Exploring the Most Fascinating Burial Customs from Around Africa

In the vibrant tapestry of African cultures, death is not the end, but a mere transition. Many African peoples embrace the concept of an afterlife from which ancestors act as guides for the living. This influences the peculiar ways in which burials are carried out across the continent as certain rituals and rites are believed to ensure the rightful passage of the deceased from the land of the living to the land of the dead.

Moreso, burials are usually seen as a celebration of life—especially for older people—so many traditional African funeral ceremonies are elaborate, featuring music, dance and bright clothing. This is a sharp contrast to the typically private and sombre burial practices in the West.

In this article, we will discuss a few of the most fascinating burial customs across the continent.

Tumbuka (Zambia)

When someone dies in the rural Tumbuka community of Eastern Zambia, the women in the village will first break into ‘chitelengelo’, a unique, high-pitched mourning cry. This cry is often so loud that people from all over the village can hear it and immediately realise that someone has died. The men will also let out a loud grief-stricken cry called kukhuza. Male messengers will then go to spread the news to surrounding villages, as quickly as possible since the burial has to be carried out on the same day. Villagers with cell phones can notify relatives who live in the cities and towns, however, those relatives are not expected to make it down in time for the burial.

As word of the death spreads, large crowds will begin to gather around the corridors of their huts, in the village open spaces and under trees. At the hut of the deceased, the corpse is laid down in the middle of the floor and covered. Mourners will take turns to enter and exit the hut as they arrive to mourn. Livestock are slaughtered to feed the mourners and honour the deceased and beer may also be served. Relatives of the deceased will bring food donations, especially a maize porridge called mealie-meal, which the women will prepare and serve. Children are present during the burial as they are charged with running errands for the bereaved.

Meanwhile, young men and elders carrying farm tools go to the village burial ground to determine a suitable position for the deceased’s grave. Clans and families are usually buried next to each other, so the elders must be present as they will most likely know who was buried where, and thus be able to guide the young men on where to dig the grave.

Later on, the women wash the body and wrap it in a blanket and a reed mat. If the family can afford it, the body can be put in a simple wooden coffin. The men then put the body on a ladder and slowly take it to the burial site, while mourners wail and sing funeral songs as they accompany them.

At the burial site, women sit on one side of the grass while men sit on another. Once the corpse has been lowered into the grave, close relatives begin to throw soil over it. Some men will then use hoes to lift soil over the grave until a mound is formed. A priest will pray and relatives will share anecdotes about the deceased. The mourners will then return to the village, but first, they must wash the sand off their feet with the provided containers of clean water. In the days following the burial, close relatives of the deceased may perform healing rituals like sweeping their yards, having their heads shaved and drinking some traditional herbs.

Senufo-Tagba (Burkina Faso)

The Senufo-Tagba, who primarily reside in Burkina Faso, are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Senufo peoples of West Africa. When someone dies in the Senufo-Tagba community, the village officials are notified about the death. Afterwards, the oldest living relative of the village founder is ceremonially asked for permission to bury the body on his land. The village administrative head and founder’s descendant are given cowry shells as a ritual payment to bury the deceased—three shells for men and four shells for women.

Next, the family members of the deceased prepare the body for burial by cleaning it and wrapping it in plain cloth. Members of both sides of the family take turns to present offerings of blankets to the deceased, then the body is transported on a bamboo frame to the front of the family compound. There, the local widows give him/her a final ritual feeding of local cereal crops which bear religious significance. The guests turn their back while the ritual feeding is carried out.

While the corpse is transported to the burial site, coins and cowries are given as offerings to the deceased to prepare him/her for travels in the afterlife. At the burial site, dirges with important life themes are sung and more offerings are given. People tell the deceased to remember them and protect them, and pregnant women ask for protection during their pregnancies.

If the deceased died an unnatural death, e.g. being struck by lightning, dying in childbirth and so on, additional rituals must be performed by specialists in order to appease the spirit world.

Luhya (Kenya)

The Luhya tribe of western Kenya practice a rather interesting pre-burial custom. When someone is murdered around their homestead, the family of the victim will buy a sheep and slaughter it the night before the burial. That night, the blood of the sheep is taken and poured around the exact site of the murder, e.g., the blood will be poured all around the living room if that’s where the murder occurred.

Thereafter, the deceased’s close family and those who witnessed the murder or saw the body before it was taken by the police will step on the blood. This atonement ritual is believed to enable the deceased to rest in peace, and also to ensure that none of the family or witnesses are haunted by the spirit of the deceased. The ritual is so important that police officers often call to be a part of it as they too do not want to be haunted.

Mourners, or humans in general, are forbidden from eating the meat of the sheep as it is believed that the spirit will haunt anyone who eats it and that someone close to them might even die after a few days. Thus, the sheep is usually buried somewhere after its blood has been shed.

The Luhya have several other peculiar burial customs, including the sacrificing of bulls and chickens (which can be eaten) to the ancestors and the shaving of heads.

Dinka and Nuer (South Sudan)

The Dinka people of South Sudan hold a ceremony wherein mourners cry, sing and dance around the body of the deceased. The crying ceremony is believed to aid the transitioning of the deceased’s spirit into the afterlife and bring comfort to the living.

Meanwhile, amongst the Nuer people in the same country, men are usually buried beside their huts, unless they die out in the wild, in which case they are buried there. If a Nuer man is buried by a stranger, that stranger will later demand a cow in payment. Nuer woman are buried under their husband’s house as they seen as the husband’s property even in death. Children are not allowed to attend funerals in Nuer culture. When someone dies, they tie their stomachs with ropes and abstain from eating for five days.