Key Moments in Life: Death and Re-birth |
| Death | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
 |
Death is the final event in life, and is celebrated by the same important rites of passage that mark every significant transition in the life of an individual or a community in Africa. As in initiation, death is a leaving behind of one phase of life and the beginning of another, and so, the death of an elder includes separation from the community of the living, a journey to the land of ancestors and reintegration into the world of the ancestral spirits. The memory of the deceased may be preserved and the living may appeal to the spirit of the deceased to act as intercessor with the spirits of nature secure their blessings. The figure from the Hemba people was placed with several additional figures in a small hut to protect it from the rain, and represented the ancestors of the family. The elegant cross-shaped hairstyle was so common in the area of eastern Zaire in the 19th century that it was described by the missionary doctor David Livingstone. |
|
Male ancestor figure, singiti |
Hemba people, Zaire |
| Death | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
 |
Each of these steps may require the use of art: masks may appear to honor the deceased or to reenact sacred stories of the encounters between spirits and the ancestors, and figures may be placed on shrines dedicated to the ancestors' memory, receiving sacrifices to assure their blessings or watching over sacred ancestral relics to protect them from evil forces. The Bushoong mask seen here is called Nyata a Masheke and was used at the funerals of the highest title holders in the royal court. |
|
Mask, Nyata a Masheke |
Kuba (Bushoong) people, Zaire |
| Death | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
 |
Among several peoples across Africa, but especially among the Fang, Kota, Mahongwe and Punu peoples of Gabon, figures are made to guard the relics of the revered and honored ancestors. These relics consist of the skulls and long bones (arm and leg bones) of the ancestors. Only the most important ancestors, those who have accomplished important deeds, are honored in this way. The first hunter to kill an elephant, the first woman to trade with Europeans, the founder of the village, are worthy of such honor. The figures that protect the relics may be naturalistic or abstract, but their are not portraits of humans. They are instead intended to provide supernatural protection against malevolent forces -- witchcraft-- that might bring harm to the spirits of both living and dead. The abstract figures covered with metal and made by the Kota people remind us that these are not portraits of the ancestors themselves, but abstract spirit images. |
|
Reliquary guardian figure, mbulu |
Kota people,
Gabon |
| Death | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
 |
It is particularly important to understand that among most African peoples death is both an ending and a beginning, for just as the death of plants at harvest each year signals the end of the agricultural cycle of one year and the rebirth of life to begin the next cycle, many Africans believe that death leads to renewed life, especially for those who die young without children and are to be reborn into the next generation. The result is that the conclusion of this chapter leads directly to the discussion of art used for birth and continuity. The Tabwa people of eastern Zaire create ancestor figures that bear scars associated with Tabwa world-view. The hairline is divided down the middle to represent mulalambo, ("where the buffalo sleeps") a ridgeline or watershed that defines symmetry and balance in life. |
Ancestor figure |
Tabwa people,
Zaire |
| Death | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
 |
Each of the key moments of life can be seen as a transition from one level or state of being to another, an event or change which is accompanied by ceremonies that cut us off from the past and prepare us for the future. John Mbiti has written: "We have seen that birth is the first rhythm of a new generation, and rites of birth are performed in order to make the child a corporate and social being. Initiation rites continue that process, and make him a mature, responsible and active member of society. Marriage makes him a creative and reproductive being, linking him with both the departed and the generations to come. Finally comes death, that inevitable and, in many societies, most disrupting phenomenon of all. Death stands between the world of human beings and the world of spirits, between the visible and the invisible" (Mbiti 1969:145). |
Reliquary guardian figure |
Fang people,
Gabon |
Go to Key Moments in Life Section:
Death |
