Do the Shona have answers to the mysteries associated with death and life after death?
Introduction
The Shona, a bantu ethnic group found
largely in Zimbabwe, have interesting beliefs and practises related to
death. The Shona death related beliefs and practices, constitute an
important part of their religious and philosophical heritage and they are a repository of Shona ideas about death and life after death.
Material in this article is a result of
many years of investigation among the Shona which was conducted for
academic purposes. The study employed the phenomelogical method to
gather data. The
phenomenological method
accepts that reality is in essence subjective and that therefore human
beings
are capable of giving meaning to their own existence. The approach was
therefore appropriate in this study because the aim was to discover the
Shona understanding of the concept of death and life after
death.
The concept that death and birth are similar process
Among the Shona, it
is strictly prohibited to bury the deceased during midday (masikati).
According to the Shona , no one should be buried during midday as people are
not normally born and do not die during midday. My informants saw a
link between birth and death and even explained that a person dies the
time when he /she was born! They told me that if someone knew the
time of the day when he or she was born, then he or she would know the
time when he was going to die. The general view seems to be that people
are born and die when it is cool. According to my informants , during
midday, it is normally hot and spirits will be resting and therefore it is also
a bad time for the deceased’s spirit to start on a journey. The Shona
said it was not normal for people to die during midday. They said those who during midday died because of angry spirits such as ngozi
(the avenging spirit) otherwise people normally die before or after
midday. A small scale survey conducted by the researcher indicated that
the majority of people interviewed confirmed that their children were
not born
during midday and also that their relatives had died before or after
midday!
Of interest was the case of a person who said that her relative had died
at one
o’clock. It is important to note that the
burial taboo related to death is still being strictly observed even by
the
modern day Shona. Even in urban areas burials do not normally take place
between 1 and 2 in the afternoon.The following subtheme further
illustrates the Shona philosophical thinking that death and birth are
similar processes.
The belief that the act of dying can be delayed
According
to Shona belief, it is taboo to deny a critically ill person whatever he or
she wants for he or she will take long to die. The Shona believe
that someone might not die until someone close to his heart and is far away
comes to see him. In most cases the dying person would be willing to say
his last words to one or all of his relatives. I was informed of one
instance when a dying person asked for his son-in-law to be send for.
Apparently the son-in-law was close to his heart but was geographically far
away. It took almost a whole day for the in-law to arrive. As soon
as he arrived, the dying father-in-law requested that everybody except the
son-in law leave the room. He spent a few minutes with the son -in-law
and then peacefully died. In another instance, a critically ill patient
at a hospital in Masvingo town asked his close relatives in rural areas to come
and see him. The relatives arrived after about three hours. He
spent ten minutes with them and died. There were many stories I was told
by the Shona about people who delayed dying until their wish was fulfilled.
Bullock(1927) observed this Shona belief in death as an entity which can be
controlled:
Relatives come from far and near to
the sick man; and when death is imminent they will beseech him not to die
before sunset…..
The Shona have a strong belief that an ill person reaches a stage when he knows
he will not recover but will certainly die. It is said during that stage
the ill person will be close to the world of spirits and will avoid looking
directly into the eyes of the living. It is believed some ill people at
his stage even speak words or even behave in a manner which suggests that they
are going to die. This Shona belief is also noted by Bullock(1927) who
wrote:
There is a belief that, when a man
is dying he sees in a vision of the spirits of his dead relatives. Some
of them take him by hand, and try to lead him away from life. Others
strive with these, and his death or recovery is dependent on the result of the
struggle.
Thus
according to this Shona philosophical thought, death can be delayed by the
spirit world.
The Shona also believe that magic can cause an ill person to delay dying.
