7. FUNERALS AND RITES OF PASSAGE
7.1 Rites of passage according to A. van Gennep and V. Turner
Among the Bulsa and many other African ethnic groups, religious events must be studied with the societal context in mind and social activities must be studied with the religious aspects in mind. After the death of an elderly person, profound changes take place in his immediate and wider social environment. When an office such as that of a compound head (yeri-nyono) or of a lineage-elder (kpagi) loses its owner, the deceased themselves assume the status of ancestors (kpilima) after some time. The positions of the family members are also changed: wives (pooba) of the dead take on the widow status (pokongta), and his children (bisa) are called orphans (bi-kpingsa). The man of greatest seniority in the list of candidates for his office – it may be his eldest son or the oldest surviving brother of the deceased – assumes the responsibilities of the departed office-holder, while all other candidates on the “waiting list” move one rank or position up the ladder (cf. Kröger 1978 and 2003).
However, these changes do not take place immediately after the deceased’s death; rather, a long transitional period is required. This transition may be visible in, among other things, the ritual course of the funeral celebrations. The French ethnologist Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) examined these transitional rites (rites de passage) and distinguishes three phases:
…I have tried to assemble here all the ceremonial patterns which accompany a passage from one situation to another or from one cosmic or social world to another. Because of the importance of these transitions, I think it legitimate to single out rites of passage as a special category, which under further analysis may be subdivided into rites of separation, transition rites [rites de marge], and rites of incorporation (1960: 10f.).
The original French text reads:
…j’ai tenté de grouper toute les séquences cérémonielles qui accompagnent le passage d’une situation à une autre et d’un monde (cosmique ou social) à un autre. Étant donée l’importance de ces passages, je crois légitime de distinguer une catégorie spéciale de Rites de Passage, lesquels se décomposent à l’analyse en Rites de séparation, Rites de marge et Rites d’agrégation (1981a: 13-14).
1. Separation rites (rites de séparation)
In this first phase, the ritual participants – in our case the deceased and the deceased’s close relatives – abandon their old state which existed before the death. They receive markings typical for second phase actors and these include hair shaving, body painting, wearing special clothes, etc. Often a local separation from the old environment also occurs.
2. Threshold and transformation/transition rites (rites de marge, rites liminaire, liminal rites)
In the second phase, which encompasses the transition between two states, old roles of gender, social position and age are abandoned or transformed into their opposites. For example, a young woman may wear the clothes of her old, deceased father-in-law or children may play the roles of adults by practising the activities of a soothsayer. Groups with a subordinate role (e.g., children and adolescents) in the pre-death society rebel against the gerontocratic classes of the old system through transgressions of various kinds (e.g. theft) or may even demonstrate an openly aggressive or rebellious attitude.3. Incorporation rites (rites d’agrégation, rites post-liminaire)
In the third phase, the ritual subject receives a new social identity and is re-integrated into society with a new status. New ties and commitments must be adopted.
At Bulsa funeral ceremonies, all three phases appear, though not in a strictly chronological sequence. Rather, we must follow the three phases in coherent strands of action that sometimes begin immediately after the death of the close relative and cease at the end of the last funeral. Such a sequence will be presented here for ritual actions, such as they are performed on widows of the deceased person.
7.2. The three phases in the funeral celebrations of the Bulsa
Most Bulsa funeral rites of phase one and two have a rather ‘punctiform’ character. That is, they introduce a new ritual or social condition of family members and consist of only one to two actions. These actions can include the casting off of old things (e.g. head hair, body dirt, clothes) acquired in the time before the relative’s death (See van Gennep 1981b: 158 et al.).
Rituals of the third phase, such as a common meal and the remarriage of the widows, re-establish conditions of a permanent order.
The second phase, which starts at the beginning of the first funeral celebration and ends only at the end of the second, has a longer duration and consists of several single rites.
The ritual subjects of this phase are lifted out of everyday life and lose their former status. Victor Turner, who studied this phenomenon for other ethnic groups and other rites, puts it this way:
… during the intervening liminal period, the state of the ritual subject (the “passenger”) is ambiguous; he passes through a realm that has few or none of the attributes of the past or coming state … (p.94)
… They [the ritual subjects] are no longer classified and not yet classified (p.96).
