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Christianity and the Proliferation of Ancestors: Changes in Hierarchy and Mortuary Ritual in the Cameroon Grassfields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Michael Jindra
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Abstract

During the twentieth century, the ‘death celebration’ became arguably the most important cultural event throughout much of the Western Grassfields of Cameroon. The growth of this ritual festival occurred in the context of major political, economic and religious changes in the Grassfields. This article will focus on how religious changes, particularly the growth of Christianity, contributed to the rise of this event and how it has prompted significant changes in notions and practices concerning the pollution of death, personhood, burial rites and the ancestors. In the traditional hierarchical structure of Grassfields society, only certain titled individuals and chiefs were believed to live on after death and become ancestors. This was reflected in burial rituals. Individuals who became ancestors were buried in family compounds while ‘unimportant’ people were frequently disposed of in the ‘bush’, streams or hurriedly given unmarked burials. Christianity, because of its stress on individual personhood and its message of an afterlife for everyone, became an attractive alternative to established beliefs and practices, especially for young adults, women and those without titles, who were the most disenfranchised in the traditional system. With Christianity, burial rites became standardized and were extended to virtually everyone. Christianity also caused declines in notions of death ‘pollution’ and in beliefs about ‘bad deaths’. Because of continued beliefs in the power of ancestors, the egalitarian notions of personhood stimulated by Christianity have ironically created a ‘proliferation’ of ancestors for whom delayed mortuary rites such as ‘death celebrations’ are owed.

Résumé

Au cours du vingtième siècle, la ≫célébration de la mort≪ est sans doute devenue la manifestation culturelle la plus importante dans une grande partie de la région des Western Grassfields du Cameroun. Ce festival rituel s'est développé dans un contexte de changements politiques, économiques et religieux majeurs dans la région des Grassfields. Cet article s'intéresse à la façon dont les changements religieux, notamment la montée de la chrétienté, ont contribué à l'essor de cette manifestation et la manière dont celle-ci a entraîné des changements sensibles dans les notions et les pratiques concernant la pollution de la mort, la personne, les rites funéraires et les ancêtres. Dans la structure hiérarchique traditionnelle de la société des Grassfields, seuls certains chefs et personnes titrées étaient censés survivre après la mort et devenir des ancêtres. Cette croyance se reflétait dans les rituels funéraires. Tandis que ceux qui devenaient des ancêtres étaient inhumés dans des enclos familiaux, les personnes ≫sans importance≪ étaient fréquemment jetées dans la ≫brousse≪ ou les cours d'eau, ou enterrées à la hâte dans une tombe anonyme. La chrétienté, de par l'importance qu'elle accorde à l'individu et son message d'une vie après la mort pour tous, est devenue une alternative séduisante aux croyances et pratiques établies, notamment chez les jeunes adultes, les femmes et les sans titres, ceux que le système traditionnel privait le plus de droits. Avec la chrétienté, les rites funéraires se sont normalisés et étendus à tout le monde ou presque. La chrétienté a également entraîné le déclin des notions de ≫ pollution ≪ de la mort et des croyances concernant les ≫mauvaises morts≪. Avec la subsistance des croyances dans le pouvoir des ancêtres, les notions égalitaires de la personne stimulées par la chrétienté ont paradoxalement créé une ≫prolifération≪ d'ancêtres auxquels sont dus des rituels funéraires étendus sur la durée, tels que ≫célébrations de la mort≪.

Type
Articles
Information
Africa , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , August 2005 , pp. 356 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2005

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