Home-coming: IDPS in ritual cleansing to appease spirits
Apr 22, 2009
The mood is unruffled. A dozen grey-haired Acholi men and women in Achoyo village, Koro sub-county, Gulu district, are seated under a mango tree that could hardly shield them from the mid-day sunshine. They are listening to an elder reading out the day’
By Frederick Womakuyu
The mood is unruffled. A dozen grey-haired Acholi men and women in Achoyo village, Koro sub-county, Gulu district, are seated under a mango tree that could hardly shield them from the mid-day sunshine. They are listening to an elder reading out the day’s programme.
This is no ordinary meeting. For 21 years, this community has suffered under the brutality of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, who forced over 1.7 million people into internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps and killed about 100,000, leaving their remains scattered. With the relative peace in the area, many people are returning home, but they claim the spirits are haunting them for not honouring the dead.
This meeting, therefore, organised by Koro clan — one of the 52 clans of Acholi — is meant to give a decent burial to a departed son of the soil.
However, before we could go to the burial site, rituals had to be performed on Acholi chiefs and their subjects, to cleanse them of any evil spirits that may hurt them.
“If anyone goes for burial without being cleansed, he may become mad, die or suffer natural calamities like famine and floods,†says Rwot Opoka, the chief guest.
Surrounded by a bamboo forest, a grey-haired elder, assisted by a young man, wrestles a brown sheep to the ground. Another elder, Michael Opoka, the head of Koro cultural activities, pounces on the sheep with a sharp knife.
But before slaughtering it, he says: “You are a humble animal. You will be slaughtered to cleanse our land of any demons and disasters.â€
Opoka said they used a male sheep because the dead person was a man. They also go for a brown sheep because it has the courage to fight evil spirits.
He slits the sheep’s throat and blood flows to the ground as shouts of joy fill the air. Opoka holds the sheep firmly on the ground until he is sure all the blood has flowed out.
Following Opoka’s instructions, the chiefs form a single line.
“Step on the blood and you will be free of spirits and demons,†he tells them.
One by one, they step on the blood as they move to the burial site, followed by their subjects.
The mood at the site is emotional as two men prepare the grave. The dead man’s remains — a skull, two long bones and five small ones — lay aside.
In a short while, the grave, measuring 30cm by 30cm and one foot deep, is ready. Opoka then picks the remains and wraps them in a white sheet.
Kneeling beside the grave, Opoka and another man carefully place the remains in the grave and cover it with soil.
With their backs to the grave, the crowd throws soil into the grave. When asked why they turn their backs to the grave, Opoka says: “That shows the dead person did not die a natural death. It shows that he was killed.â€
The crowd is then requested to move a few metres from the grave and a short stick with a thick buck, measuring one metre, is erected on top of the grave. Then, one by one, men and women are called upon to rub their hands on the stick.
About the stick, Opoka says: “It contains herbs which cleanse evil spirits.â€
Before the crowd disperses, a man holding a cock hit its head three times on the stick. Two men then tussle a he-goat to the ground next to the grave. A man who participated in the burial presses the goat’s stomach hard with his knees. Two other men do the same.
“The intention is to cleanse the men of any demons that may cripple them in the future. When the men are burying the remains, they kneel down and spirits can enter their knees,†Opoka says.
Opoka then slaughters the goat and sprinkles its blood on the grave. The crowd bursts into a war song, a sign that the man died during the war. Opoka then instructs the young men to cook the meat of the cock and goat at the site and eat it. He also tells them to destroy the pot after use and that no piece of meat should leave the site.
“If you go against my instructions, evil spirits will follow you to your homes. The goat skin should be laid on the grave to show respect for the dead man,†Opoka warns.
The ceremony ends when all the guests are treated to muchomo (roast meat) and local brew in the home of Robert Ojok, who has not had peace since he returned home from an IDP camp in Gulu.
Ojok fled his home in 2003 when the rebels raided his village and probably killed the man whose remains had just been buried. Since he came back, Ojok says, he has experienced nightmares, which today’s ceremony may help to stop.
The cleansing and burying ceremonies in Acholi region have attracted sh125m from The United States Agency for International Development. They are done and organised by Ker Kwaro Acholi (Acholi Cultural Institutions).
Sophie Agwoko, the programme officer, says they have conducted 316 cleansing ceremonies and 13 burials since December last year. She says the ceremonies will also cover Kitgum, Gulu, Pader and Lango districts.
“In places where the ceremonies have been carried out, evil spirits are no longer attacking the people,†Agwoko says. In Lominadra village, Koro sub-county, the villagers reported that Betty Akello was attacked by evil spirits and she became mad.
We took her to the hospital, but she did not improve. However, after burying the remains near her home, she recovered,†says Peter Olobo, the LC1 chairman.
