Death In Nigeria

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Nigeria, a country with over 140 million people is located in West Africa. Nigeria has over 270 ethnic groups, each group has its custom, tradition and dialect. Although diverse in their way of live, Nigerians are unified by the language of death. For the sake of understanding, there are three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, they are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. Although rural-urban migration has caused us to live together, each ethnic group has its designated primary location. Although death is a common phenomenon in Nigeria, Nigerians view death from different perspective therefore, they grief in differs ways. Your culture influence your religion, it defines who you are and what you do when you grief.
Nigerians express their sadness by
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The Muslims bury their loved one immediately therefore, most Hausas would bury their love(s) instantly without delay. The Hausas do not really belief in elaborate ceremonies when a love on dies. Apart from the religious reasons motivating their decision, Hausas are known to live a nomadic life, and their main occupation is cattle rearing. After the burial rites are over, the bereaved family takes over the property and the whole family moves on. Depending on the death that occurred in the family, the Igbos plan for every ceremony. The general ceremony that takes place is purification. The body is purified by lying the body on plantain leaves and camwood dye is use to wash the body. After cleaning the body, it is placed in the living room for everyone to see. The deceased family and the body is taken to the husband village (Ifie, 2015). When an Igbo parent dies, the children would have to prove to the community the worth of their parent by celebrating in an elaborate way. If the husband dies, the woman has to prove to the community and her in-laws that she is innocent of her husband’s death. She would be subjected to various rituals and rites. Her hair would be shaved, she may be asked to sleep in the same room with the body for a certain number of days and if she has children, they may be taken away from her during this period. She must grief …show more content…
Sometime, they give her a part of the wealth and sometimes, all of the husband’s property. Although, this practice is gradually fading off but it is till practiced as a core culture in the Igbo land.
The Yoruba’s are very unique in their cultural view. The age of the decreased is always an integral part of the burial ceremony. In Nigeria, when a patient dies in the hospital, the doctor would not break the news to the females in the family rather, he would speak to the man in the group. When a young person dies, the family grieves for a longer period of time compared with the death of an adult. The death of a young person is viewed as a curse to the family and such body would not be left in the mortuary for a long period of time.
However, when an adult dies, the family plans for the burial ceremony. The children of the deceased would arrange for the body to be put in the mortuary pending the time they all converge to make a decision. After careful deliberations on what to do, the body is buried and a very big celebration takes place in memory of the

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