LIFE AFTER DEATH IN VODUISM

NOTE : I AM A FRENCH-SPEAKING STUDENT IN ECONOMICS. ENGLISH IS OUR SECOND LANGUAGE. I DO MY BEST TO TRANSLATE THIS TEXT FROM FRENCH TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.
(You can send corrections to vozkoffi@gmail.com)
WHAT BECOMES OF THE SOUL VODOUISTE DEATH?

 NB: I want to emphasize the Ewe relativity of this article. I have not pushed my research furher to generalize the concepts of death.

French

Introduction

"What are you going to be after death?", "Do you believe in life after death?", "Do you want to go to heaven?", "With what you write about voodoo, you will go to hell. " Here are some sentences that I used to hear from Christians and Muslims to tear each other apart "to save my dried soul."

However, it never came to their mind that my Ewe education had already predestined me to another life after death? Did they really wondered if these notions of heaven and hell were universal?

DESIGN OF DEATH IN EWE CULTURE.

In Ewe, when someone dies, there are many terms to describe this phenomenon:
- "Eku" => "he / she is dead."
- "Edzo" => "he / she is gone "
- "Eyi nugbe" => "he / she is gone to mission"
- "Edin" => "She/ he has become rare"
- "Ebio mon" => "he / she asked path" ...

We can deduce from these expressions, that death is always associated with a trip. What traveling? to where? to do what?

Well, it is the "klan" (a person's spirit in Ewe) of the individual who made the trip.It is what klan who lived in the flesh of the individual throughout his life. The klan trip to "Kuwode" ie "death home." This expression is literal and descriptive. The real name of "death home" for real Ewe is "avlime" as opposed to "agbegbome" to describe life. The klan is the land of death to meet those who are already dead. So a deceased individual will be with them to the grave.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A PERSON DIES?

    

In Eweland,it is death personified "kudezsu" or "tsanagasu" who ends the carnal existence of an individual to open the way of spiritual existence. So a person does not die because it is actually the klan who left a fleshly existence to a spiritual existence. That is why, in nyigblin voducracy when the King dies, the interregnum may be up to 25 or 30 years during which the king is supposed to continue governing. "The dead are not dead," said David Diop. According to oral tradition, the spirit of the dead person, after leaving the physical body begins to walk on a long and wide path until it reachs a river. It is the crossing of the river that leads to the realm of the dead and decides the individual's final death . This means that during the trip, others died before him, may return the spirit in the body to resume life if the individual is deemed too young to die or if he has not yet finished his mission in agbegbome. If the mind can not take life in the physical body, it is condemned to wander in nature to accomplish his mission before having permission to cross the river. The Ewe ghosts are spirits who have not finished their mission on earth and could not cross the river. So, is dead in Eweland, the person whose spirit has left the body and managed to cross the river that leads to the Kingdom of the Dead.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE KINGDOM OF THE DEAD?

The judgment

The place of the individual in the realm of the dead depends on the circumstances of his death: If he died on a battlefield, in an accident as a result of injury, illness ... his spirit goes to "Apegan" (big house) or "zogbe" (Fields of Fire) which is actually "battlefield" because they are the ones who died in the war who go there. If he died naturally, his mind goes to "Apevi" (small house). After crossing the river, the spirit comes to the Kingdom of dead to be judged primarily by the existing legislation. It is judged by his similar who were watching from beyond the river throughout its existence. So the judgment an Ewe suffers after his death is made by human dead before him. If he is found guilty of serious transgressions, he will serve a sentence before joining his ancestors and to move freely in the realm of the dead. Tradition says that the punishment can be severe: If an individual sued in vain for the life of his brother and  dies before the said brother, the punishment is to let knees in hulls of palm nuts untill the beath of his brother; it is the brother who will decide of the appropriate punishment. Other punishments would be to kneel in the hot sand and serving long prison sentences.

Reincarnation

When the mind has passed judgment and eventually served his sentence, he enters the realm of the dead where he meets his ancestors. There he sits before deciding to return to life as another human appearance but his klan remains the same. The spirit is reincarnated from "Sé" or "Se me" which means "flowering" or "place of flowering" and it is in "Se me" that he receives his earthly mission. This mission is entrusted by God to the individual who may accept or request another mission: This is the "Biova" (which is required), better known under the name of destiny. So in Ewee philosophy, each individual wanted or asked for everything that happens in his life according to his Biova. It was after the Biova that the spirit conceives the human form in which it wants to be reincarnated and come back to life by the mystery of birth. The spirit does not have to be reincarnated in his own house, in the village or in the country. He reincarnates anywhere. But how do you know where the spirit is reincarnated?

The door to afterlife or Hô

At the birth of a child in Eweland, they always look for his "dzoto" which means "who designed it." To know what dzoto, parents should bring the child to "Hô yo pe" which literally means "place of the appellation of room." It is the gate of the kingdom of dead. This is the place where everyone can communicate with those who have died. It is necessary to know who designed a newborn to understand his behaviour in society. Often a quiet person is reincarnated as another quiet individual, noisy individual returnsnoisy, a worker returns a worker and a lazy is exactly the same and so on. To communicate with the spirit of a dead person, a voodoo priestess (that is, 98% of women) called "tofiala" which literally means "that shows the river." In the word tofiala there "to" that signifies river. So it is the tofiala who leads minds to the realm of the dead by providing them across the river. In a way, this is the dead "boatman". It is the tofiala who will seek death with whom we want to talk. It is from this "Hô yo pe" that all information concerning the death which resembled a myth initially were collected. This Hô is a special voduïd different from voodoo, the zoka or azé. This is a link between the material world and the invisible world.

A vodu priestess of Hô
Tsetulapic

Conclusion

In view of these information, there is no hell or heaven in Ewe culture. Life is continuous, linear, where death and birth are eternal beginnings. Everything an individual does in his life, he asked before birth. This is why the notion of fate is too crucial in Ewe culture. The absence of a paradise in the Ewe philosophy has had a remarkable impact on the moral rules of Ewe. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet the wife or the property of others ... all this is UNCONDITIONAL. Everyone is supposed to follow these rules, not for a heavenly reward or for paradise, but for the "welfare of society" they say "VODU" in Ewe. This is the close link between Ewe culture and voodoo. So it is unthinkable to separate Ewe culture from Voodoo because Ewe culture is programmed voodoo language since anyone who does not respect the principles of propriety will be tried either in "agbegbome" or in " avlime "by his peers under the watchful eye of MAWU (God). A person born in a voduic environment, which converts to another religion is  denying himself.

Tsetula TSAGLI