The practice of the ancestor worship

When one loses an important member of the family and buries it, some years later, it is exhumed to withdraw its skull. This can be either on the demand of a seer who evokes the fact that the deceased is annoyed because it is abandoned under the rain ; or on the recommendation
of a healer to make some sacrifices on this skull so that the family's patient could recover his health ; It can also be done on the simple consent of the family members for respect towards this deceased. Once exhumed, the deceased's skull is kept carefully in a canary. There were times when distant trekking due to lack of means of locomotion, caused the death of some family members far from their homes. They were then buried there. In the case of impossibility to come back to look for the skull, a stone was rubbed on the deceased's forehead, at the time of burial, which will henceforth represent its skull. If for another reason or if the family's member had been sold as a slave so that its skull could no more be located and recovered, then they would move towards the direction he was led while living; two cowries would be thrown on the ground and abandoned there. The name of the defunct would be pronounced, and the soil dug where it would be made into a small packet and conserved in a canary. This henceforth represented the deceased skull.

The belief on which "the dead are not dead", but possess a second life in the great beyond , is the basis of ancestral worship by the Bamilékés. According to the Bamiléké tradition, communication between the dead and the living is made in two possibles ways: dreams or revelation of traditional seers. The Bamilékés live with the mentality that: The dead are the chiefs, the holders of the titles of their customs. They cater for and at every instant their voice from the tomb guides them in relation to their obligations and their conduct towards them, their clan and their family. The Bamilékés think that morals and social order are guaranteed by this philosophy 11 . According to Professor Mekontchou : " After death the body is buried in a suitable place. After a certain number of years, the skull is carefully recovered in which the deceased's soul is thought to reside" 12 . According to the Bamiléké thinking, the deceased's soul is supposed to be in its skull, thus the importance of the skulls of the ancestors. After having smeared oil on it, the skull is transported in a domestic slot of the clan where it will join the skulls its forefathers who preceded it. It is said to have reached the place of rest. A place where it could be «fed and lodged". Professor Mekontchou adds: "The dead eat and drink…. in some circumstances they reproduce: the newborn will bear the ancestor's features from which it is reincarnated or at least an anthropologic affinity. Through the skull, the ancestor recovers his place again in the family after his death: death is defeated" 13 .

During the exhumation, animal sacrifices are made in which there is big feast of rejoicing called: funeral. Worship to the dead becomes an imperative duty at the risk of sanctions on behalf of the forefathers. Children have some obligations vis-à-vis their parents while they are living or dead. Traditionalists Bamiléké believe that when one dies, one reaches close to the big God " Si ." Because of the proximity of the defunct parent to the big God, he has access to all sorts of grace and blessings. The deceased occupy a central place in all Bamiléké traditions. The forefathers are mediators with the power of the great beyond. The forefathers are venerated as divinities. In most families, a slot is used to collect their skulls. One can thus know through the skulls the genealogy of a given family.

The ancestors possess important powers which they could use for or against those who on earth, do not work according to the rules that they decreed before their death. It would seem very unfortunately according to the Bamiléké conception, if their so powerful ancestors, are deprived of houses and food for their survival in the great beyond. The role of the successors on earth is therefore to assure the ancestors their precious goods that they might miss. It is for this reason that to trigger the organization of an ancestor's funeral ceremony, one will say "The ancestor is annoyed because his skull has been neglected under the rain ".

THIS IS AN EXTRACT OF THE BOOK "Project :Bamiléké"

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