Anthropos
95.2000: 349-361
“Crying the Death”
Rituals of Death among the Yamba (Cameroon)
Hermann Gufler
Abstract. - The article gives a detailed description of the
^arnba mortuary cycle, the main purpose of which is to dismiss
l he dead peacefully and to cleanse the pollution of death.
*amba funeral ceremonies mirror the stark egalitarianism of
^arnba society. In terms of ritual performance all deaths, except
those of small children, chiefs, and some important ritual office
holders, are treated alike. Although some changes have taken
Place over the last fifty years, the most important being the
Postponement of death celebrations for up to a year or more,
m ost of the rites are still performed today. While formerly
Poople were buried in communal graves, nowadays the dead
are buried in single graves. This “individualising tendency”
Is closely connected with the influence of Christianity. But
there are no indications that delayed death celebrations have
an effect on the condition of the dead or change their status.
(Cameroon, western Grassfields, Yamba, death, funeral rites
and ceremonies]
^ er mann Gufler, Mill Hill Missionary in Cameroon since
^67, has been working in the western Grassfields and since
*^85 in Sabongari parish which includes the Yamba area; he
as published several articles on the Yamba (see References
Cited).
0r the Yamba, 1 the ideal of a good life is to
1Ve to a ripe old age, bear many children, see
° ne ’s children’s children, and be held in general
Aspect. But few people attain this ideal. Infant
Vitality was very high in the past, sometimes
U P to fifty per cent, and is still high today. Many
pe °ple die young. Serious illness and death are
^nerally not ascribed to “natural” causes. Even
e death of an old person is often suspected by
° Se relatives to have been caused by mystical
y superhuman agents. There exists among the
a uiba what amounts to an almost obsessional
desire to find out the cause of death. Yamba fear
that if they do not know the cause of somebody’s
death, other deaths may follow. The cause has to
be discovered and appropriate measures taken to
eliminate further deaths.
To a casual observer it might seem that witch
craft is the foremost cause of serious illness and
premature death among the Yamba. This is not
the case. It is the task of the diviners to reveal
the mystical agents responsible for the affliction
and how to prevent further affliction. In the fi
nal analysis, serious illness and death are always
symptoms of social conflict. That is why Yamba
are particularly vexed if a death happens suddenly
because it leaves them no opportunity to discover
the cause of the sickness through divination and to
“judge the case,” i.e., to remedy the situation and
avoid the death of the afflicted.
The list of causes is a long one and one can
detect a certain preference for some causes for
different age-groups or categories of people. I give
here the most common ones:
a) The death of babies and small children is in
variably attributed to cannibal witchcraft {ram),
but it may also be caused by the anger of
in-laws, even in-laws “of behind,” adultery of
1 For historical and ethnographic information on the Yamba
see the works of Migeod (1925), Gebauer (1964), Chilver
and Kaberry (1967), Jikong (1979), Buinda (1987), Moss
(n.d.), Gufler (1995a, 1995b, 1995c, 1996a, 1996b, 1997,
1999), and also the reports by British colonial admin
istrators, Hawkesworth (1923), Gorges (1932), Carpenter
(1933), and Newton (1936).