Another Set Of Five Poles Is Tied Above, And
To These The Roof Is Affixed.
On the platform, is placed the
bedding belonging to the deceased, the undercloth, counterpane,
etc., and at the head are laid the pillows, bolster-shaped and
stuffed with cotton-tree fluff, or shredded palm-leaves, and covered
with some gaily-coloured cotton cloth.
In every case I have seen -
and they amount to hundreds, for you cannot take an hour's walk even
from Duke Town without coming upon a dozen or so of these erections-
-the pillows are placed so that the person lying on the bed would
look towards the village.
On the roof and on the bed, and underneath it on the ground, are
placed the household utensils that belonged to the deceased; the
calabashes, the basins, the spoons cut out of wood, and the boughten
iron ones, as we should say in Devon, and on the stakes are hung the
other little possessions; there is one I know of made for the ghost
of a poor girl who died, on to the stakes of which are hung the
dolls and the little pincushions, etc., given her by a kind
missionary.
Food is set out at these places and spirit poured over them from
time to time, and sometimes, though not often, pieces of new cloth
are laid on them. Most of the things are deliberately damaged
before they are put on the home for the spirit; I do not think this
is to prevent them from being stolen, because all are not damaged
sufficiently to make them useless. There was a beautifully made
spoon with a burnt-in pattern on one of these places when I left
Calabar to go South, and on my return, some six months after, it was
still there. On another there was a very handsome pair of market
calabashes, also much decorated, that were only just chipped and in
better repair than many in use in Calabar markets, and I make no
doubt the spoon and they are still lying rotting among the debris of
the pillows, etc. These places are only attended to during the time
the spirit is awaiting burial, as they are regarded merely as a
resting-place for it while it is awaiting this ceremony. The body
is not buried near them, I may remark.
In spite, however, of the care that is taken to bury spirits, a
considerable percentage from various causes - poverty of the
relations, the deceased being a stranger in the land, accidental
death in some unknown part of the forest or the surf - remain
unburied, and hang about to the common danger of the village they
may choose to haunt. Many devices are resorted to, to purify the
villages from these spirits. One which was in use in Creek Town,
Calabar, to within a few years ago, and which I am informed is still
customary in some interior villages, was very ingenious, and
believed to work well by those who employed it.
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