CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Originally, man was meant to live a blissful and everlasting life in a stable and peaceful world but unfortunately, the sin of Adam and Eve brought death to man. Death is now a threat to life everywhere. According to Ojukwu (2001) at first, human corpse was thrown into the bush and left unburied. With time, dead bodies started to be buried in the bush instead of leaving them unburied. Much later, dead bodies began to be buried in the homes of the deceased instead of being buried in the bush. At the time when corpses were thrown or buried in the bush, each village had a portion of land for its dead, something that is very similar to today’s burial ground or cemetery. Only the corpses of bad people were still thrown or buried in the bush designated for such purpose.Asonibare and Ologun (1998) adds that in many cultures and among many peoples of the world, occasions of birth, marriages and other accomplishments of life often call for joy and celebration. Whereas occasions of death are periods of grief. The living performs practices and rituals to honour and maintain a good relationship with the ancestral spirits. These practices are particularly evident in funeral and burial customs such as wake-keep and second burial. So, in order to cushion the crises triggered by death, funeral rites are instituted by many cultures of the world. Funeral rites are important aspect of Onicha culture because it enables the dead to depart to the place they rightly belong.Basically, death is the reason we have burial and funeral rites. And the whole idea hinges on African cosmology which centres on the unified view of reality. Since reality is unified, man therefore seeks for an acceptable way of pacifying or creating harmony among the three spheres of the universe the heavens, the earth and the underworld so as to maintain the fluidity among them and in order to live in peace and to avoid molestation by the dead. He believes that the spirits and the ancestors who are higher than him in rank must be appeased. It was probably in his bid to achieve this that he evolved several propitiatory rites and customs for the dead in order to appease the gods and the spirit of the dead.

It is for this reason that a corpse is accorded a special rite before it is buried. Man is the only creature known to bury his dead. This fact is of fundamental significance. The practice was not originally motivated by hygienic considerations but by ideas entertained by primitive people concerning human nature and destiny. This is clearly evident from the fact that the disposal of the dead from the earliest times was of a ritual kind. The primitive people not only buried their dead but they provided them food and other equipment thereby implying a belief that the dead still needed such things in the grave.

Death rites and customs stem from the instructive inability or refusal on the part of man to accept death as the definitive end of human life. They also reflect the belief that human beings survive death in some form and represent the practical measures taken to assist the dead achieve their destiny and sometimes to save the living from dreaded molestation by the dead. This explains why the people of Onicha embark on elaborate and expensive ceremonies to bury their dead. Burial and funeral ceremonies are occasions when the people of Onicha gather to honour their dead and to perform the traditional rites necessary to send the dead to the land of the ancestors. In Onicha, people believe that human beings are spiritually indestructible. They believe that after death, ordinary people become ghosts whereas prominent individuals become ancestral spirits who will be honoured and petitioned as invisible leaders of the community.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 In giving honour to the departed, the people of Onicha spends so much to bury their dead. Families have had to spend huge amounts of money in order to give their dead a befitting burial and sometimes they have to borrow to do this. All these have serious socio-economic and religious implications for the people. There is the problem of economic instability due to huge financial debts incurred during burials by the bereaved families. It is quite disheartening to note that some families go as far as disposing of their plots of land and other valuable property in order to give their dead a decent or befitting burial. This is done in their bid to meet with the excessive conditions and demands to cover the cost of expensive burials which the society generally has imposed on families. Quite disturbing too is the fact that some families now go a borrowing in order to survive after burial while some others live almost the rest of their lives paying debts incurred during burial ceremonies. Burial ceremonies are also occasions for enemies to create problems for the mourning family. Moments after the death of someone, all the associations to which he belonged come with a long list of debts owed by the deceased. Individuals also come complaining of debts whether real or imagined owed them by the deceased. Many a time, the budget presented to the bereaved family by the umunna who constitute the burial committee is usually exorbitant and quite beyond the financial capability of the bereaved family. This terrain has giving impulse for the researcher to examine if there is any justification for expensive burial, how come people who are meant to be sympathizers sees burial as a merriment occasion and why do kinsmen through their many nonnegotiable list compel deceased family into economic debt. Thus in the bid to answer this question that the researcher seeks to examine the socio-economic and religious implications of burial and funeral rites using Onicha Ebonyi State as case study.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study is to examine the socio-economic and religious implications of burial and funeral rites using Onicha Ebonyi State as case study. Specifically the study seeks:

1. To examine if there is any justification for expensive burial

2. To  investigate the reason for the seemingly shift of emphasis from mourning and sympathy to entertainment and merry-making at burial

3. To ascertain if the advent of Christianity religion impacted traditional pattern for burial.

4. To determine if Kinsmen nonnegotiable funeral rite list lures decease family into debt.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

1. Is there  any justification for expensive burial?

2. What is the reason for the seemingly shift of emphasis from mourning and sympathy to entertainment and merry-making at burial?

