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The BaTonga and concept of death: Part Three …home-bringing rituals of the dead

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IN Part Two of this series I looked at how the deceased must be ‘detached’ from the living and make a smooth a transition to the next life.
Although it is impossible to generalise about concepts in the BaTonga culture, there are ethno-religions, being determined by each ethnic group in Zimbabwe.
The journey to the world of the dead for the BaTonga has many interruptions.
If the correct funeral rites are not observed, the deceased may come back to trouble the living relatives.
Usually an animal is killed in ritual, although this also serves the practical purpose of providing food for the many guests.
This week I look at the most important part of the BaTonga death rituals, the home-bringing of the dead rituals.
Home- bringing ritual of the dead is a practice that seems to be disappearing in African urban areas, although it is still observed in some parts of Africa and in Zimbabwe.
For the BaTonga a month or two after the funeral, the grieving family slaughters a beast and then goes to the graveyard.
They speak to the ancestors to allow the deceased to return home to rest.
It is believed that at the graves the spirits are hovering on the earth and are restless until they are brought home—an extremely dangerous situation for the family.
The family members take some of the earth covering the grave and put it in a gourd or special bottle.
They proceed home with the assurance that the deceased relative is accompanying them to look after the family as an ancestor.
Some of the BaTonga who have converted to Christianity have a night vigil at the home of the deceased after the home-bringing.
The theologian Marthinus Daneel describes the ceremony in some Zimbabwean churches, where the living believers escort the spirit of the deceased relative to heaven through their prayers, after which a mediating role can be attained.
The emphasis is on the transformation of the traditional rite, while providing for the consolation of the bereaved family.
This example shows how these churches try to eliminate an old practice without neglecting the traditionally conceived need that it has served.
These BaTonga burial and mourning customs suggest that many practices still prevailing in African Christian funerals are vestiges of the ancestor cult, especially the ritual killings and the home-bringing rites.
Because a funeral is preeminently a community affair in which the church is, but one of many players, the church does not always determine the form of the funeral.
Some of the indigenous rites have indeed been transformed and given Christian meanings, to which both Christians and those with traditional orientation can relate.
Sometimes there are signs of confrontation and the changing and discontinuance of old customs to such an extent that they are no longer recognisable in that context.
The BaTonga funerals are community affairs in which the whole community feels the grief of the bereaved and shares in it.
The purpose of the activities preceding the funeral is to comfort, encourage, and heal those who are hurting.
Thereafter, the churches see to it that the bereaved make the transition back to normal life as smoothly and as quickly as possible.
This transition during the mourning period is sometimes accompanied by cleansing rituals by which the bereaved are assured of their acceptance and protection by God.
Because the dominance of Christianity and Islam in Africa, this has resulted in the rejection of certain tribal mourning customs, the funeral becomes an opportunity to declare faith.
The proliferation of the churches has resulted in more tribal communities shunning their tribal religions and the way they interceded with their ancestors.
In the religions of Africa, life does not end with death, but continues in another realm.
The concepts of ‘life’ and ‘death’ are not mutually exclusive concepts, and there are no clear dividing lines between them.
Human existence is a dynamic process involving the increase or decrease of ‘power’ or ‘life force’, of ‘living’ and ‘dying’, and there are different levels of life and death.
Many African languages, BaTonga included, express the fact that things are not going well, such as when there is sickness, and in the words ‘we are living a little’, meaning that the level of life is very low.
The African religions scholar Placide Tempels describes every misfortune that Africans encounter as, “a diminution of vital force”
Illness and death result from some outside agent, a person, thing, or circumstance that weakens people because the agent contains a greater life force.
This entry traces those ideas that are, or have been, approximately similar across sub-Saharan Africa tribal communities.
The concepts described within in many cases have been altered in the 20th Century through the widespread influence of Christianity or Islam, and some of the customs relating to burials are disappearing.
Nevertheless, many religious concepts and practices continue to persist.
However, for the BaTonga traditional burials remain a vital part of their life and a link between them and their ancestors.
Their burial places remain sacred in the community and have been jealously guarded against desecration from wild animals and other church groupings that sought to discredit the BaTonga traditions and way of life.
They believe the link between the dead is very close, much closer than in any other society.
The BaTonga love and revere their dead and in time of need, turn to their vadzimu in the same way as the Christians turn to God.
The actions of the traditionally raised BaTonga are dominated by this combination of love and fear of the spirits, for they believe that their guardian spirits can punish as well as protect, and will bring sickness and even death to those who disregard or forget them.
Their needs and wishes must not be questioned and sometimes, even if the family has broken no rules and is leading a good life, one of the spirits may bring sickness to a member merely because it wants to be remembered.

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