Note: this was published as pp. 307-315 in Man in Africa (eds) M. Douglas & P.M. Kaberry.
London: Tavistock Press.
It is included here with the permission of Routledge and the Tavistock Press.
In this article I outline some Mambila beliefs concerning death and theafterworld and show how new tenets may be introduced into the beliefsystem. I begin with a story, supposedly a true one, told to me by alarge number of informants including the heroine of the tale. The eventoccurred shortly before my arrival. however, having myself witnessedseveral occurrences of the kind described, it is possible for me tovouch for the accuracy of the description of some of the events, thoughof course not of the 'dream'.
The Mambila, now in Southern Sardauna Province of Northern Nigeria(then in Adamawa Province of the British Cameroons), believe that theancestors, both paternal and maternal, are very much concerned with thebehaviour of their descendants. infractions of important rules ofconduct are punished by illness and in some cases death. If a sickperson publicly confesses his or her evil doings, the ancestors aresatisfied and the patient will recover.
When I was in the Mambila village of Warwar in 1953 I was told about awoman who, in late 1951 or early 1952, was lying on her bed seriouslyill. She was apparently in either a deep sleep or a coma. In the hutwith her was a large number of persons both male and female. Some ofthere were her kinsfolk, some affines, and others neighbours, includinginfluential men. Outside the house was larger number of personsanxiously awaiting the outcome of the sickness. Judging from likeevents observed by myself, it is more than probable that some of thosepresent had come as far as fifteen or twenty miles for this occasion. Most of the households in the village would be represented by at lestone member. The audience would consist of approximately an equal numberof men and women, with perhaps a slight preponderance of males. This isbecause many of the women residing in the immediate neighbourhood wouldbe busy preparing food for the throng. Those present were not there asidle spectators; many played a role in attempting to cure the sickperson.
Both men and women moved in and out of the hut of the sick woman quitefreely, except when very secret rituals were being performed. Some ofthese were carried out by males, and women were prohibited fromwitnessing them on pain of being made seriously ill. Even the patient,if conscious, was obliged to shut her eyes or turn her back on theseperformances. A like prohibition was in force when women carried outtheir own special ritual, since men ran the risk of being made illshould they be witnesses. The aim of these rites was to propitiate theancestors as well as to combat witchcraft. Attempts were alsofrequently made to obtain confessions of sins from the patient. Peoplewere constantly going up to the sickbed and pleading with her to makeefforts to recall forgotten sins. People who had known her well triedhard to remind he of some breach of the rules that she might haveforgotten. For example, her sister had accused her for many yearspreviously of the theft of an ornament. She now came and pleaded withher to confess. The sick woman insisted that she was not guilty, sayingthat if she were lying she would surely die. The sister, not entirelyreassured, made a public proclamation that even if the woman hadperpetrated the theft all was forgiven and the ancestors should notpunish her. Other persons with whom the patient had had disputes in thepast also came trying to elicit confessions. Should such not beforthcoming they would then publicly proclaim that all was forgiven and,at the same time, take and oath that they ere not bewitching the sickperson. The oath took the following form: if they were using witchcraftagainst the woman, they would immediately die and the patient bespared.
In spite of the efforts made, the condition of the woman steadilyworsened and virtually all hope was abandoned when she went into eithera coma or a very deep sleep. Life appeared to have left her andpreparations were being made for her burial, when suddenly she began tostir. She opened her eyes and within a very few moments she was fullyawake and apparently recovered. Shortly afterwards she began todescribe her adventures which I shall call a ÔdreamÕ, though the Mambilawould firmly resist any such interpretation and would argue that theevents recalled were in fact true.
She said that she had died and come back to life. The ancestors hadcome to her and offered a choice morsel of chicken cooked in palm-oiland highly spiced with red peppers. Who these ancestors were is notcertain, other than its being known that they must have been her directascendants. Having accepted the food, she died and was taken to theworld of the shades. There she found a village very similar to the oneshe had left. The Mambila believe that the shades live in villages muchlike those of the living. Farms surround the settlement as is the casehere on earth. The sick woman, however, found some differences. Theshades owned vast quantities of coloured cloth of European manufacture,a commodity which had only recently become desirable to the Mambila. There were many chickens to be seen, far more than would be found in avillage of the living and they had one odd characteristic, namely thatall were white. The houses were all in an excellent state of repair andthe settlement looked extremely prosperous. She began to speak to someof the ancestors, who asked her about her life on earth. When shementioned that she had left two small children behind, one two years oldand the other four, they became very angry. They scolded her severelyfor abandoning her off-spring and they said that it was a mistake tohave let her die. The next thing she knew, she awoke on her bed.