In the Bulsa funeral ceremonies, this affects, for example, the widows of the deceased because their condition is only temporary: they are neither the wives of the old nor of a new husband. Also the dead man has neither a status in the realm of the living nor has he attained his ancestral status.
Associated with the loss of status, other important principles of organization of an established society are lost or become disordered, including gender roles and attributes (see 2.1), principles of moral order (prohibition of theft, adultery, see 23 and 2.4) or the attitude toward taboos (see 2.2).
7.2.1 Changing established gender roles [endnote 115])
While usually the performances of rites and sacrifices is entirely in the hands of the men, even an uninvolved visitor to a Bulsa funeral discovers that in most ritual activities, the women play a leading role. On the 1st or 2nd day of the Kumsa celebration, two women carry the death-mat from the courtyard of the senior wife (Ama-dok) to the grain store in the cattle yard. There, under the leadership of the jom-suiroa, women perform all rites: painting close relatives with red clay, attaching fibre bands (boonsa, sing boom) to the left wrists of male relatives and placing red caps, which are otherwise worn only by chiefs and diviners, on the heads of the deceased’s daughters and granddaughters. During the first funeral celebration, women beat sinsangula rattles and sing songs in memory of the dead. Taking out the death-mats on the second day of the Kumsa celebration is also carried out only by women, although two male gravediggers burn the mat. Women also take part in “storming” the ash-heap (tampoi) as described below (2.5).
War-dances and all warlike activities are usually reserved for men. In some funeral ceremonies, however, women join the male group of war-dancers, or they form their own group without wearing warriors’ costumes and weapons.
If females wish to sacrifice to a shrine in everyday life, they can donate the sacrificial animal and be present for the sacrifice. However, pouring libations, killing animals and saying prayers are rites carried out by men only. On the fourth day of the Kumsa celebration, the very important sacrifices to the outer wall (parik-kaabka) of the compound are performed by a woman who smears millet porridge and a bean dish onto the wall. Sacrifices of this kind for a deceased man take place near the zamonguni pillar at the main entrance of the compound and are carried out for a married woman behind the compound. Following these sacrifices, a woman runs around the compound three times while beating a cylindrical drum (ginggaung), an instrument usually beaten only by men.
The most obvious manifestation, however, for a changed gender role becomes apparent in the figure of the cher-liewa (che-dierowa) or “imitator”. In order to draw a picture of the deceased’s character, the daughter-in-law puts on his clothes at the Kumsa celebration and imitates him not only by her appearance but also through the performance of small, dramatic and not always benevolent scenes from the deceased’s life… [endnote 116]
7.2.2 Non-observance of taboos (kisita, sing. kisuk)
The following taboos of normal everyday life are either completely disregarded, entirely institutionalized or considerably mitigated in their demands during funeral celebrations.
• Dirges are not allowed to be sung outside the funeral celebration.
• Rolled-up sleeping mats may only be placed on the floor with their thicker ends below. In the case of funeral ceremonies, this otherwise tabooed method of positioning mats is even demanded for death-mats in certain rituals.
• In everyday life you must not jump over a lying mat or step on it. When an animal jumps over it, it is immediately slaughtered.
• You must not stay in the entrance of a compound.
• It is generally forbidden to put a cloth or dress on the roof of a kusung or kusung-dok, which are the meeting rooms in front of the compound.
• Women must not kill animals. At the Kumsa celebration, however, a woman is allowed to strangle a goat or a sheep with her hands or feet.
• Voandzeia subterranea or round beans (suma) and the small ordinary beans (tue) must not be cooked together in the same cooking pot, as it is done in the ritual on the third day of the Kumsa celebration.
• The eldest son is normally not allowed to look into his father’s grain store while his father is living. At the first funeral, he is ordered to do so and henceforth the old taboo is abolished forever.
• Similarly, while a young man may borrow a piece of clothing from his brother, and, as I saw it, a wife may dress in her husband’s clothes for fun, the eldest son must never wear a garment of his living father. This taboo is also abolished forever in a ritual taking place during the first funeral celebration.
