KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

BACHELOR IN ARTS WITH EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT: RELIGIOUS STUDIES AND PHILOSOPHY.

COURSE UNIT: AFRICAN TRADITIONAL SOCIETY.

NAME: BRIAN MNANG’AT KATIKATI.

REG NUMBER: 19/U/AEE/12551/PE.

SIGNATURE………………………

DATE: 11/04/2023.

QUESTION:

Using a narrative of death rituals from one African traditional society of your choice, discuss the
African traditional understanding of human life and death.

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Death rituals in Africa are deeply rooted in the cultural beliefs, traditions and indigenous regions
of the continent.it is recognized through a rite of passage that prepares the spirit of the diseased
to on the next realm.

Death rituals and the mourning practice of Africans are varied because of the existences of so
many religious and cultural practices. For example, among the Karamojong of northeastern
Uganda, a pregnant woman should not go for the burial. They are communalistic and
acknowledge advance care directives which according to many Africans, they encourage
“atomistic individualism”, this refers to the idea that the isolated individuals is the only
fundamental reality and that the individuals is natural atom in artificial social composite.

In Karamojong tradition society, individuals are brought up from childhood with a sense of
belonging and relatedness with others. Individuals thus, have a sense of obligation to a larger set
of other individuals. This the reason why Karamojongs does not recognize the roles that advance
care directives play in end-of –life decision-making for an incompetent patient.instead,decision-
making at the end-of-life period is left to the members of the family of the person concerned.

Karamojongs bury the dead with some property .they do not like facing the reality of death and
do not encourage the contemplation of death, be it their own death or the death of their loved
ones.it is somewhat a taboo to think of or discuss one’s death.hence,people do not write their
wills or set aside money for their funerals while still alive; death is also considered an enemy of
life and karamojongs believe life should be preserved by all means even if the case is a hopeless
one.so,they do not favor any artificial termination of life.

In Karamojong traditional society, shaving of hair begins after death if the death occurred
suddenly or unexpectedly. Hence, the loved ones have time to prepare both emotionally and
cognitively for death when it eventually occurs. Coping after death is thus relatively easier for
the survivors, and the dying person has time to take care of unfinished business such as preparing
a will. In the case of unexpected (sudden) death, however, such emotional and cognitive
preparation as seen in the case of a dying person is absent, coping by loved ones is difficult, and
the deceased person may not have the time to take care of unfinished business such as preparing
a will, if he or she had not prepared one before.

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With the belief that the goal of life is to become an ancestor after death, a person is given a
proper burial after death. For example, in Karamojong traditional society, there is burying a dead
in a certain position, that is to say, the male are buried facing right direction while the female are
buried facing left direction. Therefore, failure to do, this may result in the individual becoming a
wandering ghost, unable to live properly after death, and constituting a danger to those who are
still alive.

In most cases, the death in Karamojong traditional society is often looked at from both religious
and cultural perspectives. Religion is said to help provide meaning and answers to the problems
of uncertainty, powerlessness, and scarcity that death creates. Naming of children after death
among the Karamojong have thus evolved to acknowledge this, incorporating religious value in
the rituals and enabling bereaved persons to find meaning for an event that for most people is
inexplicable.

Karamojong people 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 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 may be 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 people 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. Funeral
rites and ceremonies, therefore serve a particular attention to be paid to the funeral rites to avoid
undue offense to the dead.

Many people believe in Karamojong that death is the loss of a soul, or souls. Although there is
recognition of the difference between the physical person that is buried and the nonphysical
person who lives on. 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 peoples give special names to their
children to try to ward off the reoccurrence of untimely death.

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There are many different ideas about the "place" the departed go to, a "land “among the
karamojongs. In most cases, it is an extension of what is known at present, although for them it is
a much better place without pain or hunger. Therefore, they belief that there is life after death,
and have a hope for a future and better life. To live here and now is the most important concern
of Karamojong religious activities and beliefs, even life in the hereafter is conceived in
materialistic and physical terms.so, There is neither paradise to be hoped for nor hell to be feared
in the hereafter.

In Karamojong traditional society, children and unmarried adults are not allowed to attend the
funeral. During the burial itself, the immediate family of the deceased is expected to stay
together on one side of the grave at a designated place. They are forbidden from speaking or
taking any vocal part in the funeral. It is customary to place the deceased's personal property,
including eating utensils, walking sticks, blankets, and other useful items, in the grave. After the
funeral, the people are invited to the deceased's home for the funeral meal. Many people follow a
cleansing ritual at the gate of the house, where everyone must wash off the dust of the graveyard
before entering the house. Sometimes pieces of cut aloe are placed in the water, and this water is
believed to remove bad luck.

A practice like feasting during burial is practiced among the karamojongs. This is a home-
bringing ritual, 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 bottle. They proceed home with the assurance that
the deceased relative is accompanying them to look after the family as an ancestor. They belief
that the living, 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.

These burial and mourning customs suggest that many practices still prevailing in Karamojong
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 culture. Sometimes

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there are signs of confrontation and the changing and discontinuance of old customs to such an
extent that they are no longer recognizable in that context.

Among the Karamojongs, the period of strict mourning usually continues for atleast a week after
funeral and the bereaved stay at home and not socializing or have sexual contact. 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.

In conclusion therefore, there is need to recognize and address cultural issues, Religious issues
among others, on end-of-life care. This becomes imperative particularly when one understands
the fact that culture is the “worldview values norms and behavior patterns shared by a group of
individuals and profoundly impacts behavior and the family, it shapes how persons make
meanings out of illness, suffering and dying”.

It is against this backdrop that this review focuses on the socio-cultural concepts, beliefs and
practices concerning death, which are of significant relevance to Africa in general.

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 REFERENCES:

1. Morgan A. Advance care directives. A Companion to Applied Ethic. Blackwell Companions

to Philosophy. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Limited; 2005.

2.  Omoregbe JI. Ethics, a Systematic and Historical Study. Lagos, Nigeria: Joja Educational

Research and Publishers Limited; 1993.

3. Koenig B, Marshall P. Death (Cultural Perspectives) New York, USA: Thomson Gale; 2004.

4. Mbiti JS. African Religions and Philosophy. 2nd ed. Oxford, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann;
1990.