DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES IN OVOKO AKPURUOKWE IGBO IN IGBO-EZE SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE.

DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES IN OVOKO AKPURUOKWE IGBO IN IGBO-EZE SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE.

ABSTRACT

Man’s greatest consolation about the inevitability of death is on the after-life. Blackmore (1986:13) maintains that to “die is to live”. She contends that death is like shutting off the television signal working with the television that produces the television programme. Using this analogy one can see that shutting off the television does not affect the television signal in the air waves. For to die physical death does not imply that one is not spiritually alert. Physical death is a transformation to spiritual life. Physical death may also be described as a metamorphosis where one wears out the physical life to put on spiritual life. In Igbo Culture, they believe in two types of death- natural and premature death. Natural deaths are those who have achieved to a remarkable degree the aspiration and values of their communities. Those under this category are regarded as ancestors. Such individuals are given maximum burial rites. In the Igbo culture, their death   is significant because it marks the entry into the abode of the ancestors. According to Abanuka (2003:57), the ancestors in this state, reincarnates.