DEATH, although a dreaded event, is perceived as the beginning of a person’s deeper relationship with all of creation, the complementing of life and the beginning of the communication between the visible and the invisible worlds.
The goal of life is to become an ancestor after death.
This is why every person who dies must be given a ‘correct’ funeral, supported by a number of traditional rites and religious ceremonies.
If this is not done, the dead person may become a wandering ghost, unable to ‘live’ properly after death and therefore a danger to those who remain alive.
It might be argued that ‘proper’ death rites are more a guarantee of protection for the living than to secure a safe passage for the dead.
The BaTonga believe death does not alter or end the life or the personality of an individual, but only causes a change in its conditions.
This is expressed in the concept of ‘ancestors’, people who have died, but who continue to ‘live’ in the community and communicate with their families.
At a recent funeral in Chunga in remote Binga, the BaTonga people still have a custom of removing a dead body through a hole in the wall of a house, and not through the door.
The reason for this, according to elders, seems to be that, this will make it difficult (or even impossible) for the dead person to remember the way back to the living, as the hole in the wall is immediately closed.
Sometimes the corpse is removed feet first, symbolically pointing away from the former place of residence.
A zigzag path is taken to the burial site, or thorns strewn along the way, or a barrier erected at the grave itself because the dead are also believed to strengthen the living.
Many other tribes in Africa and Zimbabwe take special pains to ensure that the dead are easily able to return to their homes, and some people are even buried under or next to their homes.
Many people believe that death is the loss of a soul, or souls.
When a person dies, there is not some ‘part’ of that person that lives on — it is the whole person who continues to live in the spirit world, receiving a new body identical to the earthly body, but with enhanced powers to move about as an ancestor.
The death of children is regarded as a particularly grievous evil event and many people give special names to their children to try to ward off the occurrence of untimely death.
There are many different ideas about the ‘place’ the departed go to, a ‘land’ which in most cases seems to be a replica of this world.
For some, it is under the earth, in groves, near or in the homes of earthly families, or on the other side of a deep river.
In most cases it is an extension of what is known at present, although for the BaTonga it is a much better place without pain or hunger.
Kenyan scholar, John Mbiti writes that a belief in the continuation of life after death for African people, “does not constitute a hope for a future and better life.
“To live here and now is the most important concern of African religious activities and beliefs.
“Even life in the hereafter is conceived in materialistic and physical terms.
“There is neither paradise to be hoped for nor hell to be feared in the hereafter.”
Nearly all African people have a belief in a singular supreme being, the Creator of the earth.
Although the dead are believed to be somehow nearer to the Supreme Being than the living, the original state of bliss in the distant past expressed in creation myths is not restored in the afterlife.
The separation between the Supreme Being and humankind remains unavoidable and natural in the place of the departed, even though the dead are able to rest there and be safe.
Most African people believe that rewards and punishments come to people in this life and not in the hereafter.
In the land of the departed, what happens there happens automatically, irrespective of a person’s earthly behaviour, provided the correct burial rites have been observed.
However, if a person is a wizard, a murderer, a thief, one who has broken the community code or taboos, or one who has had an unnatural death or an improper burial, then such a person may be doomed to punishment in the afterlife as a wandering ghost.
He or she may be beaten and expelled by the ancestors or subjected to a period of torture according to the seriousness of their misdeeds, much like the Catholic concept of purgatory.
Among many BaTonga people is the widespread belief that witches and sorcerers are not admitted to the spirit world, therefore they are refused proper burial.
Sometimes their bodies are subjected to actions that would make such burial impossible, such as burning, chopping up, and feeding them to hyenas.
Among the BaTonga, to be cut off from the community of the ancestors in death is the nearest equivalent of hell.
The concept of reincarnation is found among many peoples.
Reincarnation refers to the soul of a dead person being reborn in the body of another.
There is a close relationship between birth and death.
African beliefs are ‘world-affirming’, and welcome reincarnation.
The BaTonga believe the world is a light, warm, and living place to which the dead are only too glad to return from the darkness and coldness of the grave.
The dead return to their communities, except for those unfortunate ones previously mentioned, and there are no limits set to the number of possible reincarnations — an ancestor may be reincarnated in more than one person at a time.
Some BaTonga tribal myths say that the number of souls and bodies is limited.
It is important for them to discover which ancestor is reborn in a child, for this is a reason for deep thankfulness.
The destiny of a community is fulfilled through both successive and simultaneous multiple reincarnations.
The BaTonga also believe in transmigration which denotes the changing of a person into an animal.
The most common form of this idea relates to a witch or sorcerer who is believed to be able to transform into an animal in order to perform evil deeds.
Elders also say that people may inhabit particular animals after death, especially snakes, which are treated with great respect.
Some African rulers reappear as lions.
Some people believe the dead will reappear in the form of the totem animal of that ethnic group, and these totems are fearsome (such as lions, leopards, or crocodiles).
They symbolise the terrible punishments the dead can inflict if the moral values of the community are not upheld.
Part Two will look at the burial and mourning customs.