INTRODUCTION

While in other cultures death is seen as the end of a being’s existence or as annihilation, in traditional African culture the perception of death is very different. For sub-Saharan culture, life and death are two sides of the same coin, inseparable; African culture does not see death as the end of existence, but rather as a passage to a new dimension of life. What follows is an examination of the concept of death in traditional African culture.

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEATH IN AFRICA

Different cultures, peoples and worldviews have different conceptions of death. For traditional Africans, one of the major conceptions of death is that the dead are not really dead. Although invisible, they remain present among the living. When we talk about death on the African continent, we are talking more about transformation than annihilation, separation rather than annihilation. As Louis-Vincent Thomas said, death destroys everything, but it is even truer to say that it never destroys everything.

Another widespread conception of death in traditional African culture is that it is a passage. According to this view, death is a passage to life, and life is a passage to death. Those who are born on earth die in the world of their ancestors, and those who die on earth return to the world of their ancestors. The appropriate term for death in Africa is travel or excursion. In this displacement lies the idea of a return, not to earth, but to our origins, from whence we all came. Death is not the ultimate reality, but rather life itself. At death, the individual merges into the collective immortality of the undead, thus proclaiming the high solidarity of life.

CAUSES OF DEATH IN AFRICAN CULTURE

Before addressing the question of the causes of death, it is important to note that in Africa there are two types of death: a good death and a bad death. A good death occurs when the deceased dies at an advanced age, satiated with days, and is of natural, unprovoked origin. A bad death, on the other hand, occurs in youth, and the death of a young person in Africa raises questions throughout the clan.

The African people explain death by four main causes. The first and most frequently cited cause is witchcraft or magic, which is considered to be more harmful because the victims can become wandering ghosts. The second cause is a curse, which can lead to sudden death with no recourse. The third cause is the undead; the souls of the deceased who are unhappy with the lives of those living on earth can cause various misfortunes. The fourth cause is God, recognised as the ultimate cause of death.

CONCLUSION

The question of death is a rich field in African cosmology. This belief, rich and deeply rooted in the ontology of being, provides an answer to the great existential debate on death. We can therefore say that for Africans, dying means continuing to live in another way.