Memoirs of the Village -Where do the dead go?

Have you ever wondered where everyone ends up? where they go after death?

        

I thought about this sometimes as a child,and the night time stories i was told most often made me think even more. 

Back then ,electricity was a luxury,there was news that electricity was coming into the village at a point,there was so much excitement,there was even a commissioning ,with a lot of pomp,but that is a story for another.

Almost everyone made do with lanterns,and battery charged flashlights,our radio then was also battery powered.

One day,i think sometime in the late 80s,electricity finally came,i mean the electric poles,if you wanted power in your house you would have to buy a pole and sufficient wires for it to be connected. It was so exciting to power up the radio in the sockets, everyone listened with rapt attention to the news,the jingles from 'BCA Aba'' are some of the  tunes i remember with fondness.But i digress

There was this family  who lived opposite our compound,they had seven children,their eldest daughter gave birth to a son, somehow the child died, i still remember how everywhere was quiet and people kept going into the compound to commiserate with the family. It was a terrible tragedy.

I was always afraid to go into the compound because the child had been buried just outside the compound,in their garden,i couldn't keep myself from staring at the fresh mound of sand and tiny cross that formed the headstone.

 I do not remember the child's name. 

One day,some years later,after the daughter had gone off and gotten married in the east, news came of her death,the whole village was in shock. 

The elders gathered,even the village head,something was amiss.

 I overheard my grandparents discussing the tragedy, they said the daughter had not been fully married,that the man had not performed the marital rites as tradition demanded. the girls father wanted the marriage rites done,he was a weird one,he didn't attend church like everyone else,i heard he was ''Eckankar'',i didn't know what the word meant ,but the way it was said ,i understood it was bad to be Eckankar.

 They said the girls husband would have to bring the dead body back to her parents and perform the marriage rites or she would not be buried.

And if she was not buried fully she would never rest until she destroys the man and her family,and that she could never be buried outside of her hometown as  that was the tradition.

I vowed never to enter that compound again,i could imagine her ghost hovering around waiting for who to strike dead,it wasn't going to be me.

There were series and series of meetings held in their compound,visitors kept going there,i waited with bated breathe ,i wanted the matter resolved,if not for anything else but so i would be safe moving around my business,i had read so many books on ghosts and i knew the species were anything but friendly.

I remember when my Uncle Inyene read some chapters of  ''The 7th Book of Moses''. He had gotten the book from this same mans library,one of his sons had lent it to him. 

He told me he had an out of body experience,that he felt his body leave him and hang over the bed before coming back into his body,like he had been in a trance.

 Mama warned him to take the book back to the pit of hell were he had borrowed it from,i remember going into his room to search for the book to read,i'm sure he hid it from me,he was always a step ahead of me.

So the husband had come collected the marriage list*,the list contained required items for an Annang traditional marriage,the items ranged from cookware to clothes ,money ,drinks and food items,it was also stated that the burial would be funded by the husband.

Eventually,the day came,she was to be buried,the husband had come at an earlier date to collect the marriage list,he had gone ahead to buy all the items on the list to present to the family of the girl. 

Upon their arrival ,i heard that her corpse refused to enter her fathers compound,it was after all the marriage rites had been performed that the corpse  entered  the compound  for burial. 

I didn't believe this at first but i reconsidered later,because when my grandmother died i witnessed something similar. 

While we were walking to the parish church grandma's hearse came to a complete stop.

All the C.W.O women who usually walk beside the carriage were stunned,everyone intensified their prayers,the rosary recitation momentum also increased,all to no avail,mama's carriage didn't move,the tyres just refused to roll anymore on the tarred street.

The women started cajoling,calling out her name,Mma Paulina ,di ika iko Abasi''(let us go to church),still nothing happened. 

 The family members usually led the procession,just behind  the Altar boys,so we had been moving and singing,unaware that she had stopped,word was sent to my mother who is the eldest daughter,i heard ''Come and tell your mama to come to church'' but how does one communicate with a corpse?

My mother went to the back of the line ,started to cry again,rested on mama's coffin ,and begged her to follow us to church,and just like that ,the carriage began to move again.

 The return trip was different for mama,the carriage rolled along so fast,that the women practically jogged to keep up with the pace,my mother in tow. It was as if Mama had let everything go and was resting ,peacefully.

My grandparents were buried inside their bedrooms,suffice it to say that i never entered that section of the house till i left home.

Later on, few months after the burial, mama's best friend Eka Udeme said she saw mama in her dreams,and that she told her that her children  should put her other CWO wrappers in the coffin.

*C.W.O - Catholic Women Association