Bringing the Spirit Home in Xhosa Burial Rituals

Xhosa House (credit: unclespike)

For most people, the culture, traditions, and even the existence of the Xhosa people would have remained unknown were it not for the death of anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela. Although the world will mourn his loss for years to come, with the event of his passing, he gave us one last gift by opening up our eyes to the unique funerary traditions upheld by his people.

The Xhosa people are a South African Bantu ethnic group that is about 7 million people strong. Their funeral rites celebrate the individual’s connection with their family and their ancestral home. In the Xhosa tradition, loved ones are brought back to the place of their birth to be buried. To ensure that the spirit does not wander around in the afterlife, a family elder will talk to the body before the funeral as part of a tradition called ‘Thetha’. This is done because at the time of a recent death, the spirit is still considered to be held within the body, and therefore it must be talked through the process of entering the afterlife. At the same time, family members will speak with past ancestors to help the new spirit complete its journey to the afterlife.

In the Xhosa tradition, loved ones are brought back to the place of their birth to be buried.

(credit: Wikipedia)

Early on during the day of the funeral, it is also traditional to slaughter an animal by way of a ritual throat-slitting as a means of honoring the ancestors and feeding the mourners for the rest of the day. For important Xhosa, this means slaughtering a cow or an ox, but for regular individuals a goat is often used instead. While this practice may seem a bit garish to outsiders, it is actually part of a ritual called ‘umkhapho’. It is performed to help the spirit of the person who has passed move easily into the afterlife, so that they can be called back at a later time as an ancestor. Traditionally, the meat of the animal is not spiced, and it must be completely finished before any other food can be eaten on this day. This practice will also happen again in a year to mark the end of the mourning period in a tradition called ‘Ukuzila’.

Family members will also speak with past ancestors to help the new spirit complete its journey to the afterlife.

After the mourning period is over, a ritual called ‘Ukubuyisa’ may also be invoked if the person who has passed away is an important member of the family, such as the head of the household. During this ritual, the spirit of the deceased can be brought back into the family as a guiding ancestor. Ancestral spirits have a special relationship with the living, as they bring both fortune and protection to their families at large. In this way, the spirits of those who have passed will stay with their families from birth to death, and beyond.

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