Alex Montecalvo

Professor Katsanos
Global Connections
8 December 2016
Of Water and the Spirit Essay Questions
The death ritual begins by Malidomas Grandfather Bakhyes making his way by foot to
his home from mission hills. He must walk to mission hills because he died in a distant land;
important people that die in a distant land in the Dagara Culture they are supposed to make it
right by making their way back home even if they are dead. When the funeral is over, just like
most modern-day funerals, the body will be brought to the burial grounds. They rearranged the
gourds and cans in Grandfather Bakhyes room. They prepare medicine and the meal they will
eat. Grandfather Bakheys get his head shaved and washed while still on his death bed. Songs are
sung by women as well as the recitement of the prayer of the dead. Grandfather Bakheys room
was changed into a kitchen. Grandfather Bakhye was given a hyenas tail to help him walk to his
home from mission hills; it was then given to him again before they ate their meal. They eat this
meal so the deceased does not go their ancestors with an empty stomach. They used the upsidedown practice because he was an important person. The upside-down ritual is a symbolic
reenactment of the important stuff individuals enter through death. This type of death ritual is an
ideological ritual. He has to go through three different phases, change in his identity and
appearance, being buried with a ceremony, and symbolically dying. To change his appearance
Grandfather Bakhye had to have his head shaved and was also stripped of his clothing while still
on his death bed. Grandfather Bakhye was not all there mentally but was still partially there
mentally. Grandfather Bakhye was in-between phases that gave him the ability to be brought

back for specific parts of the ritual. Before Grandfather Bakhye was buried there was a ceremony
where men and women sang for and about him. They sang for and about him to show
appreciation and thanks for all he did for them and the community. Grandfather Bakheys funeral
had gone on for three days. Before Grandfather Bakhye made his journey to the ancestors a
secret practice of the upside-down culinary ritual was done. By leaving his body, Grandfather
had escaped the laws of the new realm he inhabited could be eaten and digested effectively (Pg.
52). This shows that Grandfather Bakhye was and important man in the Dagara Burkina Faso
community as well as a great medicine man. During the liminal phase, the upside-down kitchen
is very symbolic to the Dagara people. The hyena tail was also a symbol; the tail had given
Grandfather Bakhye the ability to move while in his out of body experience. As soon as the tail
toughed his hand, Grandfather opened his eyes and sat up, all in slow motion. His behavior
seemed strange (Pg. 46). The hyenas tails allow the deceased to interact with the living one last
time but without the capability to speak. At this point Grandfather Bakhye is in neither the spirit
or ancestor world. His soul has left his body but is between the spirit and living worlds but still
can interact with family and the community. This will continue until Grandfather Bakhye has his
last meal from the upside-down kitchen and is at his home. This type of funeral has both
similarities and difference to funerals I have experienced. A similarity is that the funeral goes on
for more than one day. Each funeral I have gone to is like a two-day process. The day/night
before the burial there is a wake where everyone could say goodbye one last time. Then the next
day everyone meets at the cemetery and there is a little ceremony before the deceased is buried.
The difference would be the upside-down kitchen and the hyenas tail. One thing that I considered
both a difference and a similarity would be burying the deceased with some money to pay for the

boat ride to the afterlife. I have seen this done at some but not all funerals. It is like the Greeks
when they put money over the eyes and mouth of the deceased to pay the ferryman.
The education that Malidoma had gotten at the seminary was very different form the
traditional education he had received. The education at the seminary had consisted of learning
subjects geography, mathematics, science, writing, Latin and sometimes French. While at the
seminary he had also learned about God and Christianity as well as learning how to sing.
Malidoma had to already know French before arriving at seminary because the textbooks at
seminary were in French. The seminary had a schedule like the military. The students would
have no say in what they would do throughout the day, their day was planned from the time they
woke up to the time they went to sleep. This quote, Geography opened up worlds far different
from the one we learned about in history class. It was amazing for those of us who were born
inland to realize that there was so much water on the Earth. As our horizons became wider, it was
both wonderful and disturbing (Pg. 115), had reminded me of when I first learned about this
stuff in elementary school especially when the teacher first showed us the globe. This quote also
showed how much Malidoma could learn in one class and how it differed from his traditional
education. Seminary education was much more in depth than what Malidoma had learned from
his Grandfather. He had the habit of introducing an answer by way of a whole bunch of stories
that often placed the question being asked into a wider context. Your answer would arrive when
you were least expecting it, nestled into the middle of a litany of fascinating narrations. Thus one
would go away with more than they came for, enriched with fantastic tales (Pg. 28). To me this
quote show how Grandfather Bakhye told stories to Malidoma and others to explain things about
life. This would help Malidoma and others to understand why certain things happen. Storytelling
is a big part of many societies and cultures to this day, there is always something to be learned

