porridge warm, but the mourners wait until theirs cool. On the day of the wailing at the door the undertakers may give a dispensation from some of these penalties by putting salt in a common mess of food. If a man have been absent from this dispensation he must follow customs like the above.

The duration of this mourning may be two months, or even more. The chief of the country, especially if related to the deceased (which he may well be if the deceased was a man of great influence), may have a voice in determining how long the mourning is to continue. In more humble life the relative of most influence would be consulted.

43.—END OF MOURNING.

After two or three months have passed, there is a great gathering. This is the day on which the mourning is formally ended. Already you hear them beginning to sing “Iya! iya! ungolele ukana;” to which the response is, “O manja o,” while the undertakers respond, “O Kangolele.” This is, in fact, quite a drinking song, like “Willie brewed a peck o’ maut,” and shows that the party are not to sit and mourn for ever. On this day much beer is brought, and the deceased’s spirit is especially remembered, and is considered to partake in the festivities.

The undertakers come back. One of their duties is to see to the second shaving of the heads of the dead man’s relatives. They take off a little of the hair in the front and a little on the back of the head (kukawa), and others complete the shaving. The hair is buried again at the house, where the deceased relative receives his offerings, or in the bush.

ENTERING ON INHERITANCE.

On the day of the second shaving the successors of the deceased enter upon their inheritance. They take possession of the deceased man’s wives and whatever property he may have. This day is a great marriage feast in one aspect. Now the services of the undertakers are at an end; they have been feasted sumptuously throughout, and are now paid.

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