The State Of Dead Among
The Ugandans
INTRODUCTION
Uganda is among of East African
Countries located in northwest of Lake Victoria. Capital city of this Country
is Kampala. In north side Uganda bounded by Sudan, on the East by Kenya, on the
South by Tanzania and Rwanda, and on the West is bounded by the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DROC).Uganda has a total area of 236,040 Square Kilometer.
Uganda got independence on 9 Oct 1962. The national flag of this Country consists of six equal
horizontal stripes of black, yellow, red, black, yellow, and red (from top to
bottom); at the center, within a white circle, is a crested crane, the national
bird of Uganda. English is the official national language and Luganda is the
popularly language used by the large number of people originated in
Uganda(Local people). Christianity is the
majority religion, practiced by about 75% of the population, with about 90% of
all Christians fairly evenly split in membership as Roman Catholics or
Anglicans. Other denominations include Seventh-Day Adventist, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, the Orthodox
Church, the Unification Church, and Pentecostal churches. Muslims account for
about 15% of the population; most are of the Sunni sect. Others practice
traditional African religions, which are more common in the north and west of
Uganda. There are also small numbers of Hindus, Baha'is, and Jews. Traditional
beliefs and customs are often practiced in conjunction with other established
faiths. The
state of dead among Uganda is as follows;
Believed that only the body could die and rot but the soul would still exist.
The Buganda believed in superhuman spirits in the form mizimu, misambwa and
balubaale. The Balubale were believed to
have been men whose exceptional attributes in life were carried over into death.
The mizimu were believed to be ghosts of dead people for it was believed that
only the body could die and rot but the soul would still exist as omuzimu
(singular of mizimu). Such ghosts were believed to operate at the family level
to haunt whoever the dead person had grudges with. If the mizimu entered
natural objects, they were believed to become misambwa. At another level, the
mizimu could become tribal figures and also be known as Balulaale.
Cause of death.
Death is sometimes interpreted in the idiom of witchcraft. A disease or other
cause of death may not be considered the true cause. At a burial, if the
relatives suspect someone of having caused the deceased person's death, a
spirit medium may call up the spirit of the deceased and ask who really killed
him or her. The Banyankole people live in Southwestern Uganda. They did not
believe that death was a natural phenomenon they were under the impression that
death was attributed to sorcery, misfortune and spite of neighbors. It was
difficult for them to believe that someone would die unless they were under the
influence of witchcraft, and after someone died their body would be taken to a
witch doctor so they could determine who was responsible for the death
During The Mourning Period.
The Banyankole people believed that if any manual labor was done during the
mourning period, it would bring a hailstorm.Manual work on days of mourning is
prohibited; legend says that engaging in labor would bring a hailstorm to the
village and destroy crops. Every mourner is expected to view the body first. If
the deceased is a male head of the household, his children are clean-shaved
after the burial for inheritance rituals.The deceased’s body would stay in the
house for as long as it took for all the important family members to gather.
During grieving, every mourner would sleep at the home of the deceased.
Burials ceremony. Were
generally done in the afternoon and the bodies are always buried facing East.
When a woman is buried, she would be laid on her left side, men are always
placed on their right side when being buried. If the deceased had a grudge
against someone before they died, they would be buried with objects to keep
their spirit busy. This was supposed to keep the spirit occupied so it would
not haunt the person they had a grudge against. There are many rules when it
comes to dealing without he death of someone who committed suicide. A grave is
dug directly under the corpse so that when the body is cut down from a tree it
will fall into the hole, but the only person allowed to cut down the body was a
woman who had already experienced menopause (the ending of menstruation ). It
is believed that the one who cuts the rope will also die shortly after. No
mourning is done by relatives, and no funeral is held – the family of the
deceased must uproot the tree and burn it. The relatives are not allowed to use
any of the wood from the tree to start a fire.In the past, when the deceased
was an adult female without children, they would be buried with an innermost
banana stem into which they inserted a stick to represent a husband. They would
also break an egg on their stomach. For a man, they would place the banana stem
with two protruding sticks to signify breasts. This was believed to appease the
ghost. The body would be taken out of the house through the back door or they
would break a hole in the wall for the same purpose. The idea was that if the
dead person was harassed in the next world for not producing children, their
ghost would return to harass the living people. To avoid that, they passed them
through the back door or hole, to confuse the ghost. The ghost would not easily
recognize the house. Having no children
was viewed as an abomination and the body of a childless person was not treated
with respect or dignity. The eldest son automatically became the heir unless
the deceased said otherwise in the will.
