7. Funeral Mourning
Funeral mourning serves both socio-cultural and linguistic functions in any society. Obviously, as every culture is embedded within a language – hence, cultural linguistics
| [8] | Essien, O. (1986). Ibibio Names: Their Structure and Their Meanings. Ibadan: Day Star Press. |
[8]
. The poetic songs and dirge involved in the practice of funeral mourning is an evidence to this. Also, the semantic depiction and semiotic connotation of the practice; plus the fact that certain cultural heritage are best preserved in linguistic codes explains this connection.
Existing literatures have it that the Kumbuo in Niger-Delta area usually announce the death of an old person by crying, wailing, weeping, sighing and beating of the breast of the relatives of the deceased; the Igbo do this by loud cries of mourning and shooting of guns; the TIV by the wailing of women and children and cannon shots
| [10] | Ifie, J. (1982). ‘Nature and Symbolism in Six Sacred Dirges’. In Orita: Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies XIV/2: 140-153. |
| [5] | Awolalu, J. & P. Dopamu. (1979). West African Traditional Religion. Ibadan: Onibon-oje. |
| [9] | Gbenda, J. (2005). Eschatology in Tiv Traditional Religious Culture: An Interpretative Enquiry. Nsukka: Chuka Educational Publishers. |
[10, 5, 9]
. It is observed that one of the significance of mourning in the olden days in Africa is to prepare the deceased for acceptance in the world of the ancestors. This is evident in the use of the
adìye-ìrànà ‘fowl to prepare the way’ for the dead among the Yorùbá.
Cross-cultural influence and dominance cannot be over ruled with regards to funeral practice. One of the most obvious restrictions or laws on mourning led to Edo people moving from Benin to Esanland. History has it that in 1460 Oba Ewuare (of Benin) passed laws of mourning that prohibited sexual intercourse, bathing, drumming, dancing and cooking. The laws proved too restrictive for many citizens and those citizens fled to the now known Esanland. This exodus shaped Esanland’s modern cultural identity and gave rise to the term ‘Esan’ meaning ‘refugee’.
The Ebira strongly believe in life after death and so burial ceremony is regarded as a noble and cherished duty towards the dead whom they anticipate will come back to life one day. The type of burial ceremony depends wholly on the age of the deceased, sex, wealth and social standing. Slaves or other people considered to be of low status cannot be given second burial, however famous. This is because the Ebira believes that the death of poor people is caused by witches. To them the young had not enjoyed the life for which they were created and hence should not die suddenly. On the other hand, when a fairly aged man or woman dies, a first or formal burial is generally given. However, a second burial is never given to a woman irrespective of her age, achievement and position in the community. This is because women do not belong to special secret societies as men
| [6] | Bamigbade, O. (2018). ‘Language use and the Endangerment of Etuno in Igara, Akoko-Edo, Nigeria’. An Unpublished PhD thesis in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. |
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.
This practice of second burial was discouraged by the Atta of Ebira land because it was very extravagant. Most people did not welcome the Atta’s invention on burial ceremonies and hence these ceremonies, especially those of the 14th day, which have continued unhindered in Ebira land. On this day special sacrifices are made on the tombs. This is what the Ebira call
‘Oyipikuta’. In most of all burial ceremonies, men spend lavishly on their wives relatives. Furthermore, only men of outstanding character and ripe age (over 70years old) could be given a second burial and such caliber is made
‘ekuoba’. Slaves and all those considered as of ‘low status’ are not qualified for the
‘ekuobahood’ however powerful or important. Even very outstanding men who die in battle fields are not considered at all for the second burial – an eligible must die normally and peacefully
| [6] | Bamigbade, O. (2018). ‘Language use and the Endangerment of Etuno in Igara, Akoko-Edo, Nigeria’. An Unpublished PhD thesis in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. |
[6]
.