According to Opoka, the Acholi also perform cleansing ceremonies on people who fight near water bodies and those who have sex in the bush. The same happens to people who disappear from home, but later return.
The mood is unruffled. A dozen grey-haired Acholi men and women in Achoyo village, Koro sub-county, Gulu district, are seated under a mango tree that could hardly shield them from the mid-day sunshine. They are listening to an elder reading out the day’s programme.
This is no ordinary meeting. For 21 years, this community has suffered under the brutality of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, who forced over 1.7 million people into internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps and killed about 100,000, leaving their remains scattered. With the relative peace in the area, many people are returning home, but they claim the spirits are haunting them for not honouring the dead.
This meeting, therefore, organised by Koro clan — one of the 52 clans of Acholi — is meant to give a decent burial to a departed son of the soil.
However, before we could go to the burial site, rituals had to be performed on Acholi chiefs and their subjects, to cleanse them of any evil spirits that may hurt them.
“If anyone goes for burial without being cleansed, he may become mad, die or suffer natural calamities like famine and floods,†says Rwot Opoka, the chief guest.
Surrounded by a bamboo forest, a grey-haired elder, assisted by a young man, wrestles a brown sheep to the ground. Another elder, Michael Opoka, the head of Koro cultural activities, pounces on the sheep with a sharp knife.
But before slaughtering it, he says: “You are a humble animal. You will be slaughtered to cleanse our land of any demons and disasters.â€
Opoka said they used a male sheep because the dead person was a man. They also go for a brown sheep because it has the courage to fight evil spirits.
He slits the sheep’s throat and blood flows to the ground as shouts of joy fill the air. Opoka holds the sheep firmly on the ground until he is sure all the blood has flowed out.
Following Opoka’s instructions, the chiefs form a single line.
“Step on the blood and you will be free of spirits and demons,†he tells them.
One by one, they step on the blood as they move to the burial site, followed by their subjects.
The mood at the site is emotional as two men prepare the grave. The dead man’s remains — a skull, two long bones and five small ones — lay aside.
In a short while, the grave, measuring 30cm by 30cm and one foot deep, is ready. Opoka then picks the remains and wraps them in a white sheet.
Kneeling beside the grave, Opoka and another man carefully place the remains in the grave and cover it with soil.
With their backs to the grave, the crowd throws soil into the grave. When asked why they turn their backs to the grave, Opoka says: “That shows the dead person did not die a natural death. It shows that he was killed.â€
The crowd is then requested to move a few metres from the grave and a short stick with a thick buck, measuring one metre, is erected on top of the grave. Then, one by one, men and women are called upon to rub their hands on the stick.
About the stick, Opoka says: “It contains herbs which cleanse evil spirits.â€
Before the crowd disperses, a man holding a cock hit its head three times on the stick. Two men then tussle a he-goat to the ground next to the grave. A man who participated in the burial presses the goat’s stomach hard with his knees. Two other men do the same.
“The intention is to cleanse the men of any demons that may cripple them in the future. When the men are burying the remains, they kneel down and spirits can enter their knees,†Opoka says.
Opoka then slaughters the goat and sprinkles its blood on the grave. The crowd bursts into a war song, a sign that the man died during the war. Opoka then instructs the young men to cook the meat of the cock and goat at the site and eat it. He also tells them to destroy the pot after use and that no piece of meat should leave the site.
“If you go against my instructions, evil spirits will follow you to your homes. The goat skin should be laid on the grave to show respect for the dead man,†Opoka warns.
The ceremony ends when all the guests are treated to muchomo (roast meat) and local brew in the home of Robert Ojok, who has not had peace since he returned home from an IDP camp in Gulu.
Ojok fled his home in 2003 when the rebels raided his village and probably killed the man whose remains had just been buried. Since he came back, Ojok says, he has experienced nightmares, which today’s ceremony may help to stop.
The cleansing and burying ceremonies in Acholi region have attracted sh125m from The United States Agency for International Development. They are done and organised by Ker Kwaro Acholi (Acholi Cultural Institutions).
Sophie Agwoko, the programme officer, says they have conducted 316 cleansing ceremonies and 13 burials since December last year. She says the ceremonies will also cover Kitgum, Gulu, Pader and Lango districts.
“In places where the ceremonies have been carried out, evil spirits are no longer attacking the people,†Agwoko says. In Lominadra village, Koro sub-county, the villagers reported that Betty Akello was attacked by evil spirits and she became mad.
We took her to the hospital, but she did not improve. However, after burying the remains near her home, she recovered,†says Peter Olobo, the LC1 chairman.
According to Opoka, the Acholi also perform cleansing ceremonies on people who fight near water bodies and those who have sex in the bush. The same happens to people who disappear from home, but later return.