AN IBIBIC FUNERAL.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 251, 16 February 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN IBIBIC FUNERAL.

CI'RIUUS AY EST AFI;iCA.\ KITES.

A re der o? "Tlie Weekly Telegraph" who went out to Nigeria some timo ago, sent to that journal f.n acco; nt of u.e death and burial o fa chief in that benighted region, showing peculiar native rites and customs. He wrote :

When we arrive:! at the village the wholo place was in an uproar. Some men were dividing pieces of now loin clr.th, ct':ers were I eat'ng small handgongs, whi o Ci eryone was ta.king exciiedly at the top of his <r her voi e. \V e were aillowed to go into t!ie house whero the coi' t se lay. Some of the ir.its f.om the roof (roofing thatch) fed len removed to li t thj spirit out —the 3 uno idea aa that of opening the window in England—.nd perched on ti"-: ridre of the 1 o: se was an I iong man, the representative of a witchcraft society, flowing a 1 orn to scare away ttio evil spirits. Tluo room in which tho torpso lay was not more thin Bi't. by Ctt., and was full of the te ea-ed's lelati es, n:o?'.ly wives. The chief wife sat n art' e . ead of the corpse, and was stark naked. As tie dad man wis a chief cf importance, his right hind was tied up to the roof, and close bv hung a dog, £Oit, and two fowls. The corpse was covered with a. number of fancy prints, while outside the house wax a bier of wo en [aim. At 3 p.m. the tor.ss w s brought out of the house and placed upon the bier; the right hand was still held rioft, and at a i.ed to it vas a bell. Gins were fired, gongs and drums beaten. and herns iloAn to frighten away the evil spirits that might be lurking near. The nois? was deafening. The relatives ran about lamenting the dcce sed and saving that lis s irit had "gone to join the ppirits of I ie fathers." The hie,- was put down ome little distan o from the horso, and a ni m er of pi-H and ts shiughtered, their b.ood b( jng daubed on the feet of t e decensed in order to ensure for him a jck passage to the land o" shadrs. While this was being ('one a man with ,i specr ran to and from •. inging the praises of the e'ead (hi fMost indigenous West African religions are a varie'y of Anim'sm, tie feature cf v.hich is t.ie proI itntion of the dead man's ghost, the id a I eing that the spirit of the dead nil, r.nle s appeased, return ta the sphere of hn forier acti.ities and make things generally uncomlo.table for the survivors. Apait from pio..iti- : tion by sacr'li e it is a'so c.esirab e to do.eivo the s])irit as far asp ssible, and to th's end tho corpse was run a' oi t tho compound and the surroundinrr dlstri't ty the I ier hearers, who raised, lurnel, lodged round trees, tic,, »il with the idea of conh.s.ng tl e s irit A cim; an-ing the Her du t ese rerambulati ns was a man who r ng t'e bill attached to to d arm of the < orpse. Ultimately th.eb cdv was t ken awav to the bi sh, wl e e it was mui'd, with ii being interne 1 a smalM ox • ont'ini;i<r some ot t' e de.eased s e c ngin.-s, ,c 5 a» liis pipe, calabash, etc., ali intend'. d for his i se in t! e sj irit r.'alm. Prior to the British occupati' n ol the country, f neral (eremoniea w ere nmcu moio elaborate tnan tl ey aie nowat'avs in arlditi .n to j i-S and goats, slavs and wives - ere n't infrequently sarrifi e l, so that the spirit c f the deceased might have i n ample retinae in t: eot : er world. . Burial crstams vary in different parti of West Africa, b t in all tho idea of laving the gho t of the ecad p: odominates. In some instances thcrj ;s a terden y lor the s; ot at which tho sa rifi e.s a:e offered to lecome a kind cf sh in-. If th> individual was powerful or iamous in life his cult may l.e ome im. ortan , :nd in course tin.o he miy c ome to !e re:a dccTas a sui er-s, irit < r demi-ged w'. o mam est' himself tmouy,h ti:e operations ot nt- I tu.re. ]t is interesting t ) note that Uie buriai customs of Neoiithic man in E io; 8 (ro very simiar to those now current in West Atria, an 1 it is fair to ass- m > that a form of Annul m was once the leligion cf our forbears.