Free Story Contest: The Bakwerie Tradition

In the Bakweri tribe of Cameroon, when a woman’s husband dies, all hairy regions of her body are shaved, and she is locked up in her house during the week following his death. During this period, she sits naked on plantain leaves in the warmth of her fireside. She is not allowed eat or make any form of contact with a human. At the end of the week, she parades the streets during which incantations are made, marking the end of her mourning.

The endgame of this ritual is for the woman to be officially acknowledged as a widow and separated from her husband. The rudimentary belief underlying the whole ritual is that when the husband dies, if he his spirit is not separated from the woman it will hunt and torment his wife for the rest of her life bringing misfortune to her and her descendants. During the mourning period, the widow can drink water but not eat food because water is considered pure and her body and soul are being cleansed of her husband and all links they shared are being broken. On the contrary, food is considered unclean and will inhibit her separation from her husband’s spirit.

According to Bakweri mythology, the fire god(Mbinka), the sun god(Lauki) and the spirit god(Osun) must all be appeased during mourning. Lauki is the god of light, source of happiness and keeper of everyday life. Since the death of a woman’s husband is the most tragic event in her life, she is kept away from Lauki whose power comes from the sun by locking her up in her house. The absence of Lauki in the woman’s vicinity invokes the ancient spirit of sorrow which makes her cry throughout the week. Body hair is unclean and burns in the presence of fire hence before invoking Mbinka, she is thoroughly shaved by her late husband’s family. The fire god in the fireside provides the woman with strength for continuity in her daily activities in the absence of her husband. She sits naked on the plantain leaves because the leaves convey energy from the fire to her body.

Depriving her of the power and protection of Lauki, inviting Mbinka to her house are prerequisites for the arrival of the most dreaded god in the Bakweri tribe, Osun. Osun executes the spiritual separation of the woman and her late husband’s spirit. During this week, any living thing she comes into any form of contact with dies immediately and she will never be separated from her husband. By the end of the week, Osun completes the separation and extinguishes the flames before leaving her presence. She now opens the door and her family waiting to lead her in the parade. After all the rituals have been carefully executed, she officially becomes a widow and life continues.
From the thick description of this ritual, it is hard to understand why fundamental activities like shaving and drinking water are considered as cultural categories.