Performance of Adult’s Death and Burial Among Ilaje People of Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

The meaning ascribed to death differs from one society to the other. This study adopts the descriptive method in unraveling the ritual of burial practices among the Ilaje people of Nigeria’s Niger delta. Based on linguistic similarities, Ilaje people are part of the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria’s Southwest area. Among the people, burial accorded to the dead is based on how the deceased died. The Ilaje groups death into five distinctive categories - death due to old-age, death caused by witchcraft or evil spirit, death through drowning by accident, death through curse, and death due to suicide. For the people, adult’s death has two layers of meaning: sorrow and merriment. We conclude that physical death is viewed as part of the continuum of life’s circle; it is the point when the dead pass to the realm of the ancestor who may be reborn into the family in the future.