Matthew Wilcox

Professor Tina Katsanos

LBST 2102

4 May 2017

Of Water and Spirit: Essay Questions

1. Malidoma Patrice Somes grandfather, Bakhye, was his mentor and the Dagara tribes
shaman prior to his death. Bakhye passed away when Malidoma was around the age of
four. Bakhyes funeral is very symbolic in nature and can be categorized as an ideological
ritual. The funeral ritual is ideological due to the fact that it is broken apart into three
main phases, the separation phase, transition phase, and re-incorporation phase. The
separation phase, began with a journey from mission hill, a local hill outside the village
where white missionaries preached, back to the village. This journey was specific to
Bakhyes death because when he died he was on this hill. In the Dagara culture, if a
member dies outside of the village, the body must make its journey back home before the
funeral process can begin. To help Bakhyes body walk from mission hill to the village he
was given the tail of a hyena. Once Bakhye had returned home, his body was shaved and
cleansed. This was done to symbolizes the separation from life and preparation to cross
into the spiritual realm. After his body was cleaned the next phase of the ritual begins,
this being the transition. In reparation for the transition, a feast is held for the whole
village. This feast is held to ensure that the spirit of Bakhye is not hungry while it
transitions to the other side. During this phase, Bakhye is considered neither here nor
there because after the separation phase he is not considered alive and until he is buried
his spirit has not fully enter the realm of their ancestors. Finally, after the feast comes the
burial service. During Bakhyes burial, the upside-down arrow that was used as a
powerful, spiritually fueled tool by him throughout his shamanic practice, was shot into
the air. This was also specific to Bakhye for he was a very important person to the tribe
and was never performed again in Malidomas life. When launched, the arrow traveled
from horizon to horizon as fast as a shooting star before circling the funeral service and
striking the ground. After disappearing into the ground, the arrow soon shot ack out of the
 ground and returned to Bakhyes hut. The arrow was launched to gratify Bakhyes life,
and its return is thought to symbolize that Bakhye has not vanished and his spirit will
continue to live. In total, the funeral process last three days, throughout which the village
chores are put on hold while members of the tribe grieve. In addition to the other symbols
and rituals, the grief of tribe members is meant to provide an ocean that will allow
Bakhyes spirit to swim from this world to the next. This funeral process is much
different than any I have ever heard of within my culture. I have only attended two
funerals in my life and neither were as symbolic or detailed as Bakhyes. during the
funerals I attended, audience members were expected to be quite and respectful during
the ceremony and individually pay their dues to the deceased. This is the opposite of
funerals within the Dagara culture where grief is meant to be expressed in an outgoing
manner and the tribe as a whole pays tribute to the dead through days of dances, feasts,
and ceremonies. In addition to the manner in which people tribute the dead, the length in
which funerals last is much shorter in my experience than in the Dagara culture. Dagara
funeral tend to last a full three days in which the whole community stops what they are
doing and focuses only on respecting the dead. In the united states, funerals generally will
get you out of work or school but society as a whole definitely does not stop and they
only last the majority of a day.
2. Malidoma Patrice Some was born in Burkina Faso, Africa, to a member of the Dagara
tribe. In the Dagara culture, a boys grandfather is their mentor and brother figure. The
bond between a boy and his grandfather is the strongest of all relationships. Malidomas
grandfather, referred to as Grandfather Bakhye, was the shaman of their tribe. From an
early age, Bakhye began to teach Malidoma his magical ways. Bakhye passed away
while Malidoma was still very young. Around the age of five, following his grandfathers
death, Malidoma was kidnaped by French Jesuit who took his to a seminary school at
which he stayed for fifteen years. In his early twenties, Malidoma escaped this school
after an altercation with one of his teachers that resulted in Malidoma pushing his
superior through a window. Ashamed of the unforgivable sin he had committed,
Malidoma ran away to return home to his native village. Though the education Malidoma
received at the seminary school was almost entirely different than the education he
received as a child while in his village, there were some minor similarities. I noticed that
some of the circumstances surrounding both forms of education Malidoma received were
alike from a certain aspect. This aspect being the forced nature of education. Towards the
beginning of the book, Malidoma tells a story of a time when his grandfather blew the
smoke of a magical herb into his face. Following the inhalation of this smoke, Malidoma
experienced a powerful breakthrough from reality that he describes to have aided in the
connection of his spirit to that of his grandfather. From a western standpoint, it sounds as
if Grandfather Bakhye had drugged young Malidoma with some sort of hallucinogen.
This ingestion of a drug was not voluntary on Malidomas part, though he did not ever
seem to mind that he was drugged in such a way. In fact, this experience was considered
to be positive and is even suggested to have set the foundation of a mentality that allowed
Malidoma to overcome many of the obstacles he faced throughout his life. I found the
forced nature of this experience to be repeated throughout the description of Malidomas
future education at the seminary school. Though the French Jesuits never drugged him
with unknown hallucinogenic substances, but they did force their methods of teaching
upon Malidoma without consent. The Jesuits used various forms of punishments to
enforce the strict curriculum they offered. Of the punishments, some of the more brutal
ones include whippings, beatings, and the wearing of a goat skull. The Jesuits beliefs and
customs were forcibly indoctrinated into the stolen childrens minds by responding to
disobedience with brutal punishment. The forced nature of teaching seems to be the only
minor link between the traditional Dagara education and the seminary school. The
differences between educations far outnumber the similarities. Of these many differences,
there are a couple that stand out. One of these being the use of dramatic punishment to
motivate students to study and learn the material offered to them. This is of course
unheard of within the traditional education process for as a member of the Dagara tribe,
the motivation to learn the magic surrounding their culture come intrinsically. Another
key difference in the education received was the structured nature of teaching. While at
seminary school, each student more or less received the same education. This is very
similar to the style of teaching we receive here in America, while there is a certain degree