7.2.3 Ritual theft without sanctions (chiaka, ‘snatching’)
Theft is not only regarded as a serious crime among the Bulsa, but some tanggbana (spirits of earth shrines) have also declared it to be their special taboo. This means that they punish theft, which is not instantly expiated, with death.
For children of a family there is a certain licence in “procuring” some foodstuffs in everyday life. There are no hard penalties if, for example, when they take some peanuts from a basket for consumption without permission. Picking fruit from trees in small quantities for their own needs is usually allowed. However, severe penalties are to be expected for the theft of meat. In addition to beating the child, any food – at least in the past – could be refused to such a young thief for a whole day. A child’s theft of meat is considered even more severe when they steal the meat from a prepared meal, which is intended for guests or old men.
However, on the 4th day of the Kumsa celebration, this very sort of theft is happening. While women prepare millet porridge (saab, TZ) with meat in front of or behind the compound, a group of boys are already scheming about how they can steal parts of the meat. If they have snatched a piece in an unguarded moment, they immediately consume it at a certain distance from the cooking-place. The cooks can fight against theft and try to expel the boys with sticks, or they form a human shelter by surrounding the cooking-place. However, there is no later punishment for meat theft. I know of a case where the old men (kpaga) had to eat an almost meatless millet porridge in the kusung-dok as a result of the boys’ “theft”.
A similar, ritually-permitted theft on a market square is known to me to have occurred at the late Wiaga chief’s funeral. On the 3rd day of the Juka celebration, a larger group of the mourners, accompanied by musicians, moved to the nearby market. Here, some market women had already cleared their stands prematurely or covered their displays with thick plastic sheets. A woman showed me a thick stick, which she intended to use against the children’s “robbery”. But here, too, the children were able to “steal” goods without later punishment.
Not fully institutionalized “impertinence” during the funeral celebration can be criticized, but cannot be prevented with force or even be punished. On the fourth day of the Juka celebration, about 20 ceramic bowls of millet porridge (TZ, saab) and as many calabash bowls with meat and fish were placed in a courtyard of Ajuzong Yeri (Wiaga-Mutuensa) to be distributed to certain guests in a fixed order. Each guest who was called by name could choose a bowl of millet porridge and a calabash with meat or fish according to his taste. When a young man from another section was called, he searched for his favourite dish for a long time, took a bowl with TZ and a calabash with meat and added meat from several other bowls. People criticized his impudence and greed, but he was not to be prevented from carrying out his impertinent action.
7.2.4 Sexual license
In the descriptions of the transitional phase in other societies, we often find references to a permitted or even ordered sexual license at great festivals. This often occurs among young people following their puberty initiation.
In the Bulsa funeral ceremonies, these phenomena are not very pronounced. In speeches to the visitors of such a festivity, an old speaker sometimes expresses his desire for all of the bachelors present to find a partner on this occasion. However, he is probably considering a later marriage that has been properly carried out according to the Bulsa tradition. (During a funeral celebration, no wooing or marriage rituals may be performed.)
At a Kumsa celebration in Sandema-Kalijiisa-Choabisa in 1973, an old man in his speech announced that marriages between Choabisa and the other subsections of Kalijiisa would be allowed in the future. This statement referred to traditional marriages as part of an established order and not to a time-limited licence.
Although no fundamental laws of sexual morality are abolished, some prescriptions are somewhat relaxed, and sexual transgressions during a funeral celebration are less severely punished by men and spiritual powers.
The exogamy prohibition to marry within one’s own lineage remains, but the initiation of marital connections with distantly related or matrilineally related lines is often tolerated at funerals. Adultery, especially between a woman and a member of her husband’s lineage, is considered an abominable offense and must be atoned for by the kabong-fobka ritual, which is regarded as shameful for the persons concerned (see Kröger 1978: 285-86). According to one source, adultery during a funeral celebration between a woman of the mourning house and a partner who is not part of her husband’s family is tolerated, and the adulteress does not even have to tell her husband about her offense. According to information from Sandema-Kalijiisa, this license is limited to the third day (Kpaata Dai) of the Kumsa funeral.
