Jordyn Brown

Tina Katsanos
LBST 2102-338
8 December 2016
Of Water and the Spirit
In Of Water and the Spirit, Grandfather Bakhyes death ritual was quite different from any
death ritual I had ever experienced. It is an ideological ritual because by having the funeral they
are seeking the control the mood, behaviors, and values of the community. An example of an
ideological ritual is rites of passage. By applying the three stages of initiation to his funeral, I can
analyze the significance of each event that happen. The first stage of initiation is separation.
During separation there is a loss of identity. Changing of clothes is an indication that this stage
has occurred. Author Malidoma Patrice Some stated that grandfather, wore and immense gala
costume of immaculate white, crowned by a hat decorated with symbols of the Brirfors: two
crocodiles and a chameleonhe looked majestic. This type of clothing is not something
grandfather wore everyday so the changing of his clothes is the start of the separation phase.
During the transition phase or the liminal phase the individual has lost their identity but has not
fully re-incorporated into the community with a new identity. Breaking taboos may happen
during this stage of the ritual. There are people within the community who have gone private
and this is against the laws of nature. Funerals are a time where these wrong doings come to
light. Grandfather spiritually dying is another symbol during this phase, and soon he will become
an ancestor. During the liminal phase grandfather is neither here nor there. They portray
grandfather as being dead, but he moves as though he is alive. During the final stage or the reincorporation phase there is often a religious ceremony or dancing. There was a ceremony given
on behalf of grandfather Bakhye. Singing and dancing are an essential part of the funeral. These
two things seem to be a reoccurring throughout indigenous cultures, and without them certain
activities cannot be completed. Author Malidoma Patrice Some stated, It was important that the
music kept going. Without music and chanting there is no funeral, no grief, and no death.
People from all over gather to pay their respects to grandfather. The funeral is different from any
funeral Ive experienced because the funeral given to grandfather was three days long. The
funerals Ive attended are only one day long. Another difference between grandfathers funeral

and the ones Ive attended is that the whole community is not involved in the funeral. Usually
people that know the person or know the family members of the person will attend the funeral.
Education or knowledge within Somes culture is received through elders and family
members. Malidoma spends time with his grandfather and his grandfather shares his experiences
and stories. His close relationship with his grandfather is important because this will guide him
to do certain things in the future. Another example of education within Somes culture is that
young children are taught to do everyday things by watching their parents. In Of Water and the
Spirit, a young girl will have chores related to that of what her mother does. She will start out
small and when she grows she will have the knowledge to do what women do in their culture.
The same is done for boys. Education within Somes culture is not as structured as the education
he received at the seminary. Children learn by being told stories that teach them lesson such as
the story from mother about the slave girl and the niece. There is both purpose behind the things
learned within Somes culture and the seminary, but the teaching methods are quite different. In
the seminary the teachings are forced and punishment is used to engrave knowledge into their
memories. Whereas in Somes culture, one is not hit or punished when they do not know
something. In Somes culture one will ask questions and listen in order to learn new things, but
in the seminary you must be careful not to ask the wrong question. Asking the wrong question
might make matters worse because one is not allowed the think outside of the box they have
given you. In comparison to my own education, Ive learned from both my parents and public
schooling. From my parents I learn the values of life and what it means to be a good person. Our
education has a set curriculum but has a little give as you enter higher levels of education.
Education for me is partly forced in the sense that our society has made it clear that one cannot
succeed without an education, but one still has the choice to go to school or to not go to school.
In my education, I am not hit because I do not know something the professor believes I should.
The most punishing thing within my education is not receiving a good grade or not being able to
move toward a higher level of education.
Malidoma Patrice Some must undergo initiation once he returns to his birth village because
he is still a boy who has not yet become a man. It is custom that every boy in their village goes
through this initiation so that they can find their true self. The elders are concerned that he will
not be able to complete the initiation successfully because he knows what the white man knows.
The elders feel that he knows too much and is a threat to their village. Malidoma will struggle to

fit in. They fear that he has lost his Sie at the seminary and if he cannot find it problems will
occur in the future. They are also afraid of the dangers he will face during the initiation because
if not done properly he could die. The initiation he will undergo is ideological because these
rituals seek to social control by changing the moods, behaviors, sentiments, motivations and
values of people for the sake of the community as a whole. He will go through the rites of
passage stages and by doing this he will find himself within. This needs to be done in order for
him to become a man within his community. In terms of the three stages of initiation Malidoma
will enter the separation phase when he and the boys are separated from the rest of the village
and are stripped naked of all their belongings. During the liminal phase Malidoma will first be
asked to look at a tree and to tell the elders what he sees after looking at it. Malidoma was
confused as to what he was supposed to see but this is all apart of the liminal phase. During this
phase one may face confusion, testing, and education. Malidoma along with the rest of the boys
undergoing initiation lose their normal diets of food. They must find food on their own and at
times Malidoma questions whether it is against taboo to eat some of the food he absorbed.
During this phase he also dies spiritually as him and the others are buried alive. By the end of
this phase Malidoma finally comes to see the truth to his initiation. All of these events
correspond with the liminal symbols discussed in class, which include: nakedness, torture/pain,
humility, death and knowledge.
Naming in Somes culture is a huge part of an individuals destiny. Malidoma himself is
destined to be a connection between the white mans world and the world his village lives in. We
are told from the beginning that Malidomas name means, be friends with stranger/enemy.
Patrice is the name the priest up the hill gave him and is to be used only outside of tribal
boundaries. His grandfather addresses him as Brother because when Malidomas mother was
pregnant he would call his grandfather Brother. Grandfather then knew that Birifor would be
born again. Throughout the book we are told that Malidoma is Birifor, which is an important
figure, and ancestor that belongs to his village. The connection to Birifor already makes
Malidoma of importance before he is taken away to the seminary and before he returns to his
village to be initiated. All of his names are important to his identity. As far as I can tell Malidoma
has met his destiny. When he is taken away from his village to the seminary that is where he
begins the journey to his destiny. There he is able to speak and write in French. He learns the
way of the white man and this is what he will need to be friends with strangers in the future.

Returning to his village at the age of twenty is also another part of his journey toward his destiny.
Malidoma comes home and undergoes an initiation that the elders believe he will not be able to
successfully complete. He is able to complete the initiation, which makes him special within the
village. Malidoma now has knowledge far beyond the elders in his village and he will be able to
bring the two cultures together. At the conclusion, Malidoma is on his way to destiny and this
book is a testament to that.