Of Water and the Spirit: Final Exam

Madison Smith
6 December 2016
LBST 2102
Professor Katsanos

1.) Grandfather Bakhyes type of death ritual was ideological. His

funeral was very much a rite of passage into the afterlife. The
ideological rituals seek social control over peoples moods and
behavior within a community but changing the communitys
motivation and values. This ritual is obviously seen throughout
Grandfather Bakhyes funeral in many different ways. There are
three phases of an ideological ritual: separation, transition, and
incorporation. The first phase, separation, is a loss of identity.
Grandfather Bakhye experienced this as he was moved from
where he initially died back to his home. He first died inside a
hospital and according to his religion and what he believes in,
dying anywhere other than you home is not good for your soul.
So when Grandfather died in the hospital, he lost a part of his
identity but by using magic and medicine, Grandfather was able
to walk himself home and die again in his own home, which
moves us into the transition stage. The transition stage is where
the persons former identity has to die in order to make way for
his/her new identity. This is where the community that
Grandfather Bakhye is apart of comes into play. There is often
lots of confusion and dislocation of the self involved in this stage.
The people of the Dagara community use this time to fast and
mourn and perform many different rituals to help Grandfathers
new afterlife identity come to full. This transition phase is also
considered to be the liminal stage and there are many symbols

incorporated into this phase. Some symbols from Grandfathers

death ritual include the xylophone, which was played throughout
his funeral and time of mourning and also lobie, which is hard to
explain. Basically it is a way to harm other people who might be
at the funeral and it typically only happens at funerals. People
who are evil and possessed by bad spirits will often want to harm
someone at a funeral and the lobie is a way to do that easily. The
last phase is the incorporation phase, the phase where the
initiate is brought back into the community. The spirit of
Grandfather Bakhye will continue to live on in this Dagara
community and that is how he is incorporated back into the
community.
During the liminal phase, a person is typically in-between the
separation and the incorporation phase. Grandfather is definitely
neither here nor there during this phase and you can see that
because he has already physically died yet his spirit is not
completely incorporated into the community yet, which is why
the liminal phase has to happen.
The funeral of Grandfather Bakhye is far different from any
funeral I have ever attended. None of the funerals that I have
attended have specific symbols like an xylophone or dancing and
singing like Grandfathers funeral. His funeral also lasted for days
while the funerals I have attended have lasted for a few hours at
most. Also the funerals I have attended do not believe in
different phases. The families and people believe that at the
moment of death you die. There is no transition phase and there
is no spirit left behind in the community.
2.) Malidoma receives a seminary education during his teenage
years. The beginning of the book talks a lot about his original
culture and community, the Dagara. Education there compared

to his seminary education is very different. The seminary

education is brought on from people of the Western world who
practice the Christian religion so all the education is based off of
that religion. According to the book, growing up Malidoma did not
receive a specific education in a school setting but he received
his education from his family, specifically his grandfather.
Malidoma would spend days sitting with his grandfather and
learning the ways of his tribe and community. In seminary, he
has a strict schedule and the days are revolved around going to
different classes, going to mass, and learning prayers and
scriptures. This is very different from the way he grew up in
Dagara.
Not only is his education in seminary different from his education
in Dagara, but also we can see many differences between those
educations and the education we received in America today. The
differences in the way Malidoma grew up and his education then
is very different from most childrens education in America.
Malidoma again grew up learning from his family and the
environment around him while children today go to school and
learn from teachers and textbooks. Also Malidomas tmie spent in
seminary is very different from what a majority of teenagers
learn today. Teens today go to middle school and high school and
then to college and they learn different subjects like English,
Math, Science, History, etc. In seminary, Malidoma mostly
learned scriptures and the entire day was revolved around school
and learning where kids now only spend half of their day in
school. They spend the other time freely among family, friends,
sports, social life, etc.
3.) When Malidoma returns back to his home village, he must go
through an initiation ritual in order to be apart of this community
again. The Dagara community believes that every young child

must be initiated into adulthood or the child will remain an

adolescent for the rest of their life. The elders of his community
all agree that he has to undergo the initiation ritual before he can
be seen as a true villager and man and if he doesnt they are
concerned that he will remain a child forever and that it will bring
bad things to their village. The elders and community are also
concerned because they believe that seminary divided his body
from his soul so the initiation process will bring them back
together.
The initiation that he goes through is definitely ideological but I
also think it could be revitalization because not only will it help
Malidoma but it will help the community as a whole. Malidoma
goes through the three stages of the ideological ritual,
separation, transition, and incorporation. The separation stage is
seen when Malidoma is kidnapped all those years ago and take
to the mission hill to learn the ways of the white man. Separation
continues when he is taken off to seminary. He forgets his native
language and is forced to change his native habits and
appearance. He also looses his old name, Malidoma, and is called
Patrice. This stage reminds me of the movie we watched in class
in the Australian Aboriginals and how they were taken from their
native community and put into schools to learn the way of the
white man. The transition stage is during his journey home and
his journey to find himself again. Again this stage is also called
the liminal stage and this is when he went through the initiation
process. Here we see as Malidoma does through harsh and brutal
initiations just to be welcomed back into his community. We see
how the womb equals the tomb through his initiation process,
specifically when he feels as if he is dying. During the early days
of his initiation process, Malidoma almost dies and this
symbolizes the womb equaling the tomb. He is put through this

process of almost dying in order to be rebirthed and become a

new man so we can see how the tomb, dying, can equal the
womb, rebirth. We also see during this time when Malidoma is
faced with death, many drums. Drums are a liminal symbol of
transition and we also see drums in other indigenous
communities, like Aboriginal Australians and Asian indigenous
people.
4.) In Malidomas culture, destiny is a big aspect of it. In the
beginning of the book, Malidomas grandfather often discusses
with Malidoma his destiny, which is to become a shaman. We
learn that in the Dagara community, grandfathers and grandsons
are really close because grandsons are often rebirthed as an
ancestor. Malidoma and his grandfather are no exception of this
fact. Naming and the names that children are given are also
symbolic and meaningful in this culture. Malidoma is given a
name, which means be friends with the stranger/enemy and
that is exactly what he does when he is kidnapped into the
Western peoples lifestyle and way of learning. His grandfather
early on tells him that it is his destiny to befriend the Western
people in order for the Dagara community to know more about
them and the way they live. These two examples of Malidomas
destiny have me to believe that yes, he has met his destiny and
accomplished what he was supposed to accomplish.
Malidomas ancestors are also an important part of his destiny.
Malidoma, according to his Grandfather Bakhye, was the
reincarnate of his brother Birifor. This is a major example of the
importance of ancestors and reincarnation in this indigenous
village. When Malidoma was in the womb of his mother, his
grandfather knew that he would be the reincarnate of his brother
Birifor. This all connects and shows why Malidoma is so close with
his grandfather, why he is kidnapped and forced to go to

seminary, and why he made a journey back home to his village

and had to undergo initiation.