African Ideas of the Afterlife and Beloved

By Paul Horton
Overview
The most striking aspect of reading Beloved, apart from its rendering of the complexity of memory and history, is the
interaction between Beloved and Sethe !eaders are asked to enter a world where the dead are "ery much a part of life
Although Beloved appears to be something of a mystery, her presence is accepted #hen she reappears in flesh and
blood, she is welcomed back into the family almost naturally #hile the belief in $haints$ was a component of folklore
among African%American sla"es, we must examine cultural expectations and practices that existed in Africa and continued
in the African%American sla"e culture to understand the matter%of%fact place that Beloved finds within Sethe&s household
African Ideas About the Afterlife
The following excerpts are from 'ohn S (biti, African Religions and Philosophy )*ew +ork and #ashington, ,-.-/, ,0-%
,.1
Again it is clear that people "iew death paradoxically2 it is a separation but not annihilation, the dead
person is suddenly cut off from the human society and yet the corporate group clings to him This is
shown through the elaborate funeral rites, as well as other methods of keeping in contact with the
departed, which we shall discuss below 3eath becomes, then, a gradual process, which is not completed
until some years after the actual physical death At the moment of physical death, the person becomes a
li"ing%dead2 he is neither ali"e physically, nor dead relati"e to the corporate group #hen his own Sasa
period is o"er, he enters fully into the 4amani period5 but, as far as the li"ing who knew him are
concerned, he is kept $back$ in the Sasa period, from which he can disappear only gradually Those who
ha"e nobody to keep them in the Sasa period in reality $die$ immediately, which is a great tragedy that
must be a"oided at all costs
6or peoples who think that the hereafter is in another world or a distant place, food and weapons may
be buried with the dead body to sustain and protect the person in the 7ourney between the two worlds or
places 6or the ma7ority of peoples, howe"er, the next world is in fact geographically $here,$ being
separated from this only by "irtue of being in"isible to human beings The 8hagga hold that the 7ourney
takes nine days from this to the next world, and the soul must tra"el through a dangerous desert region
9n arri"al at the other end, the soul has to be admitted by older spirits To make the 7ourney less
demanding, the corpse is anointed with fat, $gi"en$ milk in the mouth and wrapped with hide, to pro"ide it
with food and protect it from the scorching desert sun A bull is also killed for the grandfather of the
deceased, so that he would help the soul when it arri"es at the next world The :odagaa belie"e that the
land of the departed lies to the west, being separated from this by the ri"er of 3eath As soon as the
funeral rites are performed, the soul begins its 7ourney At the ri"er, it is ferried across, for a fee of ;<
cowries, which friends and relati"es pro"ide at the funeral But crossing this ri"er is an ordeal whose
hardness depends on the nature of the life that a person has led in this life Therefore, $good$ people get
across easily, but $bad$ people fall through the boat and must swim across the ri"er, which can take up to
three years to do It is debtors, thie"es, witches, and those who denied something to others that face the
greatest difficulties in either being allowed to cross or in the act of crossing the ri"er The =a people also
belie"e that, at death, the soul must cross a ri"er, and, on arri"al at the other side, the nose is broken so
that the departed speak in nasal tones
3eath proclaims the formal conflict between 4amani and Sasa forces As soon as a person dies, he
becomes a li"ing dead%%he is a $spirit$ in the sense that he is no longer in the body, and yet he retains
features which describe him in physical terms He still retains his personal name, so that when he
appears to human members of his family, they recogni>e him as so%and%so He is counted as part of the
family in many ways, e"en though people know and reali>e that he has forsaken them Part of his being
sur"i"es in the memory of those who knew him while he li"ed and in the children who sur"i"e him It is
primarily his family which $keeps him going,$ so to speak #hen the li"ing%dead appears, it is to those
who see him5 there is no affectionate warmth such as one witnesses when relati"es or friends meet in this
life There is no exchange of greetings, which in African societies is an extremely important social means
of contact5 and when the li"ing%dead departs, human beings do not gi"e greetings to other li"ing%dead
Socially, therefore, something has happened, something has cooled off, and a real distance between the
li"ing%dead and human beings has begun to grow #e ha"e pointed out already that the li"ing%dead may
gi"e instructions, or in?uire about the family, or make re?uests to be gi"en something, and may e"en
threaten to punish members of the family for not carrying out particular instructions or for not caring
sufficiently for the li"ing%dead People are keen to do their $best$ for the li"ing%dead, chiefly because these
are in a position of need 7ust as little children ha"e to be cared for by adults The personal immortality of
the li"ing%dead is for all practical purposes dependent on his progenies At the same time, the li"ing%dead
are in the intermediary position between man and =od, and between man and the spirits Human beings
keep the relationship going between them and their li"ing%dead, chiefly through libation, offerings of food
and other items, prayers and the obser"ation of proper rites towards the departed or instructions from
them
Belief in reincarnation is reported among many African societies This is, howe"er, partial reincarnation
in the sense that only some human features or characteristics of the li"ing%dead are said to be $reborn$ in
some children This happens chiefly in the circle of one&s family and relati"es The li"ing%dead who has
been reincarnated continues, howe"er, to ha"e this separate existence and does not cease to be I
suspect that this belief is partly the result of externali>ing people&s awareness of the nearness of their
li"ing%dead, and partly an attempt to explain what is otherwise a purely biological phenomenon, which
applies not only to human beings but also to animals Those who hold someone in the state of personal
immortality see biological or character resemblances in a young child, and immediately feel that since the
particular li"ing%dead has not yet sunk into the obli"ion he has $returned$ to them
The following excerpts are from Albert ' !aboteau, Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South
)*ew +ork, ,-@A/, ,B
Because of the powerful position of the ancestors, burial rites become "ery important Improper or incomplete funeral rites
can interfere with or delay the entrance of the deceased into the spiritual world and may cause his soul to linger about, as
a restless and male"olent ghost 6uneral ceremonies are long, complex, and expensi"e, but it would be a great disgrace
for a family not to obser"e the proper rites, e"en if they must go into debt to do so Before a funeral is complete, se"eral
customs must be obser"ed2 preparation of the body for burial, the wake, interment, mourning after burial, and later
mourning at "arying periods$ The gra"es of the deceased of some #est African peoples are elaborately decorated with
the personal effects of the indi"iduals buried there
!ites honoring the ancestors "ary from the simple pri"ate offering of food and drink, a gesture that may occur anytime, to
more elaborate public ceremonies such as the adae ceremonies held by the Ashanti twice e"ery 1B days, in which the
stools of past clan rulers, representing their spirits, are fed and honored There are societies, such as the +ouruba
Egungun society and the Ibo mo society, that foster the cult of the ancestors (embers of these societies go about
masked and ceremonially garbed, imitating the dead on certain ritual occasions in order to warn the errant li"ing to mend
their ways$
Reader Response Questions
, How do African religions "iew deathC
; #hy are funeral rites and care with burial importantC
B 3escribe the relationship between the $li"ing%dead$ and its former family
1 #hy do the li"ing need a relationship with the $li"ing%deadC$
0 How is belief in reincarnation $partialC$
. To what extent, in your opinion, does (orrison borrow her conception of Beloved from traditional African beliefs
about reincarnation and the $li"ing deadC$