Crystal Chavez

LBST 2102
Tina Katsanos

Question one. The death ritual for Grandfather Bakhye represents an ideological

ritual because this ritual is specifically used to reinforce the moods and values of the

Dagara community as a whole through grief. There are three stages in the ideological

ritual of death. The first stage is separation where identity is lost. Grandfather Bakhye

goes through this when his son shaves off his white hair and removes his traditional

boubou which he wore his whole life and dressed him up the way they dressed everybody

that dies. During the transitional phase or liminal phase involves the dislocation of self.

It is also the in between stage and this happens after Grandfather Bakhye dies but uses a

magical hyenas tail to walk back to the village as part of the ritual to show that he is still

important and even more so than before because he is on his way to becoming an

ancestor. This part of the ritual (when the dead walk) is very important because they

community needs to see Grandfather Bakhyes body to remember and embrace him and

all the good that he brought to his people. Although he is dead, the hyenas tail gives him

the ability to complete the ritual so he can descend in peace. During this stage he is also

fed the last meal which represents the food that will strengthen him and keep his mind

awake for eternity. During the last stage of incorporation- where the new identity is

shown to the community, Grandpa Bakhye is enthroned under a tent where the whole

community can give praise to him and show their grief. He was wearing a crown and a

gala costume of immaculate white. In my experiences with funerals, the dead people are

placed in a casket and some people keep the casket closed so that people dont remember

them for how they looked in the casket. Grief is the only thing I experienced at funerals
but for the Dagara people it also involves festivities to celebrate the life of the deceased.

Question 2. The traditional education that Malidoma experiences comes from his

grandfather because it is understood that grandfathers and grandsons both share a close

proximity to the cosmos. Grandfather Bakhye teaches Malidoma about his destiny and

how he will incorporate his experiences into the education of his community. Malidoma

was taught through storytelling. For example, Grandfather Bakhye tells the story of

Malidomas name. It means befriend the enemy or stranger. He explains that Malidoma

is what the ancestors call him because he will be sent far from his land and he will have

to befriend the white men which are considered enemies in order to bring peace to the

West. In contrast, At the seminary, he is taught French culture and the worldview of this

language which is modern education. This includes grammatical rules, different letters of

the alphabet and math equations. In the seminary they were punished for thinking or

acting in their traditional ways. If they did so they would wear a skull of a sheep, goat, or

cow to symbolize sin. The seminary was full of individualism compared to community

like in traditional teachings. They were taught that the ways of the ancestors were sinful

and that they were responsible for the reversal of those sins. I was traditionally taught to

incorporate God in everything I do but in school they rear you away from your beliefs by

taking religion out of school values. I believe that our schools teach us how to brand

ourselves, creating individualism and isolation like in the seminary.

Question 3. Malidoma must undergo initiation when he returns to his village

because after 15 years of being locked away from his traditional beliefs, hes unable to

pick up his native language right away. He lost his culture and the world view that his

people have. He struggles to integrate with the village and family dynamics because of
his temper and irritability from holding in so much anger from the seminary. The elders

are concerned because he was the only one that could read and write in the village. They

connected this with deceit and violence that fostered the white men to destroy their

village. It was a decease that could infect other people in the village. They wanted to

tame his wildness by initiation. This initiation is a salvation ritual because Malidomas

identity must be changed from spiritually corrupt or sinful and he must be saved. The

stage of separation from the community happens when Malidoma and the other initiates

walk into a bush where the council of initiation were waiting. The community was crying

because there was no guaranty that the initiates would return. The initiation committee

called it a Death pathway because in order to return they must die symbolically. They

were taken away into a campground and this is where the transitional stage occurs, it is

the period of confusion and education. The Tree gazing ritual was the turning point for

Malidoma who sat and watched the tree in confusion. It took him longer than the others

to fully focus on the tree under the intense heat. He was falling behind and wasnt getting

the spiritual experience that was intended and the initiation committee began to notice.

He became emotionally intense and began to focus on a deep level; and thats when he

saw a tall green lady with a green vail appearing over the tree. He had a deep feeling of

homecoming when he noticed her. He ran to her for embrace, the feeling was so intense

and immeasurable a time frame he could not measure numerically. He felt at home and

had no intension to end this bliss. Some communication occurred between Malidoma and

the lady and between that he found out she had to leave. She left and he came back out of

deep thought and realized he was vigorously hugging the tree. This left his body with

intensity that left him emotionally vulnerable for the rest of his experience. The trees he
saw automatically started triggering his psyche, giving him that feeling he had with the

lady. This changed his mindset, he set aside all the science he had learned in the seminary

and came in touch with spirituality. The light hole experience involved the four elders

which created blue fire in a circular way to create a light hole. When looking into it, there

was an immense world below. Like a portal to another world. The initiates had to run in

and jump into the light hole to enter a new world. When Malidoma jumped in, he felt

coldness, like jumping out of a plane with a parachute. He was told that he had to manage

to hold on to what he saw, it was a light wire following one behind the other with

different colors. Below him was a huge source of light, that would close and open as if

breathing, different colors coming. He couldnt see himself, he could feel and he was

only present. The gravity source pulling him down had stopped and he was pulled back

up and suddenly he felt a burning sensation on his back. He noticed every tiny thing

around him. He could hear/see, everything without turning around or getting closer. He

acquired senses that were increased and new senses added. He was noticing things that he

usually didnt notice. This is part of the liminal phase and seems to be the womb

symbolically because he was inside of the womb, alone and came out acquiring new

hearing, sight, and abilities as a baby would. The burial ceremony was a shift from one

state to another- leaving old self behind and embracing the new self; one that is aware of

the constant presence of the spirit world. Malidoma dug his own grave. He was able to

visit the underworld, which was greener more harmonic. He was told to go into a cave to

walk into whatever world showed up to him. When he got to the end, it was an exit into

another world. He came across a shiny stone which grew larger when he touched it. The

stone grew over him, as if he was a fetus in the stone. He felt the same homecoming
feeling as he did earlier with the tree lady. Symbolically he was in mother natures womb.

During the incorporation stage, the initiates and Malidoma were welcomed back into the

village with a huge crowd and celebration just as he deserved after enduring such a life

changing experience.

Question 4. Malidoma has been fulfilling everything his grandfather said was part

of his destiny. He became a man of two worlds which involved his traditional ways and

the white mans world. Grandfather Bakhye told Malidoma as a child that he was

designated to follow the white man life in order to serve his community with knowledge

to bring about peace and reconciliation. Given that Malidoma has had the opportunity to

leave his village to go to the United States to speak to all types of educated people about

the truths his people profess shows the truth behind his destiny brought to the light by his

ancestors and manifested through Grandfather Bakhye. While on his death bed, he

prepared Malidoma for what he was going to endure in his future like getting snatched

away from his family at a very young age, his return to the village, and his initiation

which would help him understand himself. Malidoma- befriend the enemy; he is able to

see situations through two different points of views, he enforces communication and

community which brings everyone together. During his presentations, he comes together

with psychologists, therapists, anthropologists, medical doctors, sociologist and lawyers

to listen to his realities that ancestors and grandparents have an irreplaceable function to

keep the communitys spiritual values in order to avoid self-destruction.