REINCARNATION IN AFRICAN SOCIETY: A MYTH OR A REALITY THAT SHOULD NOT BE SHOVED ASIDE.
According to Wikipedia “Reincarnation” also known as “rebirth” or “transmigration” is the philosophical or religious belief that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different form or body after biological death. The soul is seen as immortal, and the body is the only thing that becomes perishable. The soul may also take the form of a human, animal or plant depending on the moral quality of the previous life’s actions.
Upon death, the soul becomes transmigrated into a new infant and family where they previously belong when they were alive. This type of reincarnation in “Yoruba” is called “Ipadawaye” (ancestors’ rebirth). The unnatural marks, birthmarks on the dead do also reappear on the new child born. I remember when I was young about the age of 7, a popular Muslim cleric in my hometown was burnt alive by traditional worshipers. The Muslim cleric’s wife was pregnant during that period and when she gave birth, the baby had the fire burnt on his late father’s body. Most of them are sometimes named after the deceased or given names like Yetunde, Babatunde, Iyabo etc. Sometimes when a child is born, the Yoruba’s often consult the divine oracle to know which ancestor has reincarnated in the child and some are obvious that do not need divination.
It is astonishing to know that when some of the dead people’s souls transmigrated into a new life, they exhibited the same physical look and traits in that new infant. Some often dream about their former life and remember what happened. Two different souls living in one body.
I also remember my late childhood neighbour called “Iya Owo”. His son Owolabi gave birth to a beautiful girl and after two years she came to greet her grandmother. On setting her eyes on her grandmother, she asked her why she never came to see her in the city. She also asked her grandmother for the earrings that were in her care. The earring belonged to Iya Owo’s “mother” and upon her death, she inherited her mother’s earrings. Surprisingly, her mother came back to life as her granddaughter and the two years old granddaughter requested all the earrings, she owned during her first life. Let me add that the little girl refused to suck her mother’s breasts because she claimed that she was too old to suck breasts.
Let me sip a glass of wine! You all should also do that!
My Little Sister was given birth two years after the demise of my grandmother. My aunt told me that she saw my grandmother in her dream entering the house with lots of gifts and a few minutes later she received a call that my mother gave birth. My baby sister looks exactly like my grandmother, with the same physical features, character, birthmark etc. She does not like wearing earrings just like her, a true replica except for the complexion. My grandmother was light skin.
When I was little my grandmother always wish she went to school. She informed me that if she had another opportunity of coming back to life again, she would go to school. She also told me if she comes back to life, she will never be the only child of her mother, grandma was not happy that she was the only child of her mother.
My little sister started school barely around 8 months old, when my mum wore her school uniform, the smile on her face could light up the room. I have never seen such a bright smile from her before. I still have the picture on my laptop. She took her studies seriously even as a kid and was always eager to attend school and participated in school activities.
There was a day she saw my grandmother’s picture at our family house, she asked my aunt who is inside the picture and my aunt replied, “my mother” My sister went on to ask her if she can speak English during her lifetime and my aunt replied that” She could not speak English during her first life but she came back to life again and she can speak English”. My sister smiled at my aunt and walked out of the room.
It was surprising that my sister developed an interest in speaking English from little, even thou we don’t speak English in our house. We speak “Yoruba” but my sister forced us all to start speaking English and also astonishing that she speaks English, Yoruba and our local dialect “Ijebu” which we don’t speak in our house.
A win for my grandmother coming back to life.
There was a day. my aunt came to visit us, and she gave my sister the phone to speak to her son. My sister spoke to him and asked him to buy her a bicycle. He was brought up by my grandmother and was beloved by her during her lifetime. My cousin sent my mother money to buy a bicycle for her. A few days later my grandmother appeared to my cousin in his dream and thanked him for buying her a bicycle. My sister does not hesitate to remind us at home that she is older than everybody in the house.
There is another reincarnation called “Abiku” (born to die) in Yoruba. This is a phenomenon of repeated birth of the same person by the same mother. Many times, marks are made on the dead child before being buried to discourage the child from coming back to life and even if the child comes back to life, he/she would stay back to life. This belief is that once a child is dead and disfigured with a mark, the spirit world where he/she belonged would send them back because they are not welcome back to their spiritual world because of the mark. Most times the same child is reborn with those disfiguring marks and sacrifices are offered to the spirit world to allow the child to stay on earth. My late uncle’s son died three times before staying back to life and was named “Kashimawo” (let’s see if he would. stay back to life). The boy is now 8 years old. They are given names like Maku, Ilesanmi, Durojaye, Kokumo, Durosimi etc.
The third type of reincarnation in Yoruba. is called Akudaya (Died and reappeared). In some cases, the dead being moves to another location or environment and starts a new life and still maintains the same physical body. Most of them who do not take a new form but maintain the same physical body often move away from their new location once they sight someone from their former life who initially knew they are dead. In Yoruba, this set of people are called “Akudaya” (Died and reappeared).
The belief. in reincarnation is mostly common among the “Yoruba Culture, it is strongly believed in Africa, and I have heard people from other continents, especially on social media sharing their experiences on this. Some of them who had died years but were later seen in other places, becoming rich, getting married and having kids. Some also send their new family back to the family they came from during their first life.
I remember when I was little about eight years old, my grandmother told me the story of a young man popularly called “yellow” who died in her hometown “Iwopin Ajidagan” (Ogun waterside). She said fifteen years later the corpse of “yellow” they buried was brought back home. It was surprising to all of them in the village because the man died fifteen years ago, they asked those that brought his corpse home how come they know the way to their village. They informed them that the man during his lifetime told them he came from “Iwopin Ajidagan (Ogun waterside)”.
My grandmother’s villagers refused to accept the corpse because the man was dead and buried fifteen years ago, they went on to show them the man’s burial ground. His corpse was thrown inside the bush and was not accorded any traditional rite.
I could not get over the story that my Dad told me about one of his co-workers named “Adeniyi” who died. He said during Adeniyi’s lifetime, a young guy who was Adeniyi’s neighbour ran away from home, and nobody could trace his location. Five years later after he left home, he was seen at home, and they asked him who brought him back home. She explained Uncle Adeniyi brought her back from Lagos when he saw him at a car park in Lagos hawking. She further explained that he was urinating at the back of the house and that he would soon join them. Everybody inside the compound exclaimed that Uncle Adeniyi died six months ago. He argued that their assertions are false. They followed him to check on uncle Adeniyi, who wasn’t at the scene. They showed him where uncle Adeniyi was buried, and he fainted. It took a lot of traditional medications and prayers for the boy to survive the trauma that a dead man who brought him back home. A mystery!
Although the majority of denominations within Christianity and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate. Christianity and Islam juxtaposed that it is the devil, and jinn that is taking the form of dead beings to cause confusion and crisis. The origin of the notion of reincarnation is obscure.
However, with the help of science and technology, the “abiku” belief has waned and may be called a myth, especially. The advent of orthodox medicine has reduced the infant mortality rate in African society. The “abiku” belief could have been a result of a lack of proper medical care especially sickle cell anaemia.
Also “Akudaya” belief might be demons taking the form of a dead being and most times the evidence is not easy to lay hold upon even though many have given facts to that and evidence of their properties, a partner they got married to and kids they gave birth to in their second life.
The reincarnation known as (ipadawaya) remained the foremost type of reincarnation and has survived the test of time and spread over continents. People are still coming up with facts and arguments to supersede claims that reincarnation exists and is not a myth. The quest is still ongoing even though science does not support it, but it is a complex philosophical belief that should not be shoved aside.