Funerals
among the Bagisu. Herbert Buboolo, an elder in Bugisu
notes that when a Mugisu dies, preparations for their burial start with
trimming all their body hair. The body is then washed clean. Washing is done
strictly in the presence of only adult relatives of similar gender with the
deceased. “Washing the body is done on a
particular type of banana leaves called lisindalo. The basin, water and leaves
used are not be taken out of the room where the washing was done before evening
and they are to be kept by an elder.” The deceased is then dressed up, laid
into a casket and buried. However, when
an adult male dies, the very first aspect checked is whether they underwent
circumcision. If they did not, they are circumcised. Buboolo explains: “The
body is supported by two strong men to stand up straight. A traditional surgeon
cuts the deceased’s foreskin off. However, as a punishment for not having
undergone the tradition when alive, the body is not supported to lie down; it’s
left to fall backwards to the ground.” The surgeon who circumcises a dead body
is by barred tradition from carrying out any more circumcisions and when they
do so, it will be a curse to those they circumcise.
Buganda last funeral rites. The
deceased is laid down and limbs and facial features straightened out. “Take for
example; if the deceased’s mouth is open, a piece of cloth is tied round their
head from its top, over the ears to their neck, to ensure that the mouth is
kept closed,” explains a 55-year-old elder from Buganda, Kate Semakula. A piece
of cloth is dipped in water and the body is thoroughly cleaned. Tradition
demands that either sex are to wear their spouse’s underwear to the grave. “If
the deceased is a man, his wife dresses him up in her underwear, while saying
out loud to him that he has gone to the grave with his wife. Similarly, a man
does the same when his wife dies.” It is
believed that this misleads the deceased’s ghost into thinking that they have
been buried with their spouse. Therefore, they will not haunt the spouse,
especially in the night, for sexual intercourse.The body is wrapped in a cloth,
then a backcloth and laid into the coffin. By tradition, every deceased in
Buganda has to be wrapped in a backcloth. In the olden days, during the funeral
rites, there was unlimited sexual intercourse and binge drinking. The argument
was that they were creating continuity through procreation to replace the dead
person.
NEGATIVES
a. Believed that only the body could die
and rot but the soul would still exist as omuzimu (singular of mizimu). Such
ghosts were believed to operate at the family level to haunt whoever the dead
person had grudges with.
b. It was difficult for them to believe
that someone would die unless they were under the influence of witchcraft, and
after someone died their body would be taken to a witch doctor so they could
determine who was responsible for the death
c. Manual work on days of mourning is
prohibited; legend says that engaging in labor would bring a hailstorm to the
village and destroy crops.
d. If the deceased is a male head of the
household, his children are clean-shaved after the burial for inheritance
rituals.
e. If the deceased had a grudge against
someone before they died, they would be buried with objects to keep their
spirit busy
f. If they did not, they are circumcised.
Buboolo explains: “The body is supported by two strong men to stand up
straight. A traditional surgeon cuts the deceased’s foreskin off. However, as a
punishment for not having undergone the tradition when alive, the body is not
supported to lie down; it’s left to fall backwards to the ground.”
g. Tradition demands that either sex are
to wear their spouse’s underwear to the grave. “If the deceased is a man, his
wife dresses him up in her underwear, while saying out loud to him that he has
gone to the grave with his wife.
CONCLUTION
It
is not true if the body dies the soul would still exist, because the bible says
in Psalm 146:4 “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in
that very day his thoughts perish”. ( KJV), Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”. (KJV) Ecclesiastes 3:20-21 All go unto one
place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again Who knoweth the spirit
of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to
the earth? (KJV)
If someone would die is not true that they were under the
influence of witchcraft, because the bible says in Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father; neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the
wicked shall be upon him. (KJV), Romans 6:23 for the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
( KJV)
“If the deceased is a
male head of the household, his children are clean-shaved after the burial for
inheritance rituals”. the bible is not allowing this in Leviticus 21:5
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the
corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. (KJV), Deuteronomy
14:1 Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut
yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. ( KJV)
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