Life After Death

I’ve had more interviews about the death rites and funerals here, and I’ve found it’s a great avenue to understand the people better.

It’s interesting, the things they do. But maybe what’s more interesting is that most of them can’t explain why they do these things anymore. Some traditions have fallen by the wayside over the years, and not one person I’ve talked to yet can tell me exactly what things mean. It’s just this vague idea that if they don’t do things a certain way, some bad will befall them—in the community and at the hand of the spirits.

Daniel, one of the school teachers and elders in church, had this to say: “Without beliefs, we shall be animals. They make us to be human beings. Without our customs and culture, we are beasts.” Without saying much, that says a lot.

Some anthropologists will talk about “maladaptive practices”—those engrained, culture things that have no redeeming value and often put the society in danger. An example of this that Cath talked about in her paper was how whole groups of women will stand over a crouching woman in labor and push and push and push her stomach. It’s a culture practice that’s just plain unhealthy. You’ll find other things that are more neutral—that is, they have neither a positive or negative effect on the health or well-being of the society—and that’s more of what I’m seeing in studying funerals. There’s animal sacrifice and all-night dancing, but they’re not necessarily inherently bad. The graves of the Landlords and Rainmakers are exhumed after a year or so and the bones taken to certain caves, but I don’t know enough about the health issues there to say if it’s dangerous. And there are some things that are perhaps inadvertently good—before a man dies, monyemiji come in and ask him about his debts in the community and the debts to him, and they also ask him if he has unresolved conflict. They take his saliva and sprinkle it over the community, signifying his forgiveness of those who’ve done him wrong. I think that could have good emotional effects on the community, though they do it to protect the family and community from bad spirits and curses. I think the balu consumption is bad on its face, but that’s everywhere in this culture.

So, I dunno, just some thoughts so far. I won’t bore you with every (sometimes gory) detail about Lopit death rites…