The Ebira believes that even though a person is dead, his spirit is still in the former dwelling place, hence nobody is normally permitted to live in the place until after formal ‘cleansing’ on the ninth month when the deceased should have left finally. The traditional mourning period for an adult is nine (calendar or lunar) months. During the whole period, all the male relatives of the deceased do not wear caps. This is not taken very seriously today, and people who do it only observe it for the first few months. The females on the other hand, wear red threads (inani) round their necks during the mourning period. This, like that of men, is almost obsolete, especially in urban areas, the wives/wife of the deceased do not normally go out for any personal appointment until after the end of the mourning period. As a direct result of the impact of Islam and Christianity, 40-60 days of mourning is acceptable in place of the nine months (especially among the Moslems and Christians). All burial ceremonies and mourning normally end on the day of cleansing which is usually fixed on a local market day. It is however observed that people follow more of Islamic principle nowadays.
8. Data Analysis
Unemployment as a major challenge in Nigeria today combined with lack of industrialisation among many other factors are responsible for the level of poverty in the country. As depicted in the home video, unemployment and poverty led the two families to situate income opportunity in the cultural practice of funeral mourning. As presented in the home video Olórí Ebí, poverty is a menace which is capable of driving its prey into any available source of livelihood; dignifying or not such as weeping at funeral for money. Ordinarily, funeral mourning is expected to flow out of emotional attachment to the deceased and a feel of loss of someone dear; some sort of purgation of sorrow, however, in this stead, funeral mourning is practised as an occupation. The dirge and other songs employed, the oríkì (both personal and family) and the ethnography of greetings employed in the process of the professional funeral weeping are all learned and mastered for effective delivery and productivity to enhance greater income. In fact the charges vary depending on the financial strength, social status and the pedigree of the family and the children of the deceased who employ the services of the professional funeral mourners.
The movie Olórí Ebí presents, though in a comic manner, the disdainful attitude towards an aspect of cultural practice of the Yorùbá. The characterization is predictable because three out of the five major casts are axiomatic comic characters. Aside, Rónké Òjó (Àríké) and Bùnkúnmi Olúwasínà (Péjú), the other three casts: Wálé Akóredé (Èsó), Kúdírátù Kazeem (Wúlè) and Túndé Usman (Akékaka) are well known for comedy. Though in comic approach, the intent of the lampoon as contained in the movie is obvious. As earlier pointed out in Adebowale and other literatures while reviewing funeral mourning amongst different tribes especially, the Yorùbá, funeral mourning is believed to follow a pattern of ceremonial construct which should strictly be adhered to. However, the movie looms large with essential contrast of how a custom that the Yorùbá treat with all seriousness of attention, and traditional sacredness – funeral rite is treated with frivolity. It is believed that if this pattern is not followed, the departed soul will not find a resting place in the world beyond and the soul may continue to hunt members of the family, especially the immediate family. In other to forestall such bad omen, each passage of the funeral rite is observed religiously. Paradoxically, it is this seemingly religious practice that is treated with scorn in quest for source of income by some so called miscreant in the name of professional funeral mourners as portrayed in the movie.
The movie opens with suspense. People are seen crying and wailing which leaves the viewer wondering what the cause is, until the second scene where Akékaka shows annoyance on the delay in sharing proceed of a business outing. What business outing? The money to be shared is proceed of the crying and wailing in scene one. Then, there is the need to relate crying and money proceed.
The suspense gradually gets clearer in the fourth scene when Péjú, the daughter of the leading couple in the business of funeral mourning, being a 100 level English student of a University insists that she is no longer interested in the funeral mourning outing as a means of livelihood. Péjú’s refusal to continue with the business is based on two reasons which she states unequivocally to her parents, one; the society is too modern and western to continue with any custom of crying at funeral mourning (that is if the crying is even legitimately cultural bound other than doing it as a business of some sort), two; the fact that it would be shameful to attempt to handover such a business as professional mourning to one’s children as a legacy of family occupation.
Peju’s first reason to discontinue the business is modernization. Crystal points out that:
…minority communities are forced into assimilation with a dominant, often foreign culture … on the other hand, they risk losing their way of life by abandoning their native language; this no-win situation may be further exacerbated by the speakers of the threatened language themselves – this comes about, through the erosion of respect for traditional language forms
| [7] | Crystal, D. (2000). Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
[7]
Péjú is becoming assimilated into a foreign culture as common with most African elites especially the youths who see their culture and traditions as primitive and barbaric. This is predictable, as her father actually wanted her to study Music against her choice of English Language in the University, (Èdè àyálò – borrowed language – as it is referred to by her father). Her father wanted her to study Music so that her musical voice could support their voice accentuations during their funeral mourning outing by rendering sonorous accompaniment to their funeral dirge when needed.