from stories told by elders. Seminary school is very similar to modern day western education. We
have schedules just like they did and we also study similar and the same subjects/topics they did
such as mathematics, geography, foreign language and writing. The study of vocabulary and the
memorization of texts, especially excerpts from the French poets, was very important.
Composition was crucial (Pg. 115). In college, I have to memorize many mathematic equations
and had to memorize Spanish instead of French. Just like Malidoma had to memorize stuff in
seminary school student all around the world have to memorize stuff. Memorization is a big part
of todays schooling. My education experience was similar to that of Malidomas experience in
seminary school. In each level of education, we have to do similar to things that Malidoma had
to do in seminary school. Grandfather always spoke to me as an equal, perhaps because his
belief that I was his brother implied, in some sense, that I already was an adult (Pg. 32). This
quote is nearly the exact opposite of how we are taught in lower level education. In early years of
education and even middle and high school most teachers talk down to us and do not teach us as
if they were teaching students their own age. This often makes it seem like the teacher does not
like us. Students are also no supposed to talk to their teachers as they would their classmates.
When talking to teachers and elders I always see myself as trying to learn and retain information.
Malidoma Patrice Some has to undergo initiation when he finally returns to his birth
some fifteen years of seminary school. Also, because he had been in the white mans world for
a long time and he had forgotten how to speak the Dagara language. He also does not fit in with
all the other individuals in his birth village. Malidomas father tells him by being initiated,
Malidoma will seem and be more like others in the village as well as he will learn the ways of
their ancestors. There is one concern that the elders have about Malidoma, the concern being that
they worry it is not possible for Malidoma to be in the white mans world as well as his birth

village at the same time. The elders allow Malidoma to be initiated in hopes that they will be able
to suppress and quiet the white man and the white mans knowledge that is in Malidomas soul.
The initiation ritual is a revitalization/ ideological ritual because they are making sure he did not
loss the cultural ways of life despite being in the white mans world for fifteen years.
Malidoma had risked his life and gone through with the initiation just to be accepted fully back
to his birth village. There were three stage of initiation that Malidoma had to go through. The
first stage of the initiation Malidoma and all the others trying to be initiated where taken into the
bush. Before they go to the bush they were stripped naked and where forced to be naked for the
whole initiation. When they had gotten to the bush the ritual started by them staring into a tree,
jumping through a like hole, crawling through an egg-shaped cave to the underworld and finding
a shiny stone in the underworld. The shine stone would show Malidoma his mission in life when
he had returned to the living world. For the second staged of initiation, transition phase, he was
tested in ways the elders thought he could not succeed. They had though he would not be able to
succeed because they thought the white man had brainwashed him. Malidoma had been staring
into the tree for two days before he had seen anything besides the tree. This proved to the elders
that he could succeed. When he succeeded that part of the initiation he had to jump through a
light and catch himself from falling. While in the light hole he had seen a mountain in the far
distance. He was being pulled toward the mountain, this was him being pulled towards the real
world. Near the end of initiation, he had been told to go back to mountain to find the egg-shaped
cave. The cave leads to the Kontombl world. When he had reached the cave, and gone into it he
was to look for a shiny stone. While in the cave he met a lady, they had become his wife and
mother of two children. He had broken a rule while in the cave so his wife pushed him off a cliff.
This had brought Malidoma out of that world. Malidoma felt that this was all a dream but little

did he know he had succeeded initiation without dying. The third and final stage of initiation,
incorporation phase, is when they return to the village as men instead of boys. Their mothers
cried in joy to see their sons survive initiation. When Malidoma had returned to his village he
was fed and washed and accepted back into the village despite having white mans knowledge.
This showed everyone that Malidoma was dedicated and determined to be part of his village.
The Dagara believe the everyone cones into life with a special destiny. Malidoma means
Be friends with the stranger/enemy (Pg. 1). Their name describes the tasks what they are
supposed to do and are also a continuous reminder to the child of his/her responsibilities in their
life. As my name implies, I am here in the West to tell the world about my people in any way I
can, and to take back to my people the knowledge I gain about this world (Pg.1). This quote
from the book make me believe that he had met his destiny. I believe he met his destiny because
he had succeeded in telling the world about his people as well as bringing back knowledge to his
village. It describes how he had met his destiny in the last chapter by talking about going to a
university, getting a scholarship, three bachelors degrees, and a plane ticket to France. For me,
going to France was to allow myself to be swallowed deeper. While getting ready to leave, I kept
hearing Goissos voice repeating the old admonition: go and allow yourself to be swallowed
(Pg. 311). He met his destiny by living in the western world and learning tons of information that
would a help his village succeed and prosper. The souls of ancestors talk to those of the living for
this ritual and allow their voice to be heard for the one being reincarnated and what their mission
in life will be. The ancestors help this person reach their given destiny that was given to them as
their name. Reincarnation and ancestors are a giant part in the name choosing of a new born
child. The living must know who is being reborn... A name is a life program of its bearer
(Pg. 20).