Some people are said to use magic which can make them live longer and this type
of magic has the negative effect of prolonging the dying process. It is
said some people eat the heart of a tortoise or use the fat of a python to
strengthen themselves (kuzvisimbisa). People who use such magic
die a slow and painful death. The heart of the tortoise or python is said
to take long to stop beating after the creature has been killed. Similarly, a
person who used magic from these creatures will have his heart continue to beat
when the rest of the body is incapacitated. As one informant said: Munhu
anosvika pakunhuwa mwoyo uchingotakwaira. (The terminally ill person will produce a bad smell
but the heart will continue to beat). In such situations, the Shona
would perform a ritual to expedite the death process. They would burn the
fat of the tortoise or the fat and skin of a python so that he could die. (Vaipisa
mafuta ekamba kana mafuta neganda zveshato kuti murwere aende.) There is also an interesting Shona belief that some people set up a magical trap called riva in order to prolong their lives. Such people can only die when the medical trap is made to fall. Thus
traditionally, the Shona practiced euthanasia.
It
is interesting to note that the metaphysical belief that death can be delayed
is similar to the Shona belief that the birth process can be delayed. A
pregnant woman must not be denied food she enjoys eating most as she will
experience difficulty during pregnancy as the baby delays to come out of the
womb. She is prohibited from bidding farewell to someone close to her
heart if the person is going away as the baby will delay to come out or might
not come out until the person close to her heart returns. (Haafanire
kuonekana nemunhu waanofarira chaizvo kana munhu wacho achienda kure
nokuti anozonetseka pakuzvara kana kuti haazvari kusvika munhu wacho adzoka).
There are many more pregnancy taboos which seem to have been meant to avoid the
delaying of the delivery process. The two processes, birth and death are
associated with entering into other worlds: birth leads into the world of the
visible while death leads into the world of the invisible. They are both
associated with death and rebirth. Wanjohi (1997) commented on this
traditional African belief thus:
Being born must therefore be thought
of in terms of the category of passage. To come here is to leave the
beyond, it is to be in transit, to change one’s state. Being born here means dying up
there and at the end of life, the opposite is true: to die here is to be born
up there.
In
other words , African (the Shona included ) metaphysics sees birth and death
as closely related processes. It is important to note that the Shona
see a close link between an unborn baby and newly born baby with the world of
spirits. Similarly, the Shona revered old people as being closer to the
world of spirits by virtue of their age. An unborn baby and a newly born
baby are believed to discover hidden knowledge and reveal it in the same way as
spirits assist diviners to discover hidden knowledge. Thus baby hood and
old age are associated by the traditional Shona to closeness to the world of
spirits. As Wanjohi explains:
Childhood, like old age ,
constitutes an intermediary or transitory stage, a period of progress.
While the child tries to free himself from the control of the other world, the
old man prepares himself to return there…
Thus
the newly born baby and old people have something in common: they are both
about to enter into new worlds. The exit door from one world is the entry
door into another world.
The concept of death as a mystical danger
According to Shona belief, when
a person dies, a ritual must be conducted to inform his relatives of the
death so that they will not encounter misfortunes (kana munhu afa, hama
dzinofanira kuti dziziviswe kuitira kuti dzisasangana namashura).
Death is
believed to bring about mystical danger to the relatives of the
deceased. The ritual of informing the relatives is meant to protect the
relatives of the deceased against mystical danger. All relatives are
ritually informed about the death either by word of mouth or by some
ritual
act. One such ritual act involves throwing millet seeds
into the fire while names of the deceased relatives who are far away are
being
mentioned and the death message put across. It is believed by the Shona
that relatives of the deceased who have not yet received the bad news of
the
death will encounter bad omens or some misfortunes which will be a sign
that
something is wrong in the family. This might be in the form of an
attack
(verbal or physical) for no apparent reason; seeing a green branch
falling off
a tree or a plate braking while you hold it.
The concept of death as a concrete reality
It
can be inferred from the Shona taboos that the Shona seem to see death as a
concrete entity. They appear to view it as something which actually exits
and can be invited by human actions. It is strictly prohibited to sit
while holding one’s cheek as this symbolizes someone in mourning and is likely
to bring about death. When someone is seriously ill relatives should not
cry as this is likely to cause his death. It is forbidden to carry two
stones or logs to be used for burial as this is believed to cause more deaths.
