Ancestors and the Dead

For Yorùbá understanding, people wey die no dey comot go anywhere. Dem only change where dem dey stay, from ayé (di world) to ọ̀run (di spirit world), and dem still dey participate for wetin dey happen inside di family wey dem come from. People dey ask dem advice, dey talk to dem, dey feed dem, dey praise dem, and dey blame dem. People dey expect make dem intervene. And for many cases, dem dey expect make dem return, born again enter di same family line.

Na dis part of di tradition survive pass enter Christian and Muslim Yorùbá life, mainly because dem no take most of am as religion from di beginning. Dem view am as wetin person owe im parents.

Death as transition, no be di end

Death, ikú, na change for how person dey exist rather than say life don end. Di person wey don die dey turn to ará ọ̀run, person wey dey live for di other world, or òkú ará ọ̀run, and di relationship with people wey dey alive dey continue from di other side 12.

Wetin dey come out from dis get practical effect. Person fit talk to di dead. Dem fit ask dem for things. Dem fit vex if people neglect dem, bury dem wrongly, or maltreat dia descendants, and na vexed ancestor be di normal diagnosis when trouble dey happen for family. Dem dey use divination find out wetin dead relative want. As Awolalu put di general Yorùbá position, every adult wey die dey turn person wey im own family dey respect and worship, and na why di boundary between important ancestor and òrìṣà dey blend together instead of make e be hard wall 3. 01-what-an-orisa-is discuss that boundary.

Di good death and di bad death

Na di single most important difference for Yorùbá burial practice.

Good death, ikú ọlọ́lá or as people dey normally call am, di death of elder, na death for old age, after full life, wey person don get children, don fulfill destiny, inside im own house, from natural cause. Dis one no be tragedy. Na completion, and di funeral na celebration: e dey cost money, dey loud, dey last for days, with drumming, dancing, plenty food, and big crowd. Ìsìnkú àgbà, wey be di burial of elder, na major social occasion, and people dey judge di family by how dem take do am well 1.

Bad death, ikú àìtọ́jọ́ and related terms, na death wey come di wrong way: young person, person without pikin, through suicide, accident, epidemic, some kind sickness, or lightning. Celebration no dey at all. Dem dey bury quick-quick, sometimes outside di normal burial ground, sometimes without di normal rites, and di family dey mourn instead of to dey celebrate 1. In history, some kinds of bad death even carry more restrictions.

Di logic behind am na say good death dey complete life wey fit now take im proper place among di ancestors, while bad death dey leave life unfinished and make di dead person dey inside abnormal state. Person wey die bad death no dey securely among ancestors.

Dis matter dey hard for modern reader, because di practical effect on families of people wey die young, or through suicide, or inside epidemic, na say dem dey face extra isolation for di worst moment of dia life. Di tradition own logic explain why e happen like dat; e no make di result easy, and to talk am plainly clear like dis honest pass make person dey defend am or condemn am.

Ìsìnkú: di funeral

Ìsìnkú na di word for Yorùbá burial rites 1. Di general structure, with di clear warning say details dey vary well-well according to town, lineage, and where di person wey die belong to:

Immediate rites. To wash and prepare di body, announce di death, and di gathering of di lineage.

Burial. Traditionally inside di family compound, often inside di house, wey dey keep di dead physically present for di household. Colonial and post-colonial public health law, city housing, and Christian and Muslim practice don all push am toward cemetery burial, and compound burial now reduce well-well but e never disappear.

Rites over several days. Record show say Ìsìnkú rites dey take two to three days, with ètùtù, propitiatory rites, wey dem dey do to guide di spirit safely go di next state 1.

Di second burial. Another set of ceremony, sometimes months or years after dem bury di body, wey dey complete di transition and formally settle di person wey die among di ancestors. Named rites wey dey inside literature include ìtà and ìjẹ òkú 2. Di delay often happen for practical reason: di second burial expensive, and di family dey hold am when dem get di money to do am properly. Make we note say "second burial" na word wey dem also dey use for Igbo practice, and di two no be di same thing.

Ọdún òkú. Yearly or periodic remembrance of di dead people of di household.

One documented rite wey make sense to mention because people dey often describe am wrongly: adìẹ ìrànà, di fowl wey dey buy road, chicken wey dem offer so dat di dead person go get provision for di journey and make spirits wey dey block road comot for path 4. Di idea no be to buy salvation; na to give traveller food and supplies.

Ọ̀run: where di dead dey go

Inside literature, dem commonly describe say Ọ̀run get two division 2:

Ọ̀run rere, good ọ̀run, wey dem sometimes call ọ̀run baba ẹni, di ọ̀run of person fathers, where people wey die properly dey join di ancestors.

Ọ̀run àpáàdì, potsherd ọ̀run, where wicked people dey go, wey dem describe as place of punishment. Àpáàdì na broken pieces of clay pot, and di picture na like refuse dump of broken pot pieces: worthless, thrown away, and impossible to fix.

Make we warn about one thing here. Di clean two-place structure look like heaven and hell well-well, and scholar dem still dey argue how much of how twentieth-century sources take explain am come from Christian and Muslim ideas wey already dey ground. Bọlaji Idowu and im generation write for time wey to show say Yorùbá get moral afterlife be answer to wetin missionaries dey talk, and di reason to explain am in way people fit recognise strong well-well. 01-what-an-orisa-is talk about this pattern for Idowu work generally. Wetin dey clear on im own na di concept of ọ̀run àpáàdì itself, and di general principle say how person live im life na im dey determine how e go be for am after death.

Wetin dey beside this one, wey also get small disagreement with am, na di matter of reincarnation.