The description of this event serves to illustrate a number of Mambilabeliefs and practices. I myself had the opportunity of witnessing anumber of like cases and the scenario was always similar to the onedescribed above. It is the duty of all kind and friends of a strickenperson to come as soon as they hear of his or her illness. By so doingthey may be able to help to effect a cure, as indicated above, byreminding the patient of a sin, which he may then confess. All havingknowledge of a curative ritual are expected to perform it. Those whohave had or are currently having a dispute with the stricken personshould make an appearance in order to swear on oath that it is not theirwitchcraft which is causing the illness. In the case of the illness ofone very important man, I saw as many as two hundred people assembled inhis compound. These came not only from the sick manÕs settlement butalso from others and included both kin and friends.
The confession of sins, as has been mentioned already, is of the utmostimportance. Ancestors punish those who have infringed the rules. Moreover, it is believed that witches are able to attack only those whohave misbehaved. A blameless person or one who has confessed is immunefrom the malevolence of witches.
The purpose, then, of visiting the sick is far more than a matterof courtesy or an expression of solidarity in times of crisis. It ishoped that the act may help to effect a cure. If the ill person is wellenough he is bombarded with questions about his past behaviour, with theaim of helping him to recall some infraction of the norms that he mayhave committed long ago and forgotten, but that none the less may be thecause of his present misfortune. Should his condition not allow of suchlengthy questioning, friends and kin discuss the victimÕs past lifeamong themselves, hoping to bring to mind a possible cause. When one isremembered, they await until the patient can be approached and then askhim direct questions concerning the suspected cause. A confession maythus be elicited.
The Mambila believe that a person involved in a dispute is a primetarget for witches. The assailant may be either the antagonist or athird person, who having heard of the misunderstanding, may utilize hisevil powers and hope that he will avoid suspicion, the partner in thequarrel being the prime suspect. It is therefore important that all whohave had or have antagonistic relations with the sick person shouldappear and swear that it is not their witchcraft which is causing thetrouble. This oath not only protects them from accusations in thefuture but also is said to cancel the effect of unconscious witchcraft,if any.
The ÔdreamÕ of the woman also illustrates certain commonly held beliefsconcerning the afterworld. It is universally asserted that the deadlive in villages like those on earth. None of my informants had anyidea where these were to be found, though some guessed that they mightbe on the top of very high hills, others suggested the sky, while somestated that they might be underground. The location of thesesettlements is of no interest to the people at all, any my questioningdid not elicit any curiosity. Some informants were annoyed, because itis said that the shades must be everywhere if they are to observe thebehaviour of their descendants; hence an attempt to locate theirvillages in space might lead to contradictions. There are no fixedideas as to how the villages of the dead are organized, or of theircomposition. The problem again is of no concern to the Mambila. Thisis consistent with the fact that both men and women often live inseveral settlements during their lifetime and have a wide range ofchoice available to them when choosing a place to settle (vide Rehfisch1960: 255 ff.).
The life of the dead differs in some respects from that of the living. For example, witchcraft, illness, wickedness, and troubles of all kindsthat so often plague the living are unknown among the shades. Food andthe all-important beer are always plentiful, the farms yielding bumpercrops without having to be cultivated. Access to the shadesÕ village isopen to all upon death, as the evil and the good all go to the sameplace. Death wipes away all evil: even witches, the most wicked of all,join the shades after their demise.
Death is believed to be caused by the ancestors. The process by whichit occurs is by the acceptance of a morsel of finely cooked chicken,proffered usually by an ancestor in either line. yet only those whohave been bewitched are bound to accept the fatal food. Hencewitchcraft is a contributory factor, and, as the Mambila, say, able tokill.
The heroine of our tale, when questioned, was unable to identify theshade who had offered her the piece of chicken. She insisted that itmust be one of her ancestors, this being in conformity with the generalview outlined above. It also conforms with the Mambila kinship system,which is multilineal. Within the society are kinship groups withcorporate functions. All members trace descent from a common maleancestor or his sibling, but descent may be traced through males orfemales or both (vide Rehfisch 1960: 246 ff.). Ritual performed topropitiate the dead in this society is directed at all a personÕsancestors, both known and unknown. No single individual or small groupis specially selected, unless divination has shown that one or morespecific ancestors are responsible for the particular troubles that therites are expected to remedy.
When the sick woman reached the village of the shades she was met by alarge group of her ancestors. Some she herself thought able toidentify, for example, her father, who had died recently, her motherÕsbrother, whom she had known well, having lived for some time in hiscompound, and finally her fatherÕs brotherÕs son. The first two hadbeen long-term residents of Warwar; the third was born there but hadlived most of his life elsewhere. Since Mambila say that ancestors arevery much concerned with the day-to-day behaviour of their descendants,it is surprising that in this case they were apparently unaware that thewoman had left two small children behind. No one remarked on thispoint, and when I questioned them their only comment was that theancestors were not doing their job properly. The ancestorÕs anger uponhearing that the women had abandoned her offspring is not surprising,since one of the most seriously condemned actions in this society snegligence in respect of oneÕs own children. A parent will himselfneither severely punish a child nor beat him, though a neighbour orkinsman may do so. ancestors are said to punish very severely a parentwho beats his own child, whereas they are not concerned if others doso.