Her father therefore told her that henceforth she will be responsible for financing her education once she opts out of the family business of funeral mourning; a business she has been part of since she was young and with which they have been sustaining the family. In fact, when she requested for money for her class project in school, her father blatantly refused her despite her mother’s plea, insisting that he cannot give her money gotten from funeral mourning business since she now labels the crying business as a form of stigma.
Akékaka who works as the ‘marketing officer’ for the supposed ‘mourners’ company’, goes about scouting for people who needed their mourning services to announce the death of their loved ones. In the cause of hunting for ‘clients’, he goes about looking for where someone dies and alerts Èsó, the ‘business manager’ of a possible client. He is seen informing Èsó through a phone conversation of the death of Ìya Súná and that family members are already converging there, hence they should hurry up to the location. As a sign of funeral dirge, he left the scene with a song:
Ìyá dáada n’ìyá wa (Our mother is a good mother)
Ó wolé dé n’ikú wolé dé (As soon as she came in death appears)
Ó fé s’àlùwàlá n’ikú yí won lórùn … (She was about to perform ablution when death took her away)
The team appeared at the location long before the arrival of the deceased’s daughter from abroad and they were losing patience. This is apparent when Èsó the group leader alleges Akékaka the marketer of securing an unprofitable job which has taken too much of their crying effort before the deceased children arrived. Just after this, the professional funeral mourners were seen well seated in the living room of their supposed business client as professional mourners, waiting for their pay.
Later on, Akékaka secures a funeral crying business with another client, Emeka with location in the Eastern part of Nigeria, a ceremony that is to last for three days. At the table of negotiation, the team demands to be paid a sum of Four hundred thousand naira (#400,000.00). After much bargaining Emeka the client reaches a compromise with the team at One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (#150, 000.00), and promises to transport them and take care of their feeding at the ceremony for the three days. The thought of making more money, if they cry very well, from invited guest motivates them more to accept the offer. For cultural significance, the team are to dress in Igbo traditional attire, an idea which they gladly welcome.
The sixth scene is the crux of the movie. The business strategies of the professional mourners is highlighted. This in response to the query of the daughter of
Ìya Súná (who arrived from abroad for the burial of her late mother) about the identity of the team. Erroneously, an elderly woman among the deceased family members mistook the team for family members and she appreciates them for their support and condolence visit. This impression continues until the team made their mission clear. The team leader points out that they are professional mourners. This sounds so strange to the bereaved and others who came to pay condolence visit to them, especially when the team made it clear that the deceased daughter should count it a privilege for them (the professional mourners) to have come to cry and mourn with them. They note that they are selective in accepting to cry at funerals and that their participation depends on how much the client is ready to pay. The deceased’s daughter and with the standby are dumbfounded when they were told that their charge is not more than #400,000.00. The team then starts another session of crying, which could be referred to as
thenos in Alexious Greek term as earlier noted, as indication of mourning – a cry that is devoid of any emotional affinity of a bereaved, which is strange to the family members who have been supporting them earlier with their own
goos in Alexious Greek term
| [4] | Alexious, M. (1974). The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
[4]
.
In another scene, Èsó the group leader approaches Ìyá Dèjì, and encourages her to join their company, referring to the mourning group. Ìyá Dèjì has been presented in scene two as someone living in abject poverty who attends funeral ceremonies to pack left overs to feed her son. Èsó’s argument is based on the fact that; why should the woman go about crying and mourning at funeral for empathy and not for money sake when in actual fact she could get paid for it? To him, that is a waste of resources and breaking of the rules of their own business. He presents the job opportunity with monetary benefit. Also he told her that she will be given an official identity card as a professional mourner but this is turned down by the woman. This is in contrast to the view that poverty could make one engage in any job offer not minding how demeaning or dangerous it is. The woman, considering the Yorùbá cultural perspective and sacred significance attached to funeral rites and mourning, and the entire burial rite amongst the Yorùbá, rejects an offer of poverty alleviation for her family through the mourning business. This act is in sharp contrast to the theme of economic hardship and socio-cultural perversion which seems dominant in the movie. This is a dramatic irony. To Ìyá Dèjì, it is disgraceful and also a way of handling Yorùbá traditions with contempt, but she does not see the disgrace and contempt in going about at ceremonies packing left overs to feed her family. The big question is that; is any better? Albiet, that is not a subject of discussion here.
