I saw a few posts talking about how the Igbos spend a lot of money burying their dead. It is not a meaningless and ostentatious display of affluence, it is in accordance with Igbo customs and traditions. Ideally, the burial ceremony of a full fledged Igbo adult is way more expensive than Igbo marriages.
The amount of money, resources and time spent on one burial can handle 3 or 4 Imo weddings conveniently all things being equal. The Igbo burial rites are divided into two: Akwamozu (burial feast/ceremony) and Ili Ozu (burial proper). The belief behind the Akwamozu;
1. Igbos truly believe that any deceased adult of Igbo origin that is denied the gift of Igbo funeral rites never finds peace in the beyond, and will never be inducted into the world of the souls to enjoy spiritual rights there.
2. Igbos always confirms a deceased adult that is yet to welcome any funeral rites and will keep reincarnating every time or once in a month, dying as infant and will can enjoy earth life or any high life in the beyond. (Ogbanje).
3. Additionally, the soul of such a deceased will rise and torment their family members until the funeral rites are performed for them. This does not mean that every Igbo person is entitled to Akwamozu. The rites are not performed for children or teenagers.
This is why you never see Obituary posters for deceased children no matter how rich their families are. It is believed that they do not need the burial rites for safe passage into the spirit world. Other people that are not entitled to Akwamozu are: Those who died through suicide Those who drowned Those marked as evil while they were still alive @Osus/#Ume/Ohu
Those who died after being struck by lightning or killed by breadfruit pots. (#Ndi isi ukwa #dagburu) #Ogbanjes Some priests of some communal gods These people are just buried without festivities or thrown into the evil forest. The expenses made during an Akwamozu depend on the titles the deceased had when s/he was alive.
The associations come with their lists. For instance, a titled Ozo man will not be buried unless his family presents a cow to his fellow Ozos. The cow is just one of the items on their list. Everything on the list is bought and presented to the association of the Ozos to formally announce the death of their member.
These items are not in any way a part of the main burial rites. It is just for the Ozos. In the case of the woman, if she is married, the higher the rites. Her death is not immediately broken to her family. They dance around it for a couple of weeks before the nail is hit on the head.
The same way they dance around the subject of marriage when they come for introduction. It is an abomination to outrightly tell the in-laws that their daughter is dead. Now for those who did not fully complete their wife's bride price, this is where the are caught.
The man and his family has to redeem every unpaid debt before the burial is even discussed. There's some issues of this happening in town. An example is the story of a woman who wedded her husband and had 7 children. When she died and her children went to inform her family, the elders said they were never aware the lady was married to begin with. And they all knew about it.
They were referring to the fact that no traditional price was paid for her. They said the white wedding was not their business. That as far as they were concerned, the woman was cohabiting with a man and that the 7 kids were bastards. They had to abandon talks about the burial and focus on paying the bride price of the deceased.
They were given a long list too and asked to come back in few weeks time. The wedding proceedings took almost 6 months after which the family of the deceased were told that the mother and grandmother of the deceased had died when she was away cohabiting.
So they had to pay for that too before they brought up the issue of the deceased woman's burial. Few years ago in Mbaise, a man was made to perform complete marriage rites on his girlfriend who died while having an abortion before he could bury her. Live bands were there, a lot of people too. It was just like a normal traditional marriage.
The deceased's framed picture was used in her place and after the wedding festivities, then and only then did they listen to him tell them that the lady died. After the burial rites, there is the outing ceremony which before now used to be done in market places by the family of the deceased where people put things in their baskets but nowadays it is done as a thanksgiving service in the church.
A year after the burial, there is the Iyipu Akwa Nkpe. This means removal of sack cloth. After this, the family of the deceased is officially out of mourning. Some families celebrate by going to the church or tearing and burning their uniform. This topic is very composite.
I will write about the shaving of hair, drinking of the deceased's bathwater, the debate for or against mortuary and being buried with weapons in the next episode. #IgboAnyiDum
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