Àtúnwáyé: coming back

Àtúnwáyé (wey dem also dey call àtúnwá) na wen person wey don die return come di world through birth for inside im own lineage 1. No be say na general transmigration or doctrine say everybody must born again: na specific relationship wey particular dead person dey take come back as particular pikin for im own family line.

Di evidence wey show how dem take this thing serious dey inside di names.

Babátúndé, "father has returned," wey dem dey give boy wey dem born after im grandfather die. Yétúndé and Ìyábọ̀, "mother has returned" and "mother has come back," for girl wey dem born after im grandmother die. Babájídé, "father has woken and arrived." Yéjídé, "mother has woken and arrived."

These names dey among di most common Yorùbá names wey dey, and plenty Christians and Muslims today dey bear dem, and majority of dem know wetin di name mean exactly. 02-language cover naming.

Dem dey know am through divination and observation: family resemblance, birthmark wey match mark for di dead person body, how di pikin dey behave, and wetin di pikin dey talk. Di èsèntáyé consultation wey dem dey do small time after dem born di pikin na where dem dey formally ask di question, and 05-ifa cover am.

Di logical tension between this one and di ọ̀run destination story dey real, and di tradition no resolve am. Person fit get honor as ancestor for ọ̀run, and at di same time dem go say e don return as grandchild. Sources wey present one single clean Yorùbá eschatology don pick one side and drop di other one. Evidence dey for di two, and dem dey exist side by side. Nobody really dey sure say dem fit join di two together systematically.

Another category still dey wey separate and dark pass this one: àbíkú, di pikin wey dem born to die, wey dem see as spirit wey dey enter family again and again, die when e still be baby, and come back. This one no be àtúnwáyé and person no suppose mix dem together. 04-cosmology treat matter of àbíkú.

Ancestral shrines and Egúngún

Families dey keep shrines for their dead people: one place for compound where dem dey drop sacrifice and where dem dey talk to di ancestors 1. Na normal family practice, no be specialist ritual, and na ordinary family members dey do am, no be priests.

Egúngún na di institutional and public form of di same relationship, where di family dead people dey show as masquerade. 20-egungun cover am fully. Di difference na say: household shrine na where you dey talk to your dead people, and Egúngún na where dem dey answer with body.

Oríkì na di other main medium. To recite di lineage oríkì dey address di dead directly, like say person dey talk to dem, and di Òkukù study wey Karin Barber do show say oríkì performance dey tie di living, di people wey just die, and di ones wey don die tey-tey into one community wey person fit talk to 5. 02-language cover oríkì.

How this works in Christian and Muslim families today

Na this part matter pass for Yorùbá reader wey grow up for any of di two religions, because di answer na say plenty of these things still dey happen for their own family and dem no dey call am religion.

Funerals. Yorùbá Christian funeral for old person na church service wey program follow am wey person go easily recognise as ìsìnkú àgbà: di aṣọ ẹbí, printed programme, days of reception, canopies, caterers, live band, dancing, spraying of money, eulogies from age-grade associations, burial for inside family compound where dem still allow am, and di level of preparation wey match wetin family standing require. Muslim funeral dey follow Islamic way for di burial itself wey dey happen sharp-sharp, and after dat, eighth-day and fortieth-day prayer go follow, wey carry di same social weight. Di theology change, but di structure of obligation to di dead no change.

Naming. Christian and Muslim families dey give names like Babátúndé and Yétúndé with full knowledge of wetin dem mean. Na so e still be for Ìyábọ̀, Babájídé, and di rest. Plenty families dey add Christian or Muslim name join am, and na di Yorùbá name di household dey use.

Praying to or about the dead. Yorùbá Christian practice get plenty ways wey people dey take talk to dead parents: for graveside, for anniversaries, for normal speech ("my mama dey look me"). Pentecostal teaching dey generally stand against this thing. But e still dey continue.

Oríkì. Dem still dey do am for funerals, for anniversaries, and na older women for family dey do am. Plenty Yorùbá Christians don hear their lineage oríkì performance without knowing say na religious form.

Egúngún. For here, di division sharp pass. To attend family Egúngún festival na common thing among Yorùbá Christians and Muslims for towns where e still dey survive; to participate as wearer no common, and Pentecostal churches dey preach against attendance completely.

What is genuinely gone. To bury person for compound for most cities, full second-burial process for many families, ètùtù rites as normal routine, and di use of divination to find out wetin dead relative want. These ones don reduce well-well.

Di comparative study wey J.D.Y. Peel do about how di three traditions dey interact na di standard academic work on how dis living together actually dey work, and im central point na say dem no be three closed system wey people dey just move between dem, but three traditions wey dey shape each other continuously inside di same society for well over one century 6. 09-orisa-today develop dis one further.

Wetin di missionaries talk, and wetin dem actually dey describe

Nineteenth-century missionary writings describe ancestor veneration as worship of di dead, and therefore as idolatry, and twentieth-century African Christianity inherit dis way of framing am, and na so e still be as standard for Nigerian Pentecostalism today.

Dis description no dey accurate for one specific way. Yorùbá practice dey differentiate between Olódùmarè, di òrìṣà, and di ancestors, and e no dey treat ancestors like gods. Wetin dem dey offer ancestor na wetin person go give senior relative: food, drink, respect, news, and requests for help. Di Yorùbá word for wetin dem dey do for ancestral shrine na di same word wey dem dey use for di normal honour wey dem dey give elders wey still dey alive. Di structure continue straight from how dem dey treat living parents, and Yorùbá people dey describe am dat way when dem ask dem.

Di closest Christian example na di Catholic practice wey people dey take ask saints and dead people to intercede, wetin most missionaries for Yorùbá country also reject, and na for di same reasons. Di disagreement between Yorùbá tradition and Protestant missionary Christianity on dis point na real theological disagreement about whether person fit address dead people, no be say one side fail to understand wetin di other side dey do.