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© 2018 Dr Margaret Sheppard

Other Customs Associated with Death


Occasionally when a very old person is ill and does not die they may request the guardian of their cattle to kill one of their cows for them. This happened to an old acquaintance of mine in 1979. People who make such a request believe that by the cow being killed will lease their Ancestors and allow them to die in peace.

 Relatives will be called to help eat the meat which pleases the living relatives which in turn pleases the Ancestors who are also pleased by the spilling of blood. In the case mentioned above, immediately the meat had been finished, the old lady concerned died in peace, although she had been ill for many years and had several times requested one of her sons, who had the care of her cattle, to kill one for her. It was said that because he kept putting it off (because he presumably did not want to "waste" one of his future inheritance). she did not die. Immediately he had granted her request and the meat had been finished, she died in peace.

Another custom that should be mentioned is that performed following the death of the surviving spouse. Normally it is a very strong taboo to put cattle dung on the walls of a house or lolwapa., it is only smeared on the floor. Although bricks and plaster contain cattle dung, the mud is mixed with it, before the bricks are moulded or the or the plaster is applied. However when the surviving spouse dies a horizontal line of cattle dung is smeared along the wall of their house and lolwapa. This is a sign that they are both now dead. The entrance is closed with a thorn bush as another sign. For this reason either to smear the walls with cattle dung or to close entrances with thorn bushes is a big taboo. Although people frequently fence their yards and kraals with cut thorn bushes, they never close the entrance of a house or yard with one. To break either of these taboos is not only to remind oneself of death, but also even to encourage it, causing the death of a relative.

There are numerous omens of death that are still widely believed. For example if a chicken lays an egg with a badly deformed shell or eats its own egg. the owner will usually kill it as these are widely held to be omens of the death of a relative. as is a worm crossing a person's path in bright sunlight. Again in some families if there is family discord or quarrels. or a member of the family breaks a pot or a piece of crockery, these are also believed to be omens of the death of a close relative.

There are certain taboos which. if a person breaks them, are believed to cause death. Besides the two mentioned above, in Kanye it is a taboo to plant citrus trees in the yard, as to do so would cause the owners of the yard to die before they mature. In fact in Kanye very few Bangwaketse do plant citrus trees in their yards although they plant peach, apricot, "apple" and banana. and despite the fact that people very much like eating oranges. Many of the yards where they do grow belong to non-Bangwaketse.

Another avoidance taboo is that women who have reached the age of menstruation should not step over the traces of an ox wagon (these in fact are often lying around the entrances to people's homes. and spread out over several metres. especially if the oxen are about to be in-spanned or have just been out-spanned). To break this taboo could cause harm and even death to the owner of the ox wagon whilst he is travelling in it.

Another taboo that is widely followed in many very traditional dikgotla, especially in main wards, is that women are not supposed to carry water or cattle dung that they have been fetching, through other people's dikgotla. To do so is believed to challenge the protective power of those dikgotla that was put there by the original traditional doctor who placed the kgotla. Such a challenge could result in death or serious accident to the residents. In the area where I was living this practice was followed by the main kgotla and two of the neighbouring sub-dikgotla. Before I was aware of the taboo I was even stopped whilst carrying water through the main kgotla from a far off water tap, and a woman from the main kgotla even wanted to confiscate our water. However in some of the other sub-dikgotla the paths from the water taps pass straight through them and their owners do not object. It is all according to the rules of the original doctor who protected the kgotla.

All the rites performed following a death are really to achieve healing and purification. For example the children have to be healed so that they do not follow their father, as must be the cattle for the same reason. All close relatives, but especially the widowed spouse, must be purified so that they do not contaminate others and “bring death” to those households. During the purification of widowed people the aim is to "cool" their "hot" blood so that they can again (when their blood is "cool") take part in everyday life. If they break the taboos which they are subject to whilst impure they can harm others and "spoil" the rain. For example in 1979 the drought was widely attributed to widowed people breaking the taboos.

It should be briefly mentioned that death is seldom believed to be due to natural causes or even accidents such as in the case of road accidents. When a person dies or even when he is ill a traditional doctor is called to divine the cause or causer. This is a topic that is dealt with in more detail in the section on  Sorcery.