3.  Does the advent of Christianity religion impacted traditional pattern for burial?

4. Does Kinsmen nonnegotiable funeral rite list lures decease family into debt?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STYDY

This study will serve as a working document which seeks to draw the attention of the society towards the need for attitudinal change because of the devastating impact of expensive burials on families. The work exposes the impact of Christianity on traditional burial in Onicha as most of the traditional burial and funeral rites have almost been replaced by Christian tradition. Most traditionalists get converted to Christianity shortly before they die or at the point of death with the intention of breaking away completely from their tradition in order to be saved. But when they die, the elders who are the custodians of culture struggle with the clergy over who should bury them which is uncalled for. Findings from the study will enlighten the elders and custodian of traditions to desist from burdening families with funeral rites which compels them loaning money and afterwards enter into debt. Finally the study will empirically add to the body of knowledge and serve as reference material to both students and scholars who wishes to conduct further studies in related field.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study boarders on the socio-economic and religious implications of burial and funeral rites. The study is however delimited to using Onicha Ebonyi State as case study.

1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methods used for this research work were oral interviews and participant observation. In this work, primary and secondary sources of data collection were employed to collect data for this work. These primary sources include oral interviews and participant observation. A substantial number of elders and traditionalists who form the subjects for this study were interviewed on the subject matter. In the course of this work, the researcher attended some of the burial and funeral ceremonies in the area of study where he personally witnessed the rites as a participant observer. The secondary sources such as textbooks, magazines, journals, newspapers, published and unpublished materials were reviewed to capture various shades of opinion on the subject matter. The subjects in this study were mostly illiterates and the few among them who are educated were not knowledgeable enough to fill in questionnaires. The data collected were critically analyzed based on cultural area approach.

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This research project, like all human endeavors, had some challenges that threatened to derail the study's completion. One of the reasons is that the time allotted for this work was so limited that the researcher did not have enough time to complete the task thoroughly. During data collection, the researcher also had to put forth extra effort to understand the respondents' interview schedules, several of whom fell into the incomprehensible age group. Also, there were finance and transportation constraints to deal with. Insufficient funds tend to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire, interview).

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Socio-economic: This is a combination of social and economic factors. In this case, it means the social and economic effects involved in the practice of expensive burial and funeral rites.

Religious: This has to do with the spiritual. It is that which is directly rooted in or concerned with the mysterious in life i.e the mysteries which are the ultimate depth of personal life. It is non-physical, non-rational and dynamic. It is associated with the invisible and intangible in life. In this case, it means the possible effect or result which expensive burial and funeral rites have on the religious life of the people.

 Implication: This means a possible effect or result of an action or something suggested or indirectly involved in a statement. In this case, it means the effect or result involved in the practice of expensive burial and funeral rites.

Funeral (Ikwa ozu): This is a ceremony which marks a person’s death. It is carried out as a second burial or proper burial for the dead. It involves a complex of beliefs and practices, prayers and rituals used to remember the dead and usually undertaken in honour of the dead.

Burial (Ini ozu): This means physical burial, the act of committing a dead body or corpse into the mother earth.

Rites: Rite is a solemn or religious ceremony performed in an established or prescribed manner or the words or acts constituting or accompanying it. It is any formal practice or custom.

REFERENCE

Akinlalu, A. O. (2003, 9 November). The seven corporal acts of mercy: Burying the dead. The Guardian. p. A20.

Akpan, E. A. (1988). Death and rights to burial in canon law. Abuja: National Missionary Seminary.

Nmah, P. E. (2004). Basic and applied christian ethics: An Africanperspective. Onitsha: Gucks systems Int’l.

Ojukwu, .J. (2001). Ichida history: beliefs, development and genealogy. Ichida: A. O. Mbadugha.

Okaba, B. (1999). Change and continuities in funeral celebrations: Evidence from the Mein-Ijo of Western Niger Delta of Nigeria. In S. Okodudu (Ed.). Selected issues in third world development crisis evidence from Nigeria. (pp. 264-284). Port Harcourt: Paragraphics.

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