In another scene, the two couples in the mourning business decides to review their business plans for an upgrade. The deliberation was to make the mourning business have a global view. They therefore conclude that the business should be showcased on instagram for global acceptance and also the need for the business to be registered under the government; two business names are suggested: Ekúndowó which means ‘crying translates to money’ and Òròkí social club. Funny enough, though anthropological construct has proven that the socio-economic situation in a given society is sufficient factor among others that influence the behaviour of individuals in the society, one then need not wonder why the team desires to upgrade their business in other to have societal recognition and government approval.
It sounds so strange when a group of strangers with no relational or emotional attachment to the deceased, for occupational reasons, engage in professional funeral mourning. This is made possible by the modern trend in the present generation where such cultural heritage as funeral mourning is gradually eluding. In this modern world, crying, wailing, and composing dirge to announce the death of an old loved one is no longer celebrated. Such cultural practice, like many other cultural practices, are fast eroding. It is argued in the home video that the professional mourners observed that families of the deceased find it absurd or irrelevant to cry and weep as a display of emotions, or could not do it sufficiently, especially in the mega towns and cities, hence while they are to announce the death of their old ones they need to put up a show of emotional display. In an attempt to do this, there is the need to fill the gap by employing professional mourners (criers/weepers/wailers) which some people gladly accept to do.
Ordinarily, engaging in an occupation such as weeping at the death of someone whom one is not related to, and for the sake of making a living, should be stigmatized in the society. However, elements of comedy erodes this stigma. Also, the fact that the professional mourners are well paid and the job pays their bills is enough motivation for it even if this is not the case with Ìyá Dèjì. When Èsó informed her that he got her a job offer of crying at funeral mourning, the aggression with which she curses the former is full of indignation and reflects the sociological perspective with which the society views the act of crying itself as being a bad omen, let alone being employed to be crying for money, and worst still an organized cry at funeral mourning for money – she curses him with disgust – Olórun ni yóó jé’e r’ógun ekún ‘May God cause you to have reasons to be crying about’; Wón ó fún yín ní Identity Card (ID) ekún ‘May you be given ID card of crying’; Wón ó fún yín ní ìwé èrí ekún ‘May you be given certificate of crying’.
It could be further argued from this analysis that the society is hypocritical with regards to the emotion that is attached to funeral mourning. This is depicted in the scenes where Emeka negotiates prices with the professional mourners based on factors such as distance of the location, social status of the deceased and the duration and quality of the weeping.
In another development, Àríké is informed that her foster mother has died and she bursts into tears while her husband sarcastically told her she is wasting the tears, hence she should keep the cry till they get to the funeral location; what an impression, despite the fact that the deceased is her relative which could equally be referred to as his in-law as well. The next scene explains that the whole team went to cry at the funeral of Ìyá Oníláfún (Àríké’s foster mother). Akékaka and his wife Wúlè therefore requested to be paid for the cry at the funeral. Èsó and Àríké were of the view that since they belong to the same group they are not expected to be paid for crying with them at the funeral of their relative. They note further that when Akékaka or Wúlè is bereft too in the nearest future same benefit will accrue to them. To this. Akékaka objects maintaining that even if he cries at his mother-in-law’s funeral he will make sure he gets paid. It is that bad! From this scene, the team members show that they do not have any form of emotional attachment with either a deceased or the bereaved person regardless of the family ties they may share with such persons.
To cap all of these, scholarly works in the humanities, particularly in sociological and culturally related fields have centered on foreign cultural domination and loss of cultural heritage. This is a form of campaign against imperialism. Such loss of cultural heritage include loss of indigenous languages, cultural practices, customs and traditions, societal etiquette, dressing and food, religion, folklores, political structure, pattern of economic development amongst other forms of cultural heritage. Tracing back to colonialism, slave trade and missionary activities; the effect of the trio cannot be overemphasized in downplaying most indigenous activities which has gradually led to the loss of valuable cultural heritage
which is a bad indication on indigenous cultural heritage and identity as portrayed in the movie.