of specialization from person to person, everyone learns the same basic information. This
differs greatly from the traditional education process of the Dagara. In the Dagara
community, education is extremely specific to each member in that one will only learn
 what is related to them and their life purpose. For example, if you are born into a line of
shamans, you will be taught everything about communicating with ancestors and using
spiritual energy to heal. There is almost no definitive structure and the education receives
greatly varies from person to person. The education provided through the seminary
school seems very similar to that of the United States, especially the united states one-
hundred years ago. The material taught is structured and formal punishments are enforced
to combat disobedience. While this method of teaching is effective, implementing certain
aspects of the Dagara way would be beneficial. For example, allowing more freedom and
variance in education from person to person would encourage creativity, imagination, and
the individuals pursuit of their own dreams.
3. When Malidoma Patrice Some finally returned to his village after spending fifteen years
in the Jesuit seminary school, the tribe was hesitant to allow his back in. Within the
culture of the Dagara people, the ability to read and write was typically thought of as an
evil trait. This is largely due to the history the Dagara, and most other indigenous
peoples, have with colonialist settlers. The mistreatment of the indigenous who lived in
the lands early settlers discovered, caused many tribes to view these people and
everything they brought with them as evil, including literacy. Since Malidoma has
acquired this colonialist skill, many members of his tribe felt as though he should not be
allowed to be recognized as an official member. However, the elders eventually came to
the conclusion that if Malidoma was able to complete the initiation ritual, he would be
welcomed back. The Dagara initiation ritual is a six-week long ideological ritual that
involves elders of the tribe guiding the young initiates into the African bush. The Dagara
initiation is an example of an ideological ritual because it displays the three stages,
separation, transition, and re-incorporation, as well as seeks to changes the mentality of
initiates for the betterment of the community. The first stage, separation, is characterized
by the long trek from Malidomas native village into the deep bush of Africa, guided by
community elders. The separation is meant to remove the distractions of the village while
also allowing initiates to better communicate and connect with their ancestral spirits. The
next phases of the ritual is the transition phase, which is meant to symbolize the death of
ones old self and the rebirth into an initiated member of the tribe. This is the longest of
the phases and makes up almost the entirety of initiation. There are many different ritual
 tasks Malidoma must complete during this phase. The first ritual Malidoma undertakes is
to stare at a tree, naked, until he sees something that the elders want him to. At first
Malidoma has a great deal of difficulty completing this task for he has no idea what he is
supposed to be seeing. Malidoma spend more than a day staring at the tree until finally, a
green lady appears and speaks to him. He notifies the supervising elders of what he has
seen and is able to move on to the next ritual. I believe this task was to begin the
transformation process from the old to new, and that Malidoma had so much difficulty
completing it because of the white mans influence on him. Throughout the next six
weeks, Malidoma went through many rites of passage, all with the intent to breakdown
what he once was to prepare for his re-birth into the community. One of the many rituals
he underwent was a journey into the underworld through a cave on the side of a
mountain. Once Malidoma reached the underworld he found a smooth rock which
seemingly told him of his life purpose. Once he acquired this rock, he could return to
reality with a better understanding of who he was and what he was destined to become.
Another ritual Malidoma completed during the transition phase was being buried alive for
eight hours. This was by far the most symbolic and dangerous of all the rituals explained
throughout the initiation process and also best depicts the idea of the womb =the tomb.
Prior to this task, Malidoma was able to choose whether he would be buried horizontally
or vertically. This ritual is extremely dangerous however greatly embodies the idea that
the old version of self is meant to die in order for the re-birth to occur. Malidoma was
able to survive this dangerous feat, and shortly after completing the ritual the initiation
process came to a close. Finally, the transition phase had ended, and the old Malidoma
was dead. When he emerged from his tomb, which also symbolized a womb, he was not
the same person that had originally been buried. He was ready to return to the village as
an official member of the Dagara. Following the end of initiation, the elders guided the
new members of the tribe back to their village where a huge celebration was held. This
phase of initiation is the re-incorporation of the new members into the tribe.
4. In the Dagara culture, names of newly born children are chosen to signify their purpose in
life. Following each childs birth, a ritual is performed in which the local shaman, in
Malidomas case being his grandfather, contacts the babys former spirit and learns the
childs destiny. A name is then chosen to remind the individual of their purpose and guide
them through life. Malidomas name means, be friends with the stranger/enemy. This
name, chosen for him at birth, predicts his future perfectly. From being kidnapped, to
returning and surviving initiation, and even traveling west to educate others of the Dagara
culture, it all can be related to the destiny described by his name. Though being
kidnapped by French Jesuit at the age of five may have seemed like a tragedy at first, it
allowed him the knowledge of literacy which later allowed him to spread his culture
throughout the world. The initiation process he was graciously allowed to do by unsure
elders provided him not only credibility of being a member of the tribe, but also the
knowledge and connection to Dagara culture. Through these hardships, Malidoma was
able to collect the skills and knowledge required to complete the task assigned to him as a
newborn. This task was to connect the western world to that of his community. Following
his initiation, Malidoma set out to America to continue his education and educate the
people of the west. All of this was predicted down to the details many years ago while he
was still a child. Even the plane that took him across the ocean was foreseen by
grandfather Bakhye in a vision he had right before he passed away. The Dagara culture
emphasizes individual destiny, assigned to each member by his or her ancestral spirits.
These ancestral spirits communicate with elders of their own past life and explain, to
some extent, the future life of the new born. It is during this ritual that the expressive
name is chosen. Whether it be coincidence, or the actual presence of ancestral spirits at
work, the destinies given to members seem to be fitting.