Exhuming the dead after 15 years
The Standard
By Stephen Makabila and Roselyne Obala
November 9, 2009
An eerie silence hangs over an overgrown bush in one corner of a farm where four family members bend to look for the bones of a woman exhumed a few years ago.
Mzee John Epatala, 89, emerges holding what look like leg bones and says solemnly: "These are the bones of my mother. We exhumed them to end a curse of sickness in our family."
Epatala says his mother’s remains were among few exhumed in the recent past in Teso North District, a region where a few cases of an old tradition of disturbing the dead to appease the living are still reported.
"It’s a tradition we have carried out for years and I hope it will be carried on. Unfortunately, it is threatened by religion and I have fears for its future," says Epatala of Okuleu village in Teso North District.
Epatala shows a double-mouthed pot used for brewing beer in Teso exhumation rituals. Photos: Benjamin Sakwa/Standard
"When I was born, I found our elders practicing it and we have taught it to the new generation and told them not to erode our traditions at whatever cost," says Epatala.
Those affected
The ceremony of exhuming the dead, known in Teso language as Ekutet, Epatala explains, was performed when elders felt the spirit of a particular dead person was disturbing a family member through sickness or other misfortune.
"There is a strong belief that the sick person recovers fully once the remains of a deceased person, thought to be haunting the living, are exhumed," Epatala told The Standard in an interview.
Epatala says his own mother’s remains were exhumed when he was very sick as a teenager, and he claims he recovered fully after the ritual.
"One day I fell ill and at the same time other relatives were sick and elders decided to perform Ekutet so that we could be healed," he said.
Epatala says after the ritual was performed, he was cured of the disease alongside his other ailing relatives and that was when he developed trust Ekutet.
He said it misfortunes among the living were thought to be as a result of unrest by souls of the ancestors and elders had to ‘release their spirits by exhuming their bones’.
"Our elders would discuss and entrust the task of exhuming the remains to an elderly woman in the village," he related.
The ritual which is performed by elderly people who are past child bearing age, involves slaughtering of a bull and a ram for feasting alongside traditional beer called Ajon which is made from millet.
Fed on liver
"The meat is eaten and beer taken as those taking part in the ritual shout and admonish the spirit of the dead person to live the sick alone. The sick person is fed on liver of the slaughtered animal before the remains are exhumed and the bones hidden at the bottom of a tree at the edge of the homestead," explains Epatala.
"After exhuming of the remains, elderly women dance around the scene but those performing the ritual inside the grave avoid talking to keep any misfortune at bay," he said.
Those transferring the bones from the grave to the tree do not talk. It is feared that should one talk they could go mad.
However, not any dead person can have their remains exhumed. 15 years must have lapsed since one died.
Decomposed
Epatala said after 15 years, they were sure the remains would have fully decomposed.
Epatala, centre, and his relatives search for his mother’s remains exhumed a few years ago.
"In every village, there were very tall trees which were sacred and used as the new resting place for the exhumed skeleton," explained another village elder Peter Akapi.
"No one dared to tamper with the skeletons or go near the place, it remained respected and only visited in times of calamities for more rituals," Akapi said.
Epatala and some of his family members showed the tree under which his mother’s skeleton was discarded. They displayed some of the bones, which still lie in thick bushes at the base of the traditionally sacred tree. They then returned them and covered them with leaves.
According to Epatala, Teso elders sought the advise of witchdoctors during misfortunes who advised them to start exhuming the remains of those buried over seven years ago.
"Our forefathers took the advice and followed the instructions to exhume the dead," he said.
Leonard Ochana of the same village says the ritual was popular in the past but very few clans practice it now.
"Christianity has condemned it and many people have stopped. Young people do even know it used to happen," said Ochana.
A teacher, David Imutuan of Malaba Township Primary School, said the culture was fast being over-taken by modernity.
