Isn’t it a superstitious practice to exhume the dead for reburial?
Apr 10, 2009
IT started slowly—or so it seems, when a group of South Africans came to Uganda in February and performed some rituals pertaining to their dead colleagues who died and were buried in Uganda.
IT started slowly—or so it seems, when a group of South Africans came to Uganda in February and performed some rituals pertaining to their dead colleagues who died and were buried in Uganda.
According to the story, the dead were part of a group of South African freedom fighters then.
I do not want to go into the history of the struggles in South Africa against racism and apartheid, I believe there are experts who can do a better job than me in that case! What I want to concentrate on here is the seeming new wave of needs for reburials, appeasing the dead, romanticism with the dead, etc.
A few days back, the USAID Country Office gave a handsome amount of money to northern Uganda to facilitate the exhumation of some bodies for reburying, and performing ‘purification’ rites to appease some ghosts that were travailing the area, or so it was reported. And now, the Rwandese are asking for exhumation of their dead in Uganda for a decent reburial in their home country.
I know how painful the loss of a loved one can be and the gap that loss causes in the lives of those left behind.
Death is the worst tragedy that can happen to a loved one.
I know that very well.
However, from the trend of things, according to press reports, don’t we have better priorities than engaging in superstition and witchcraft in the name of ‘appeasing the dead’ or decent burials?
This is a custom that has not been common in Uganda.
Worshipping of the dead is seen by many as a form of trying to communicate with dead people, a custom a country with a strong Christian background like Uganda should avoid.
This is a custom driven by fear of evil spirits, but again do we need to use this approach?
I beg to te be corrected!
Linda Geraldine Akullo
Coordinator,
Pan African Women’s Liberation Organisation
According to the story, the dead were part of a group of South African freedom fighters then.
I do not want to go into the history of the struggles in South Africa against racism and apartheid, I believe there are experts who can do a better job than me in that case! What I want to concentrate on here is the seeming new wave of needs for reburials, appeasing the dead, romanticism with the dead, etc.
A few days back, the USAID Country Office gave a handsome amount of money to northern Uganda to facilitate the exhumation of some bodies for reburying, and performing ‘purification’ rites to appease some ghosts that were travailing the area, or so it was reported. And now, the Rwandese are asking for exhumation of their dead in Uganda for a decent reburial in their home country.
I know how painful the loss of a loved one can be and the gap that loss causes in the lives of those left behind.
Death is the worst tragedy that can happen to a loved one.
I know that very well.
However, from the trend of things, according to press reports, don’t we have better priorities than engaging in superstition and witchcraft in the name of ‘appeasing the dead’ or decent burials?
This is a custom that has not been common in Uganda.
Worshipping of the dead is seen by many as a form of trying to communicate with dead people, a custom a country with a strong Christian background like Uganda should avoid.
This is a custom driven by fear of evil spirits, but again do we need to use this approach?
I beg to te be corrected!
Linda Geraldine Akullo
Coordinator,
Pan African Women’s Liberation Organisation