name was Mamadi Sefe Dekote, the Silent Sword.
He was the owner of a sword that was longer than
any sword in the city, and he honed it to perfection
so that when he used it to cut a grain of millet, the
sword edge did not make a sound. There was no
one that Mamadi Sefe Dekote feared, and he was
honored by both Sia Yattai-Bari and Bida, the ser-
pent. Soon Mamadi married the girl and became
the protector of the serpent Bida.
Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoCeremonies; Pythons
Further Readings
Dausi. (1971).Grassire’s Lute:A West African Epic.
New York: Dutton. Translated and interpreted by
Alta Jablow from Leo Frobenius,
Spielmannsgeschichten der Sahel, Jena, 1921.
Okpewho, I. (1979).The Epic in Africa:Toward a
Poetics of the Oral Performance.New York:
Columbia University Press.
DEATH
Ngewo, the Supreme God of the Mende people,
sent two messages to people: life, carried by the
dog, and death, carried by the toad. The dog rested
along the way and had a meal. The toad never
stopped, thus reaching humans first with the
message of death. According to many African
mythologies, death was not part of the original
state of humans, but arrived later by a message
from God, which was usually subverted, slow,
stammered, misdirected, wrong, or late. Other sto-
ries explain death arriving as a result of man’s
indebtedness, arrogance, tardiness, or disobedience.
Although death was not part of the original
human condition, or maybe because of it, tradi-
tional African societies are laden with rituals,
beliefs, and practices that acknowledge, affirm,
grieve, and heal the inevitable effects of death.
Death stands between the human and spiritual
worlds. Without it, there would be no distinction
between the two. With it comes a disruption of
harmony. Therefore, rituals associated with death
are designed to restore order.
For the community, the age and circumstance
of a person’s death are important. Natural deaths
are rare with the exception of extreme old age.
Africans often suspect malevolence, from humans
or spirits, as the first cause. The prolonged suffer-
ing, pain, or sickness that may accompany death
is often an indicator of malevolent activities.
Typically, bodies are buried in family compounds,
although in some cultures they may be left in the
forest. Rituals consist of preparation of the body
and periods of public grieving, which include
singing and dancing, settling estates, and transfer-
ring family eldership. These rituals are spaced out
over days, weeks, and months after death. The
deaths of children, the unmarried, or the childless
are treated differently and traditionally do not
receive full burial rites. Those who die by light-
ning also receive special treatment. In contempo-
rary times, death rituals may reflect the influence
of the modern world as well as Christian and
Islamic traditions.
The transition into the spiritual realm starts
during life, when individuals are moral and gener-
ous. Thus, they can look forward to continuing
to be a member of their family as an ancestor.
Ancestors can offer protection and guidance and,
in return, are given life through the acts of remem-
brance by their families. It is believed that once an
individual is no longer mentioned by name or
remembered, they become a part of the collective
immortality. Those who do not transition into the
world of spirits as an ancestor are those who are
not properly mourned or remembered, did not
have children, or engaged in evil practices. These
dead will not be in any position to assist the
family and, in fact, can cause misfortune to the
community in general.
The Fon practice of Vodun has, at its core, the
premise of deification of the ancestors, that is,
increasing status of those who died. In this system,
the circumstances of a person’s death are not a
barrier to improving their status in the land of
ancestors. It only takes the commitment of time
resources on the part of living to help them.
Generally speaking, in the African religious tra-
dition, death is conceived of as a rite of passage
into the spiritual realm. Because spirits are very
much present, although partly invisible, death
constitutes another mode of existence, rather than
an end of life. In fact, because many AfricanDeath 195