Life Beyond the Grave: Burial and Funeral Rites among the Aŋlɔ Eʋe of Ghana
Résumé
Life beyond the grave is of consequent importance to the Aŋlɔ (Anlo) Eʋe (Ewe). Underpinned by burial and funeral rites, life beyond the grave enjoins on the Aŋlɔ Eʋe to live a life of integrity on this earth. This framing, life beyond the grave, is hinged on their belief in the cyclical flow of life; ‘the unborn’, ‘the living’, and ‘the dead’, some of whom are ‘the living-dead’ (Mbiti, 1977:119-125). Most Africans speak about life after death, but to the Aŋlɔ Eʋe, it is “Life beyond the grave” because the Aŋlɔ Eʋe perform a ritual when a child is born called megbekpɔkpɔ (literally, “looking back”) to know who has come back to life. This gives reason for their way of life and their meticulous attitude to burial and funeral rituals. The Aŋlɔ Eʋe is made up of fifteen clans with a nuanced burial and funeral rituals. Nonetheless, the rituals are done to enable the deceased to transit successfully to the next realm of life and to rest peacefully with the ancestors and possibly to reincarnate (Parrinder, 1974:138-140). Failure to fulfill this requirement has consequences for the deceased as well as the family and friends. Invariably therefore, these rituals instill in the Aŋlɔ Eʋe what it means to be family and friends. As an Aŋlɔ Eʋe, the linguistic and other advantages of my positionality alongside interviews, participant and non-participant observations enhanced the gathering of the needed ethnographic data. Thus, using the burial and funeral rites of the Bate clan as an illustration, and afterbirth ritual, megbekpɔkpɔ, the study discusses what it means for the Aŋlɔ Eʋe to speak of life beyond the grave and not just life after death; this has been overlooked, but made evident in this study.
Citer ce document
Accès au document
Texte intégral en lecture en ligne, réservé aux abonnés SPHAERO et aux membres de l'institution. Se connecter
Voir l'article sur le site de la revueAuteur(s)
Statistiques
Consultations : 1
Téléchargements : 0