7.2.5 Aggression and open rebellion
The above-described licenses (2.1 – 2.4) are sometimes not perceived as rebellious acts or reversals of the existing order. In order to recognize violations of taboos as such, the taboo (as it existed before the funeral celebration) must be known. Otherwise the stealing of meat by boys could, for example, be simply ascribed to tricks carried out by young scamps of a certain age.
On the third day of the Juka funeral celebration, however, the whole order of the festival seems to be disturbed by rebellious and aggressive actions. On April 26, 1989, I witnessed the following in Ajuzong Yeri (Wiaga-Mutuensa):
Immediately after the chopping and burning of the quivers and bows of the deceased, about 50 metres from the entrance to the compound, an excitement and disturbance arose among the younger participants. A young man pulled a forked post (zangi) out of a shed and ran around the compound. He was followed by a group of young men and women who were “armed” with clubs, axes, or forked posts. After surrounding the compound, their aim was the ash-heap (tampoi) in front of the compound, which was “stormed” with great noise. Certain people were also the target of an apparent aggression. Once the group approached me shouting loudly but stopped a few metres in front of me and retreated. It is remarkable that even girls had formed a kind of war-dance group without the traditional costumes or weapons and participated in the event.
I was only able to observe this act of rebellion and aggression in Wiaga-Mutuensa. A variation of a war-dance, which is carried out at the same time in the ritual context of the funeral in other compounds, has perhaps replaced the very elaborate ritual of Mutuensa. The war dance variant takes place without war-costumes and – apart from sticks – without weapons, although it is accompanied by musical instruments. A group of men, most of them elderly, form a row on the free place (pielim) in front of the compound, and several times they move towards the tampoi and back again. Whenever the tampoi is reached, the foremost man will leave the row. This kind of war dance can also be performed on various other days of the Kumsa celebration. In one observed case, women joined the “warriors”.
In a comparison with rebellious behaviour during liminal phases of other ethnic groups, it is striking that elsewhere the target object or subject is clearly defined, e.g. the king at a change of throne [endnote 117]. During Koma funerals I observed young people, the grandchildren of the deceased man, attacking old men carrying the effigy of the grandfather and trying to steal it [endnote 118].
Among the Bulsa, however, there is no clear target person or target group for the rebellious behaviour. The question arises as to why the tampoi was chosen as the goal of “aggression” or as the end point of a war dance. A much stronger symbol for the overpowering position of a deceased compound head, for example, would have been the central grain-store.
We cannot answer this question clearly but can only present some ideas concerning the practical, social and religious significance of the tampoi. It is mainly a waste heap, especially for the hearth-ashes of the households [endnote 119]. Organic household waste is fed to the cattle or finds a place in the cattle yard, where it is later used, together with the cattle manure, as a fertilizer for the fields.
The tampoi also serves as a burial site for premature births, for children having died up to the age of six months and for a woman’s placenta after birth. A high tampoi, as one finds it mainly in front of the chiefs’ compounds, is an important prestige object, because it clearly points to the high age of the compound and the high number of its inhabitants. While the tampoi-ashes are also used as a fertilizer in smaller farms, large compounds attach importance to a particularly high heap. When the tampoi has been partially washed down and flattened by rainfall, the old, high form is sometimes restored with a bulldozer. The various practical as well as symbolic roles of the tampoi, however, help little to shed light on the significance of the mentioned rites of the Juka celebration.
ENDNOTES (7)
115 According to M. Gluckman (1970: 109), “rites of reversal”, in which women act as men and men as women, represent a protest against the established order.
116 The occurrence of such an imitation of dead men by women in male clothes appears to be widespread throughout Northern Ghana, for example among the Frafra (personal observation) and Koma (Kröger and Baluri 2010: 409). Among the Mamprusi, according to Rattray (1932: 463), the widows of the deceased wear his clothes.
Examples and other functions of the imitator can be found in the German text.
117 See for example: S. Drucker-Brown 1999.
118 F. Kröger and B. Baluri Saibu 2010: 364-67.
119 The word tampoi is related to tampelem ‘ash’. For the symbolism of ashes see B. Meier 1992