This case of a person dying and coming back to earth is not unique. I was told of several instances of this kind. For example, anotherwoman was sent back when the shades discovered that she had left smallchildren on earth. A middle-aged man was revived to look after hisadolescent son. finally, a very old man who two adult sons were engagedin a very serious quarrel was brought back to life with orders to usehis authority to settle the matter in an amicable fashion. I was unableto interview any of these persons but heard the stories in greatdetail.
The presence of only white chickens in the village of the shades inthis case is puzzling. To the best of my knowledge, such a fact hadnever been previously reported. However, it elicited no surprise on thepart of my informants. It might be mentioned here that for oneimportant ceremony performed at the beginning of the New Year it is saidto be desirable to sacrifice a pure white cock to the ancestors as atoken of thanksgiving. However, on the one occasion when I was able towitness this ritual, a multi-coloured one with a few white spots wasused. There were some pure white ones in the village at that time, butI was told that none belonged to the kin group which was responsiblethat year for providing the chicken. Apparently the colour of the fowlto be sacrificed is of no great importance. In other contexts whitefowls are not especially valued. The favourite colour now is that ofRhode Island Reds, a breed imported by some missionaries, and thisbecause of their much larger size than the local breed. The heroine,when asked whether she herself preferred white chickens, said that thecolour was irrelevant, only size mattered. She could give noexplanation as to why in the village of the shades only white chickenswere to be found.
We now come to what is perhaps the most important aspect of the ÔdreamÕinasmuch as it reflects most vividly the changing aspirations and needsamong the Mambila. It was reported that the shades had vast stocks ofEuropean cloth. Until very recently the Mambila appear not to havedesired imported cloth. The women wore no clothes at all, and the menhad only loin cloths spun and woven by themselves from locally gowncotton. According to my informants, it was only in the late 1940s thatlocal people became interested in purchasing imported textiles. When Iarrived in 1953 few had been able to buy cloth, but it was desired byall. Those who had achieved their ambition had for the most part boughtonly one length of cloth and this was reserved for festive occasions. It is not surprising therefore that it is at this point in time, that iswhen cloth had become desired by all, that the ancestors are reported tohave great quantities of this commodity. All who described the ÔdreamÕto me never failed to mention this part of it, while only a fewremembered the white chickens.
The ancestors are said to dislike imported objects. During theperformance of important rituals those involved are allowed to wear onlycloth of native manufacture. On quite a number of occasions I sawpersons stripping down to a loincloth before taking part in such rites. I was allowed to wear a bit more than this on such occasions, since itwas said that my ancestors had no aversion to clothing. I asked why,since the ancestors themselves had stocks of imported textiles, did theynot want their children to wear it. No answer was forthcoming, thoughit appears more than likely that sooner or later, as the use of clothbecomes more widespread, this ritual prohibition will disappear and theÔdreamÕ may be used to sanction the change.
The kind of event described above is neither very common nor extremelyrare. A number of such instances were reported to me as having occurredin the past. However, no other dreamer, as far as I was able todiscover, did more than state what was already known in his descriptionof the village of the shades. Here we had a few innovations, yet theywere accepted by all. I heard no scepticism being voice concerning theveracity of the report by any informant. The tale had been told topersons residing outside the village and was as readily accepted bythem. The ÔdreamerÕ gained no long-term prestige from the event. I wastold that at the time she was for a very short period a focus ofinterest, and the subject of her ÔdreamÕ was much discussed. By thetime that I had arrived many of the details had been forgotten by themajority, but the belief in respect to the textiles remained. It shouldbe added here that this woman had neither previously nor since had anymarked psychic experience.
In any society where the ancestors are said to be either the mainsupernatural beings or the only ones, it seems likely that there will bea conservative ethos. Cultural change may and will occur but slowly,unless a revolutionary change in the belief system such as massconversion to Islam or Christianity were to take place. Psychichexperiences of the type described above may act as catalysts ininitiating minor changes. Dream experiences or other contact with thespirits have in other societies introduced more revolutionary changeswith great speed as, for example, the Ghost Dance, Cargo CultsinMelanesia, and Prophetic Movements among the Nilotes of the Sudan. TheÔdreamÕ described above is of no major sociological significance sinceit led to no major changes in Mambila social structure or culture, butit may be of importance in the future since it shows the means wherebynew ideas, values, and aspirations may be reconciled with thetraditional belief system without shaking the foundations of thatsociety.
REHFISCH, F. 1960. The Dynamics of Multilineality on the MambilaPlateau. Africa, 30 (3).
(C) Farnham Rehfisch, 1969.