During the past 50-70 years three Bakweri men are said to have committed suicide. The remains of the first person are said to have been found with a rope round its neck hanging from a rafter inside a dilapidating church. The remains of the second man are said to have been discovered with a twine round its neck hanging from a branch of a tree in a bush close to residential houses. The third man was said to have consumed rat poison. Occurrences of suicide are rare with Bakweri people
e-Mokpwe treats the remains of deceased members of their families who die from natural courses with great respect and display of deep affection. A corpse is impressively dressed as much as is available and affordable and laid in state. Then the funeral house and the compound are decorated distinctly. Mokpwe culture and tradition views a person who commits suicide as a murderer. The remains of such a person are therefore not honoured with routine cultural and traditional rites.
The remains of a person who commits suicide are buried as soon as possible after they are found. The community and members of the family concerned are not interested to discuss the death. The atmosphere in the funeral compound is solemn and businesslike but void of wailing, drumming, and singing because it is believed that persons who wail and shout and display exaggerated emotions of sympathy and excitement when some one intentionally kills himself will eventually experience nightmares and hallucinations and may furthermore be afflicted by the forces that caused the deceased person to commit suicide. No one therefore raises an alarm when he sees/finds a hanging corpse. He would merely beckon at people to come and see (“wafe ja oo-ngo te; i-nyofe eje te yo-ngo anu”)
e-Mokpwe also believes that committing suicide does not solve problems; that a suicide instead introduces new problems. Worst of all suicide incidents leave behind indelible stigmas of shame, disgrace and embarrassment on members of the family concerned. It is believed that a suicide in a family may furthermore cause liwumbe to spread to surviving members of the family and succeeding generations. Bakweri people are therefore reluctant to marry from families of murderers and alleged practitioners of witch craft that destroys human life.
Lexicon:
a gbwi mooli; aa faane = he has hung himself; he has committed suicide.
Liwumbe = stress and serious confusion of the mind followed by swelling of the stomach and Parkinson disease said to be experienced by persons who commit murder.
wafe ja oo-ngo te = come and see (referring to one person).
i-nyofe eje te yo-ongo anu = come and see (referring to more than one person)
Oma Nanu
Imba Thomas Mbua Ndoko
Dallas Texas, USA
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