The role of westernization, modernization and globalization within the African polity is grave on the modern generation especially among African youths. These latter trio which can be summed up under civilization has succeeded in naming the indigenous cultural practices as primitive, barbaric and obsolete i.e. practices that cannot be located on the global scene and not acceptable on the international scale. Africans have been taught in the civil society to see our indigenous heritage as uncivil which must be abandoned for the more civil western heritage; and since Africans crave for global acceptance and recognition, we fall for the trick and poverty ridden society is aiding and abetting this sabotaging syndrome.
The religious institutions are also buying into this. The role of foreign religions are also obvious. For instance, Christianity preaches that we should not ‘weep for the dead in Christ’ because they have a hope of a better life after death. To say the fact, mourning in due moderation was prescribed by the church. Hence, funeral mourning and weeping is treated as a practice among infidels – people who do not have faith in God and who do not believe that there is hope of a better life after death. People who weep for the loss of their loved ones are sometimes seen as pagans or people whose faith is inadequate. This is a hard nut on the survival and continuity of indigenous cultural practices and customs.
The Yorùbá, like the Greeks, believe that an afterlife is a continuation of this life, only in a different setting. The abode of the dead is usually placed outside this earthly abode, which is sometimes thought of as separated by a stream. However, the qualification for participation in afterlife is determined by the nature of one’s previous life and the nature of one’s death. Those who qualify to enter or pass to the realm of afterlife are later referred to as ancestors. In other words, it is not all the dead that are eligible to enter into the ancestral land. For a qualified soul to enter into the Hades as is the case with Greeks or the ancestral land of the Yorùbá certain funeral rites must be performed. There are certain similarities and variations in Greek and Yorùbá funeral rites and conceptions of afterlife
| [1] | Adebowale, B. (2019). Funeral Rites: A Reflection of the Afterlife in Ancient Greece and Yorùbá Traditional Belief. Ibadan: University of Ibadan. |
[1]
. These and many more of such rites are what are fast corroding or euphemistically, being trivialized.
Another such incidence could be alluded to in another Nollywood home video titled Àgbà Awo by Kúnlé Aford. Here, certain group of individuals organized themselves under the pretext of occult Ògbóni group, (with all the supposed occult attire and ritual items in use), and go about stampeding the burial of influential individuals in the society. In one of the scenes in the movie, the gang hijacks the burial of a popular church pastor in the community saying that the pastor was a member of their occult while he was alive and by their ritual they are supposed to extract some parts of his body before he could be buried otherwise they church will pay them a sum of 2 million naira. The church board of elders has no choice other than to pay the ransom since they will go any length to protect the interest of the Church from any such scandal. It is so ironic that the gangster did not consider the sacredness and dangerous consequences of such deceit from either real members of the occult group who see their activities as blasphemous and profane to their group or from the law enforcement agencies. Nemesis however catches up with them at the burial of an American wealthy man whose son is a military man where their deceit is unveiled and they met their waterloo. Apart from being dealt with by the soldiers, the genuine members of the Ògbóni occult group attacked these miscreant spiritually and some of them died one after the other from terrible diseases until the rest were made to confess their crimes. This is a vivid illustration that customs and traditions are still valid and contempt is still being punished severely. This is the height of social decadence that poverty could push people to as portrayed in the movie under study.
9. Conclusion
Film is perhaps more like the records of daily life than it is like the documents that record great events. All of these subjects could be staged and distorted and film can be transformed and be used to transform lives in many ways. But as a record of time and motion, film preserves gestures, gaits, rhythms, attitudes, and human interactions in a variety of situations. This is not to deny that film provides indelible images of some of the twentieth century’s great events. Evident in the role films play are cultural and political and historical incidences in Efunsetan Aniwura, plane crash incidence in Last Flight to Abuja, fight for independence in October 1, Neo-colonialism in Black November to mention but a few and the role of several Epic movies in the Nollyhood industry.
