“Feed the Mouth, Not the Feet”
A Look at Traditional African Burial Customs
“THEY don’t bury their dead!” This is a statement commonly made about Jehovah’s Witnesses in West Africa. Yet, it is well-known that the Witnesses do, in fact, bury their dead.
Why do people say that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not bury their dead? They do so because the Witnesses do not observe many of the popular local burial customs.
Traditional Burial Customs
Aliu lives in a small village in Central Nigeria. When his mother died, he informed his relatives of her death and then arranged for a Scriptural talk to be given in her home. Delivered by an elder in the local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the talk focused on the condition of the dead and the heartening resurrection hope referred to in the Bible. After the talk, Aliu’s mother was buried.
The relatives were highly indignant. To them no burial is complete without a wake, usually held the night after a person dies. In Aliu’s community a wake is a time of celebration, not mourning. The corpse is bathed, clothed in white, and laid out on a bed. The bereaved ones send for musicians, buy cases of beer and jugs of palm wine, and arrange for a bull or a goat to be sacrificed. Then the relatives and friends arrive to sing, dance, eat, and drink until dawn the next day.
During these festivities, food is put at the feet of the corpse. Portions of the dead person’s hair, fingernails, and toenails are cut and set aside for the “second burial.” It takes place days, weeks, or even years later.
On the day following the wake, the corpse is buried, though the funeral ceremonies go on for a week or longer. Later, the second burial takes place. The portions of hair, fingernails, and toenails are wrapped in a white cloth, which is tied to a five- or six-foot [1.5-1.8 m] wooden plank. In a procession of singing and dancing, the plank is carried to the grave site and buried near the person it represents. Once again, there is much music, drinking, and feasting. To end the funeral proceedings, a gun is fired once toward the sky.
Since Aliu did not permit any of these things, he was accused of having no respect either for the dead or for the traditions that honor them. But why did Aliu, a Witness of Jehovah, refuse to go along with tradition? Because he could not conscientiously accept the religious ideas upon which these traditions are based.
Traditional African Beliefs
Throughout Africa, people believe that all humans came from the spirit realm and will return there. The Yoruba of Nigeria say: “The earth is a market, whereas the heaven is home.” And the Igbo saying is: “Everyone coming into this world will have to return home, no matter how long one tarries on earth.”
Consider the customs mentioned earlier. The purpose of the wake is to give the spirit a good send-off. White clothing is considered suitable attire for the spirit realm. Putting food at the feet is associated with the idea that the corpse eats through the legs and must be fed so as not to become hungry on the journey to the land of the ancestors.
Moreover, the people in general believe that when the spirit leaves the body, it lingers near the living and does not return to the ancestors until it is finally released by the second burial. Unless the second burial is performed, people fear that the spirit will become angry and plague the living with sickness or death. The firing of the gun is to “send the spirit out” to heaven.
Although funeral customs vary greatly from place to place in Africa, the central idea usually is that the spirit survives the death of the body. The central purpose of the rituals is to assist the spirit to respond to the “home call.”
These beliefs and practices have been encouraged by Christendom’s doctrine of the immortality of the human soul and by her veneration of “saints.” Typical is the comment of an army chaplain in Swaziland who said that Jesus came, not to destroy traditional beliefs, but to fulfill or confirm them. Since clergymen usually preside over burial procedures, many people feel that the Bible supports both the traditional beliefs and the customs that spring from them.
What the Bible Says
Does the Bible support these beliefs? Concerning the condition of the dead, Ecclesiastes 3:20 states: “All [both humans and animals] are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.” The Scriptures further say: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . Their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished . . . There is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [the grave], the place to which you are going.”—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.
These and other scriptures make it clear that the dead cannot see us or hear us or help us or hurt us. Is this not in harmony with what you have observed? You may know of a rich and influential man who has died and whose family has thereafter suffered, although they fully performed all the customary funeral ceremonies. If that man is alive in the spirit realm, why does he not help his family? He cannot do so because what the Bible says is true—the dead are indeed lifeless, “impotent in death,” and therefore unable to help anyone.—Isaiah 26:14.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, knew this to be true. Consider what happened after the death of Lazarus. The Bible states: “He [Jesus] said to them [his disciples]: ‘Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep.’ Therefore the disciples said to him: ‘Lord, if he has gone to rest, he will get well.’ Jesus had spoken, however, about his death.”—John 11:11-13.
Notice that Jesus likened death to sleep, to rest. Upon his arrival at Bethany, he consoled Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha. Moved with compassion, Jesus gave way to tears. Yet, in no way did he say or do anything suggesting that Lazarus had a spirit still alive and desiring help to reach the land of his ancestors. Instead, Jesus did what he said he would do. He awakened Lazarus from the sleep of death by means of a resurrection. This gave evidence that God would eventually use Jesus to resurrect all those in the memorial tombs.—John 11:17-44; 5:28, 29.
Why Stand Out as Different?
Is there anything wrong with going along with funeral customs that are based on unscriptural beliefs? Aliu and millions of other Witnesses of Jehovah believe that there is. They know that it would be wrong—even hypocritical—for them to support any practice clearly based on false and misleading doctrines. They do not want to be like the scribes and the Pharisees, whom Jesus condemned for religious hypocrisy.—Matthew 23:1-36.
The apostle Paul warned his coworker Timothy: “The inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies.” (1 Timothy 4:1, 2) Is the concept that mankind’s dead are alive in the spirit realm a teaching of demons?
Yes, it is. Satan the Devil, “the father of the lie,” told Eve that she would not die, indicating that she would keep on living in the flesh. (John 8:44; Genesis 3:3, 4) That was not the same as saying that an immortal soul lives on after the death of the body. However, Satan and his demons strive to turn people away from the truth of God’s Word by promoting the idea that life continues after death. Because they believe what God says in the Bible, Jehovah’s Witnesses have no share in views and practices that support Satan’s lies.—2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
By avoiding unscriptural burial practices, Jehovah’s servants have incurred the disfavor of some not sharing their views. Certain Witnesses have been deprived of inheritances. Others have been ostracized by their families. As true Christians, however, they realize that faithful obedience to God brings the world’s disfavor. Like the loyal apostles of Jesus Christ, they are determined to “obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Acts 5:29; John 17:14.
While cherishing the memory of their loved ones who have fallen asleep in death, true Christians strive to demonstrate love for the living. For example, Aliu had taken his mother into his home after his father died and had fed and cared for her for the rest of her life. When others say that Aliu cared little for his mother because he did not bury her according to popular custom, he refers to this commonly voiced saying among his people: “Feed my mouth before you feed my feet.” Feeding the mouth, or caring for a person while he or she is still alive, is far more important than feeding the feet, the practice described earlier and associated with the wake after the individual is dead. Feeding the feet, in fact, does not benefit the deceased at all.
Aliu asks his critics, ‘Which would you prefer—that your family care for you in your old age or that they put on a big celebration after you die?’ Most choose to be looked after while still alive. They also appreciate knowing that in the event of their death, they will have a dignified Bible-based memorial service and a decent burial.
That is what Jehovah’s Witnesses endeavor to do for their loved ones. They feed the mouth, not the feet.