According to my informants, the Shona say you have planted death in the
family. (Unonzi wadzvara rufu). Next time when death strikes , people
will die in twos or more. One informant said: Munenge muchishura gumwe rufu. (Your
behaviour is likely to result in another death.) Any action appropriate
at a funeral is discouraged during normal times. To the Shona, death
exists and is to be feared in the same way bacteria and virus exist and are
feared in a scientific worlds. That death is an entity which exists is
shown by the following Shona proverbs:
Rufu runoita wegondo, rinotora nhiyo
ruchisiya mai vachichema (Death is like an eagle which takes a chick
leaving the mother hen mourning)
Rufu haruna ndanatsa (Death does not care you are a good man)
Rufu runodana (Death calls)
Rufu haruna ishe (Death knows no chief)
Further
evidence that the Shona viewed death as concrete was obtained from some
informants who said: Chitunha hachibudiswi nepamukova asi nepaburi rinenge
ragadzirwa kuitira kuti rufu rusapinda mumba. (The body of the deceased is
carried out of the hut not through the door but an opening made in the wall for
the purpose of taking out the body. This is done to prevent death from striking
again.)This old burial practice is no longer being observed by the Shona due
to westernization.
Belief in a deceased's shadow (mumvuri)
The Shona have an interesting belief about the shadow of a deceased person. According to Shona belief, if
a shadow is seen in the hut where the deceased is lying in state, burial of the
deceased should not take place until the shadow disappears lest the deceased’s
spirit comes back to trouble the living. This taboo points to the Shona
belief in a soul which can manifest itself in the form of a shadow (mvuri)
My Shona informants differed on the concept of mvuri. Some insisted
the shadow is black and that when a person dies the shadow disappears. In other
words, so they argued, a corpse has no shadow . Some even argued that a
coffin with a deceased person does not cast any shadow! Other informants
however argued that a corpse has a shadow but the deceased may show his
displeasure by projecting his shadow in the wrong place. They said such a
shadow might be seen on the wall of the hut or room where the deceased is lying
in state. Still some of any Shona informants said that a person has two
shadows- a white shadow and a black shadow. The black shadow is the one
which is the one which is seen every day; the white shadow is not normally
visible and is the one which becomes an ancestral spirit (mudzimu).
The white shadow is supposed to disappear soon after someone’s death. If
the white shadow does not disappear and instead appears on the wall of the hut
where deceased is lying in state , it will be a sign that the deceased is
restless and wants something done. It is important to note however that
all Shona do believe in a shadow (mvuri) which can appear if the
deceased is unhappy with something. It seems the mvuri ,
represents the Shona concept of a soul. This seems to indicate that
the Shona believe that a person consists of two separable entities, a soul
and a body.
The spirit of the deceased is powerful; and has
human feelings.
According
to Shona belief, the deceased’s spirit continues to have humanlike emotions
such as anger and thirst. The Shona believe the restlessness and anger of the
spirit can cause misfortune among the living. Taboos meant to show respect of
the deceased’s body show evidence of Shona belief in the anger of the
spirit.
Among the Shona, it is taboo to spit even if the body is
giving a bad smell. Spitting because of the deceased bad smell is seen as a
sign of contempt, hatred and dislike for the deceased and this action is
believed to invite the wrath of the deceased spirit. In addition, it is
forbidden to refuse to eat the food prepared at a funeral , no matter how badly
cooked it is at this will make the spirit of the deceased unhappy and
restless. The Karanga say ,” Zvinodyiwa parufu hazvirambwi nokuti unenge
wadadira rufu”. (Refusal to eat food prepared at a funeral is
interpreted by the Karanga to be a sign of arrogance during the
funeral.) The Shona believe the spirit of the deceased is restless,
angry and dangerous.
Thus they try as much as possible through ritual and taboo to cool the
deceased’s spirit.
