bakwerirama

Man, Mouse, Ape and Water Spirit

Culled from “Belief and the Problem of Women” by Edwin Ardener (1975)

According to the Bakweri of Cameroon (in a male rescension): “MOTO, EWAKI and MOJILI were always quarrelling and agreed to decide by a test which of them was to remain in the town and which should go to the bush. All were to light fires in their houses in the morning and the person whose fire was still burning on their return from the farms in the evening was to be the favored one.

Moto, being more cunning than the others built a fire with big sticks properly arranged, whereas they only built with small dry sticks, and so his was the only fire that was still alight on their return in the evening. Thus Moto remained in the town and became Man. Ewaki and Eto went into the bush and became Ape and Mouse. Mojili was driven into the water and became a water spirit (This version was given in 1929 by Charles Steane, a Bakweri scholar to B. G. Stone).

The Eyu and Motio Rites of the Bakweri

Culled from: Edwin Ardener. Coastal Bantu of the Cameroons. (The Kpe-Mboko, Duala-Limba and Tanga-Yasa groups of the british and french trusteeships territories of the Cameroons). London, 1956. 116 pp.

Formerly it was the custom to hold a large supplementary rite (Eyu) for an important man [upon his death]. This would be performed as soon as possible after the normal rites, but might be delayed up to six months or perhaps a year.

When the decision to perform the ceremony was made, his heir would send word for all the dead man's relatives to meet together and fix their contributions of livestock (chiefly goats) to the celebration. Large numbers of these were necessary to make the eyu a big occasion.