Gabriel Lunyungu

The Wahehe Burial Rituals as Social Text

zmarły był chowany ze swoimi niewolnikami, s. 17
Śmierć stara jak człowiek: "Kufwa kulovela to mean ―Death is old as human beings", s. 20
Śmierć to ulga dla osoby w podeszłym wieku: "if the old person dies you hear the Wahehe saying, Iyawe meaning ―he/she has been relieved", s. 20
Śmierć to przejście od klanu żywych do klanu przodków: "Crema who writes, ― Death for the Wahehe is not a tragic and irreparable act, but a passage from the clan of the living to that of the ancestors (106)", s. 20
nowo zmarły ma pozdrowieć dawno zmarłych śmierć to nie koniec, ale nowy początek: "According to their beliefs, death is not the end of everything but the beginning of another life. Furthermore, during their wailing, you may hear the Wahehe saying, Ungilage gito, that means ―greetings to so- and- so, while mentioning someone who died long time ago or who has died recently.", s. 20
nikt nie umiera w samotności: "a person does not die alone, that means when someone is seriously sick, the near relatives especially one‘s sons and daughters are obliged to be around watching the sick even if they may happen to be living very far. They must be called to witness when their father or mother dies. They call this act ―Kulavilila”, that is, watching or making vigil.", s. 21
Umierający nie znika, ale zmienia stan na niefizyczny i dołącza do przodków: "Among the Wahehe, a person never dies but changes from physical state to unphysical one. Therefore, death marks a departure and not a complete extermination of a person because he moves on to join the company of the departed.", s. 21
Kontakt ze zmarłymi w szczególnych sytuacjach: "Asante and Mazama insist that ― The dead person remains a member of the family and has force that will be used to support the living community (175).", s. 22
Śmierć nie jest prostym zadaniem: "The first thing to do when someone dies is to make sure that his body is in good condition. Regarding this, the Wahehe have the saying, kufwa kutalamu, ―dying is not an easy task‖. This is because it is like a battle, therefore, many dies while their bodies are not in a good posture.", s. 23

Dzieci po śmierci nie zasługują na tyle szacunku, co starsi: "Regarding the small child‘s dead body, it is only women who are charged with the duty of preparing it because to the child, there is nothing to hide, which means that, a child among the Wahehe, does not need a special respect like that which is given to the mature person because he/ she has nothing left behind. Apart from that, the act of mourning long for him/her remains to be the duty of his/her parents only. Thus, even the mourning time for the dead child is not if that of an adult person who had a family and children.", s. 24
Tylko wybrani mogli być pochowani z wodzem, jeśli ktoś się zawahał, mógł zostać zabity: "Thus, even today when the Ng‘owo clan sings, you will hear them saying, they are a special clan chosen to be buried with the chiefs. Therefore, it should be noted that only the courageous persons were able to take this honour that is why the one who was to be buried with the ruler if he or she showed any sign of fear, it was a shame to him/her and his or her family. To get rid of this shame, sometimes such a person could even be killed and another person would be chosen to take that important honour."
Hymen a może lechtaczka: "In marriage, the ancestors are asked to protect the new couple; to make them fertile and produce many children and be in good health in general. Elizabeth Brown affirms this when she notes in her study that ―Both paternal and maternal sides together conduct the ceremony in the presence of other old women. The ceremony is long and complicated and it is only necessary to say here that the grandmothers prepare all the medicines used, pray to the ancestors, for assistance, conduct the girl to a secluded spot near a river, and there perform a slight operation on the vulva (I believe the hymen is removed). The membrane removed is thrown under a flowering tree to ensure her fertility‖ (92)."
Żywi a martwi: "All the same, there is a small gap between the living and the dead among the Wahehe."
Dużo dzieci: "Hence, procreation among the Africans is celebrated and having countless children is highly honoured."
Rozwiązanie problemu bezpłodności : "Among the Wahehe, failure to have children is a great shame in the family and the clan in general. If the problem is with the man, the family will sit down and come out with the solution. One of the unsaid solutions is to make the young brother or a brother of the man in question to sleep with his wife to produce children for his brother. This act aims at removing the shame in the family and the clan."
"The act can be repeated when the mother needs another child. If the problem happens to be with the wife, the husband is allowed to marry a second wife
Eurocentryzm: "The early Europeans who managed to come to Africa wrote different things on Africa, for example, the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad ignored many of the things which were done by the Africans. The book insists that Africans were barbaric, outdated, retrogressive, and archaic. Generally, they had nothing to be proud of; all they did was unpalatable. The Eurocentric view asserts that the Africans have no formula for doing their things; everything is done randomly and without any documentation. The Eurocentric view partially deals with the issue in its totality, but rather concentrates its attention narrowly on small things."
Polacy to samo: "That is why to the Wahehe, if it happens that a person dies far away from his home village especially a man, all the efforts are made to make sure that the deceased‘s body is fetched and buried in his own home where he was born."
3 nogi Afrykanów: "Africans have three legs: two which they use in the afternoon and one during the night. That means Africans have never abandoned their traditions despite the invention of new religions"
Ewolucja obyczajów : "Another problem is commercialization of burial ritual performances. (...) For example, today when death has occurred regardless of whether the person concerned was living in a village or town it means money. Instead of crying as it used to be the case in the past, music is hired. T-shirts and other clothes are printed instead of wearing a piece of cloth as per traditional norms. Food is no longer provided by the neighbours instead, it is bought by the hired cook who took the tender; sometimes even people to dig the grave can be hired, something which was formerly considered a secret duty to all men in the Wahehe ethnic group."

Bibliografia

Gabriel Lunyungu, The Wahehe Burial Rituals as Social Text, University of Dar es Salaam 2021.
B. Stephan, Ritual: A very short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.2015. Print Turner, V.W. The Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ Publications.

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