Bourdillon’s
(1976: 204-205) gave an analysis of the concept of cooling the spirit among the Shona: “At death, a new spirit with its
appropriate superior powers enters the conceptual world of the community.
Nobody knows quite how the spirit will react to its new environment nor what
secret, grudge the deceased might have harboured before his death, which
explains the necessity of keeping the spirit “cool” and of discouraging it from
returning to the homestead. In the Shona idiom, as in English, the concept of
‘coolness’ carries overtones of calm, placid peacefulness; the opposite of
“cool “is hot, much as the concept is used in the English expression,’ hot
tempered…..”.
They
believe the shungu (anger) of the deceased’s spirit soon after death can
be calmed through ritual. To discourage the deceased from’ stabbing’ (kubaya)
or harming the living two seeds called masoso are placed in the ground
one above the head and one below the feet of the deceased’s body. Grass from
watery places as well as the water-lilly is placed in the grave to cool the
spirit. Soon after burial, the new grave is springled with water as a way of
cooling off the spirit. To calm the deceased’s anger, the consanguine must sacrifice
a goat known as mbudzi yeshungu (the goat of anger). The meat of
the goat of anger is not allowed to be boiled as it is believed the deceased’s
anger will increase as the heat in boiling water increases. All meat of the
goat of anger must be consumed on the same day and all the bones burnt so that
nothing remains of the goat of anger. This is meant to ensure that all the
anger of the deceased spirit is get rid of and that he does not continue to
harbor any ill feelings against the living.
The Shona believe that soon after death, the deceased spirit inhabits a dry land
after death and is therefore bound to feel thirsty. Thus the ritual beer to
quench his thirst is called doro renyota (beer of the thirst) or doro
remvura (beer of water). The ritual of the doro renyota is conducted
before the deceased spirit is accommodated in the family through the kugadzira
or home bringing of the deceased ceremony. It seems therefore the ritual doro
renyota is mearnt to symbolically cool off the spirit which is lonely and
restless.
In
addition, the Shona fear the deceased’s spirit because they believe it has
acquired extra powers which it can use to influence the living, at times
causing misfortunes. My Shona informants told me that the deceased can cause
unusual and mysterious happenings such as causing bees to sting people at a
funeral, giving a bad smell, increasing the weight of the body in the coffin
such that no one can lift it and at times making the body expand such that it
cannot fit through the door or in the grave. If the deceased had indicated his wish of where to
be buried, it becomes taboo to bury him at any other place other than the one
he has chosen .According to Shona belief, if the wish of the deceased is not
considered, the deceased will make it difficult to transport his body or to
dig his grave. If the deceased had indicated his wish to be buried
in the rural areas and not in town , ignoring his wish might result in the car
meant to ferry him from the mortuary to a town cemetery refusing to
start. Ignoring the site of the grave chosen by the deceased is believed
to result in grave diggers encountering problems such as rocks, roots or water
seeping into the grave. Thus death is believed to empower the
deceased who becomes more powerful than the living.
The concept of the impurity and contagion of death
Shona death
rituals and taboos suggest that the Shona believe that death has aspects of
impurity and contagion. The hut where the deceased lay in state before
burial must be swept and the dirt as well as the water used to wash the body of
the deceased must be thrown into the grave as they are associated with
death. Those who come in contact with the deceased as well as the soil
from the grave should cleanse themselves with water mixed with a herb called zumbani
in order to prevent death. Those who dig the grave and bury the deceased
must wash their faces, hands and feet by the grave side to ensure that all the
dust and soil from the grave are not carried home as this would be the same as
inviting death. It is also strictly forbidden for relatives of the
deceased to come into contact with the deceased’s property without first
deeping hands in medicated water. If a blood relative of the deceased comes
in contact with the deceased’s property before the ritual, he or she will
suffer from leprosy. It appears according to Shona belief , the
mystical danger associated with the corpse is contagious. Death is a
pollutant which makes people ritually unclean or exposes them to danger.
