Of Water and the Spirit: Final Exam Questions

Ernesto Marrero
LBST 2102-338
1. This is an ideological form of ritual. From my perspective I believe that this is more
of an ideological form of ritual because it is more so helping the people of the
community to cope with the death of the person. The whole ritual seemed as if it was
for the community to deal with the death of a person. Rather than a collective effort to
bring the deceased to a greater place. The first step of separation from the community
is when the dead body is put almost as like a showcase for the whole community to
witness. This makes the dead body not an equal because it is of higher status;
therefore a separation of community. There is further separation from the community
because of the natural fact that there is a dead body on display rather than having a
normal human being and celebrating his death. The community now begins to enter
the transition phase of the ceremony. This phase is when the community has to come
to grips with his soul leaving the material world. The community as a whole needs to
mourn the physical death of a person in order to release any negative emotion. This
emotion must be released or it will be a burden to the soul. Crying is the souls way of
showing grief so it is important that these people mourn for their emotional stability.
The re-incorporation stage is most noticeable in the book when the author starts
describing grandfather Bakhyes soul in relation to the physical world. Things that he
carried such as his bow his arrows. This is a physical representation of one aspect of
his soul. The bow and arrows shows the grandfathers ability as a warrior and a man.
Furthermore, his ancestral scepter that was grasped in his left hand is a subtle yet
interesting characteristic. This hints that he always kept his faith and spiritualty close
by and wielded it equal strength that he would use for his weapons to conquer the
physical world. The community needs to understand and make these relations to the
soul of grandfather Bakhye and allow him to live in their soul. This funeral is more of

an emotion driven ceremony rather than intimate silence with the dead person. I have
only ever been to one funeral and for the most part there was silence and cold faces. I
assume to let the deceased person rest in peace. Men crying amongst women is also
not a common sight.

2. Somes traditional education is more of general knowledge about the natural world,
language and small specifics. In comparison to Somes culture seminary education
that he receives, it seems that they are teaching him about himself. Rather than
teaching him about knowledge about the natural world it is more geared to soul
searching and crafting. Personally, I do believe that education today does a very good
job about teaching students knowledge. The school system is designed to create
scholar. My uncle used to tell me that a Complete man is a warrior and a scholar.
Meaning that being a scholar is not enough. A person must be intimately in tune with
who they are at a primal level. I have been studying in school for a long time and I
have learned a lot about the world. The only way I learned about myself as a being
was through my family and male bonding.

3.

He must go through initiation when he return to his birth village because he is unfit
to return to this village without it. They believe that Malidoma has been tainted with
the soul of the white man and it will be hard for him to grasp his primal roots. This
type of initiation is almost a like a rite of passage into man hood. This is a rite of
passage into man hood because he is doing this ritual amongst boys. The purpose of
this ritual is for these people to find peace and a center from within. The ritual is
almost like a death and rebirth of the soul in hope that the Malidoma will become a
man at the end. Malidoma will enter the ritual at the spiritual level of a boy. In order
for him to grow he must be isolated. This isolation makes him vulnerable and real
with himself because one can only grow if left alone in thought. An example of this is
when he buried himself alive. This was to spark spiritual growth in isolation while the

body is rendered useless. The next phase is the transition phase. During this phase
there will be a string of physical obstacles and challenges that will serve as a catalyst
for the soul to grow. During this ritual he will come to roots with his primal instincts
and that will allow him to become a man. Once he comes to terms with what he has
learned he is ready to be re-incorporated into the world to continue his journey. This
is the most important step because the soul can only learn from real world
experiences. If the body has survived this intense ritual, the person is ready to take on
whatever the physical world has to offer in order for his soul to grow. This allows him
to travel to far away land such as France with a sense of purpose and confidence.

4. Malidoma has not reached any type of destiny. I perceive it as more of a reconnection

with his true being. This whole book is about the search for himself and where he fits
in this world. Malidoma going back to his village is an example of his urge for
reconnection. If he was truly satisfied with who he was becoming then there would be
no need to return back to his roots. Also the fact that he survived the initiation ritual is
a testament to how badly he wants to learn about his soul. If he did not truly want to
explore his soul then his physical body would have given up and may have even
resulted in death. I personally think that ancestors are wise people who have
discovered their soul and they are intended to be analyzed and studied in order to
discover truths about the nature of things. Reincarnation comes into play because life
is just a long learning process. If the person dies their soul will be reincarnated again
and will be given tests of the physical world in hope to sharpen the soul.