Synod of Livingstonia against culture of burying the dead with items

The CCAP Synod of Livingstonia has queried the culture of burying the dead with precious items saying in some cases it aggravates poverty. ‘

The Moderator of Nthungwa Congregation  Rev. Edward ‘Jembe’ Chirwa made the remarks at Chipumulo in the area of  Traditional Authority (T/A) Kampingo Sibande in Mzimba recently during the burial ceremony of  Eliness  Magompho who died  at Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) after  succumbing to a battle of low sugar disease.

During the ceremony, relatives to the deceased buried some precious items like blankets, mats among others as a sign of respect and love.

In his  eulogy ,  Group Village Headman (GVH) Chibwana Nyangu  said in Magompho, the community  had  lost  “a real Christian and a mother group leader in the quest for  right to education for victims of early child marriages hence  she deserved the respect, love and  a decent send off.

“No words can describe the depth of our shock and sadness at the heart-breaking news” GVH Chibwana Nyangu said.

But Jembe Chirwa addressing hundreds of mourners said elsewhere he also witnessed relatives took new mattresses, blankets and buried with the dead leaving children suffering with no mat to sleep on neither blanket to cover themselves during this cold weather, prompting other well-wishers to render support, hence he felt duty bound to voice out to the masses to get a lesson from.

“When something goes wrong, we have to speak out. We are civic educators and we have to say it for the sake of people to learn a lesson from,” Rev. Jembe Chirwa said.

But when we sought views from  a historian and a cultural man of the Ngoni ethnic group,  Aupson Ndabazake  Thole, who is also the Secretary for  Esangweni  Elders Association(EEA) within Mzimba Heritage Association (MZIHA) of the M’mbelwa Chief Council,  he  defended the deceased family including friends for their action,   saying that  burying someone with items,  is an old culture as old kings like Pharaohs were buried with precious items that they used.

Thole noted that the culture which was practiced in many African   ethnic groups has high sense of attachment to ancestral spirits such as  sense of belonging and  sense of collectivism, so  when one dies, the living are afraid of the unknown hence  the dead need to be buried with respect and love.

He said, as a result they try to appease the spirit of the dead.

Said Thole:  “Apart from appeasement, everybody is suspicious that if we leave the items like blankets that the dead person   used when he was ill, who is going to use them? Adding that the living don’t share items with the dead.

The Ngoni cultural group spokesperson added that   culture says the spirit of the dead shall be visiting you during the night. But, Thole, however said, It is not that all the items are buried with the dead but a few that the deceased used. These cannot be given to children because the ancestral spirit cannot accept.

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