veneration of the ancestors of his parents. He
alone has the lifelong responsibility to carry out
the functions of libation and sacrifices for the
ancestor. If he fails to do so, he is in grave peril.
Should others try to take away his right to fulfill
his responsibility, they will be in peril.
Similarly, the ancestors behave the same way
toward their descendants irrespective of either of
their characters. Ancestors who were good behave
just like those who were bad tempered during
their lifetime. They intervene in the lives of their
heirs regardless of the character of those heirs. An
heir could be trifling or upright and thrifty, and
yet the ancestral intervention will show no differ-
ence. They exact ritual service and veneration in
accordance with the same rules of intervention.
None of this process is a matter of good or evil;
it is a matter of holding back chaos in the world. In
fact, the ancestors neither persecute their descen-
dants, nor punish them for wickedness, nor reward
them for goodness. However, the ancestors may
harass or trouble the descendants for failing to pro-
vide religious submission or service. The ancestor is
not a punishing authority, but a judge who is con-
cerned with the prosperity of the lineage. He is
therefore attuned to the needs of the people and
provides corrective intervention where necessary.
Thus, behind the practitioner of ancestor vener-
ation or reverence is a body of religious beliefs
that are aligned with rules of conduct for desig-
nated authority in the social system of most
African societies. Attending to the rites of ances-
tors is one way to continue to bind the people
together in one community because ancestors
show the continuity of the society and compel
communal action if necessary.
Funerals and DeathDeath represents a separation. But something
always provokes, brings about a separation, in
African belief; it does not happen without reason.
Among the Swazis, it is believed that no one dies
without some sort of sorcery. People do not die from
sickness or old age; no one dies a natural death.
Among the Lovedu, the Rain-Queen is not
supposed to die. She becomes divine by taking her
own life. She takes poison, which contains the
brain and spinal cord of a crocodile, among other
things. The queen is buried in a deep grave,
standing upright and facing north, from whence
came her ancestors. The body is wrapped in cloth
and ox skin. It is buried with beads, water, a fire-
brand, a mat, and, in the ancient days, a male
corpse. The grave is gradually filled up and is
only completely covered when the head has
decomposed after 6 months. A year later, the fires
are put out and then ritually relit, and a new
queen is installed. Sufficient time had to elapse
before the spirit of the dead queen could rest.
Like other African ethnic groups, the Lovedu
language of death is indirect. They say,the house is broken
the king is busy
the mountain has fallen
the mighty tree is uprooted
the queen is elsewhere.When it is said that “the queen is elsewhere,” the
people are expressing a deep sense of loss, separa-
tion, and mobility.
In the past, the Asante kings were laid out and
the seven openings of the body filled with gold
dust. The body was put in a coffin over an open
pit for 80 days so that the flesh was decomposed,
and then charms were fastened onto the skeleton.
The Swazi specialists squeezed the fluids from the
body to prevent rapid decay. The Swazi king,
divine in life, was apotheosized in death and
entered the ranks of the ancestors.
Traditional African believers accept that ances-
tors are ever-living; they never die. This is not
worship in the sense that the Christians or
Muslims believe in their gods; it is rather that
Africans accept supreme deities. Ancestors have
additional powers; to obtain their blessings,
people must avoid their anger and win their
favor. Because humans are in the midst of primal
struggle between good and evil, they need all the
assistance they can gather. Who better to provide
people with Earthly assistance in this struggle
than their own ancestors, who have a stake in
their survival and abundant living. Ancestors
know their kin, and they know what is necessary
to protect them. Every person is involved in the
struggle for continuity, not just political heroes,
and this means that people must pay special
attention to rituals.50 Ancestors