The bitter taste of separation
Type de matériel :
87
This article analyzes the Lobi (Burkina Faso) closing ritual of mourning, involving a widow and her deceased husband. The ritual is carried out several months after the death as a second funeral rite. The notion of separation takes on a particular meaning. This involves a procedure focusing on the splitting of two beings who have been closely connected to each other over time. By constantly being in contact with each other, by being married, and by exchanging bodily humors (sexual substances, blood, sweat, saliva, and odors), they become like “two welded entities” forming one body ( tombiribiel). The complexity of the ritual depends on the duration of the marriage and thus the length of time for which these bodily humors were shared.
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