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146 4 Burial Markers and Other Remembrances of the Dead That night slaves from all about came to the cabin and sat around while they sang and prayed. People kept coming and going all night long . . . now that Sister Dicey was freed from all the trials and tribulations of slavery and was safe in Heaven. . . . And so the sitting up went on all night. . . . The womenfolk put flowers and ribbon grass on top and put colored bottles, broken glass, and sea shells all around the grave of Sister Dicey. In that way they showed their love for her. . . . No man could own their souls or keep them from loving one another. These gifts came only from God. William J. Faulkner, The Days When the Animals Talked During the era of the slave trade, Kongolese notions of the soul maintained that the body existed as a container for a composite set of inhabiting souls that, though independent, existed simultaneously in each person, animating the body and investing it with breath and life. The moyo pertained to the perishable aspect of the soul. When one died, the moyo slowly dissipated and eventually quit the corpse. Along with the heart and the liver, the Kongolese perceived of blood (which is transported and cleansed by these organs) as the source of life, the spark that motored the body. The relationship between blood and moyo was crucial to the extent that any loss of blood weakened and damaged themoyo. As a result, mourners did not formally consider the deceased dead until all of the humors of the body dried up, a process that could last for months. A second manifestation of the soul, thensala, was commonly thought of as the seat of reason and was responsible for thoughts and ideas. After one died, thensala moved to the otherworld, where it remained vital until such time as the living relatives and friends of the deceased no longer remembered his or her name. Once the name of the deceased was forgotten, the nsala was transformed into a more distant spirit, leaving only the deceased’s mwela, which represented the breath of life and was the power element of the soul. When one died, the mwela did not die but moved to either the realm of good ancestors(mpemba) or the realm of evil ancestors(bankuyu). Rituals concerning death and burial acknowledged the composite nature Burial Markers and Other Remembrances of the Dead 147 of the body and ensured the easy transition of the soul from this world to the next. Caretakers of the deceased prepared and cleansed the body for the journey into the otherworld. They carried the corpse to the marketplace or another public site and subsequently elevated it on a large block. Mourners gathered to view the body, honor the deceased with song and dance, and inquire as to the possible cause of death. This mourning period lasted for several days and nights. After this initial mourning period, the body was shaved and painted red with a dye made oftakula wood, a substance used often in Kongolese ritual. The color red signified the nether space between this world and the otherworld, and its application to the body of the deceased suggested the impending movement of the soul from this world to the next. In addition, mourners anointed the body with a balm of varied herbs and ritual medicines. In the case of kings and some noblemen, the body was smoked for several days. Abbé Proyart, a missionary in Kongo in the eighteenth century, noted the dessication of a recently deceased person: “They set a fire which makes a thick smoke. Once the cadaver has been sufficiently smoked, they expose it for several days in open air, leaving someone next [to the corpse] who has no other duty but to chase away any flies that might approach.” The process of smoking the body hastened the movement of the soul out of this world and into the otherworld by drying up all of the humors of the body, leaving themoyo to make its transition more quickly. In addition , the smoking of the corpse reflected a sense of perdurance, illustrating the analogy in Kongolese thought that wet is to transient as dry is to durable . In this sense, the drying of the corpse stabilized the legacy of power and authority that the deceased enjoyed when alive. After the interment, mourners continued to gather at the grave site to greet the deceased with song. Father Bernardo da Gallo decried...

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