7 - The role of the mukowa in succession

Summary

Apart from rain-making rituals, the final mourning ceremonies (mayobo), at which the successor of the deceased is chosen and the deceased's estate divided among his survivors, are the main situations which the Toka themselves conceptualise in mukowa terms. They say that it is the basimukowa of the deceased who decide on his successor and who inherit his property.

Each mayobo is organised by a kinsman of the deceased who has been living in the deceased's village. If the deceased was a man, he may be assisted by a kinsman of the deceased's wife. The organiser decides on the date of the ceremony and informs the relatives of the deceased in their villages, his relatives who have been working in towns as labour migrants and who should be present, and the headmen of neighbouring villages. As a rule, the mayobo is held over a weekend so that even those kin who work in towns may attend.

A week or so before the mayobo, the preparations for brewing beer start. If the deceased was a man, two groups of women brew beer: his kinswomen or affines and kinswomen or affines of his wife. The two groups are widely helped by other women from the village and by the kinswomen of the deceased who have come from other villages to attend the mayobo. Quite a number of women from neighbouring villages also take part in the work, particularly if close kinship ties exist between their inhabitants.