Studies in anthropology have shown that each society has its typical custom, culture and traditions which guides their view about certain activities and incidents of life. This usually determines what are acceptable norms and what are taboos in the given society. In view of this, the more such norms and taboos are tampered with contrary to the laid down patterns in the society, for whatever reasons or factors, which may include; political, economic, social or linguistic, the more these ethos are at the verge of extinction. In this case, the factor of extinction is economic underdevelopment in the present society. A society where the survival of the fittest characterizes and determines the economic landscape of the citizens.
As embedded in the developmental goals, but not limited to, access to quality education for all, provision of employment, development of small scale industry with provision of funds, amongst others are obviously missing. It presupposes that Péjú would not be able to continue her university education if she does not continue with the family business of crying at funeral mourning for money, else she has to fend for herself and find an alternative means to finance her education. Invariably, she had no choice but to cave in to the pressure and accept to continue with the ‘crying business’ reluctantly when the reality of not meeting up with her class project dawns on her by the refusal of her father to give her the money she needs for the project except she agrees to continue with the family business of crying at funeral mourning. Apparently, as far as the developmental goals are not progressively met, such fraudulent means of survival will continue. Today, cybercrimes and other internet frauds are rampant among the youth who lack the courage to take to armed robbery, ritual killings or kidnapping. Prostitution is equally on the lead especially amongst the young female folks while the young men engage sugar mummies; rendering sexual services to women old enough to be their mothers. All these are obvious menace, emerging in such a society devoid of meeting the developmental goals.
In Africa, today, cultures are not seen as they are in the most developed world. Globalisation has however brought the modern Nigerian culture closer to Western ideologies and exposed it to a new perception. While Nollywood films still battle to find a balance between representing the Nigeria cultures and the Westernized Nigerian, people generally have not realized the full impact of these intercultural interactions. In the light of
Olórí Ebí, Muyeedeen Oladapo advocates the restoration of the needed sanctimony for Yorùbá cultural practices and custom using funeral mourning as a case study. Government whose main objective is ensuring a maximized social and economic welfare of the citizenry should intervene using various tools at its disposal in order to alleviate the negative effects of the recession and create enabling conditions for the achievement of positive economic growth rate. He lampoons the government who is guilty of the level of poverty that rampages the masses due to bad leadership, over concentration of power at the center, lack of adequate attention to state and local government administration which impoverish the grassroots, massive corruption and fund laundering by political office holders, nepotism and unhealthy bureaucracy in civil service, imbalance of national allocation, resources and lopsided wealth distribution despite the several mineral resources, wonderful vegetation, favourable climatic condition and brilliant human resources available to the nation. This is a contradiction to the expectation of the society from the governments in market economies which include: promoting production and trade by defining property rights, enforcing contract and settling disputes; enforcing laws design to maintain competition; redistribution of income via taxes and transfer; reallocating resources by providing public goods and intervening to correct negative and positive externalities and promotion of economic growth and full employment
| [11] | Mankiw, N, G. & Taylor P. M. (2011). Economics: Principles, Problems and Policies. 2nd edition, United Kingdom, Cengage learing. EMEA. |
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On a final note, Keynesian approach believed that the major causes of economic recession are ineffective demand and bad economic planning. Keynesian economists posit that, because wages and prices adjust slowly during recession, distortions in production or consumption may move the economy away from its desired level of production and employment for a longer period of time. According to the view of Keynesian, the state should intervene through measures of economic policy, in particular, monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government, can help stabilize output over the business cycle
| [14] | Shido-Ikwu, B. S. (2017). ‘Economic Recession in Nigeria: A case for Government Intervention’. SSRG International Journal of Economics and Management Studies (SSRG – IJEMS), Vol. 4 Issue 6: ISSN: 2393-9125. http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org |
[14]
. Keynesian economists often advocate an active role for government intervention during recessions to alleviate the consequences of the recession and the reduction of overall economic activity in the economy. The focal points of the Keynesian approach to economic recession is to increase aggregate demand through the manipulation of government spending, taxation, money supply, interest rates regulation and devaluation to stimulate production, employment and creation of new investment.
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