Abstract
Burial Customs of the Akaju, Southern Nigeria.—Burial customs of the Akaju tribe, Ogoja division, Southern Nigeria, are described by Mr. C. B. G. Watson hi Man for November. Guns are fired to announce the death, and for the next two days relatives spend their tune collecting food and palm wine. On the third day the corpse is dressed in a new loin-cloth, woollen cap, and shirt or singlet, and is hung in a hammock in the yard of the house. A fire is lit beneath it, the smoke serving in some degree as a preservative. The fire is tended by the wife, or in the case of a woman by women of the same age grade or by her fellow-wives. A man is kept thus for from fifteen days to thirty days according to his wealth, a woman for ten days. On one day a man of the same age grade wearing a special cap dances round the corpse. In the grave, which is oblong with a special recess for the head, the body is placed in a sleeping posture on its side, looking westward if a man, eastward if a woman. Money may be placed in the grave, a hoe is placed on a man's head, a machete may be placed on his chest, and a gun with the trigger removed by his side. No pottery or eating utensils are buried in the grave or broken at its side. After interment, no further ceremonies take place.
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Research Items. Nature 126, 822–824 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/126822a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/126822a0