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CHAPTER TWO CASE STUDY ONE: THE FAMADIHANA (THE TURNING OF THE DEAD) IN THE MALAGASY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, I will investigate the Malagasy Roman Catholic Church (MRCC)’s use of certain Old Testament texts in the famadihana (the turning of the dead). The main questions to be posed here are: How and why does the MRCC use Old Testament texts during the ritual of the famadihana?
The famadihana has already been introduced and defined in the preceding chapter. Yet, since it constitutes the context on which this case is based, it is necessary to provide more information about it. What I aim to do in this chapter is, therefore, to describe how the famadihana is practised in the Malagasy context and how it is performed in the MRCC. However, the focal point of the chapter is the investigation in which I will attempt to discover and bring out the reasons why the MRCC uses Old Testament texts during the famadihana. To what extent is the famadihana used by the MRCC to inculturate her faith and to legitimise the incorporation of the practice of the famadihana into the Church? In addition, what implications can be drawn from this use of Old Testament texts for the academic teaching of the Old Testament in Madagascar? These questions will be investigated in the present chapter by critically analysing the way the MRCC applies these texts.
Examples of Old Testament texts used by the MRCC in the famadihana include Genesis 49: 29-50: 13 (Jacob’s death and burial), Exodus 13: 19 (the transfer of Joseph’s bones from Egypt to Canaan) and Exodus 20: 12 (the Fourth Commandment). I will describe how the MRCC interprets and adapts these texts to explain the famadihana. I will also investigate the reasons why this Church uses these Old Testament texts in connection with the famadihana.
With regard to terminology, I will use the Malagasy word razana to render the concept of the ancestor. Most Malagasy people today used to term all the dead razana. However, razana is the specific term for a body after the flesh has completely decayed. In other words, the name razana is applied to a body at least two years after death, which is generally the most suitable time for the family to perform its first famadihana. In addition, the term razana, according to the Malagasy traditional belief, refers to the ancestor as still being an active member of the family. Therefore, I consider that the word razana better expresses the Malagasy world-view.
CONTEXT
The razana (ancestor) in the Malagasy world-view
In general, the Malagasy people believe in the immortality of the spirit and the continuity of life beyond this physical existence. This belief occupied an important place in the Malagasy traditio nal religion long before the Christian faith was introduced to Madagascar. King Andrianampoinimerina’s last words expressing this conviction can be translated as follows:6
I am nearing the end of my life for Zanahary will soon take me back to him; you will bury my body but my spirit as well as my mind will dwell in you [people] and Damalahy (Rahajarizafy 1970: 99; cf Callet 1918: 97-98).7
Still, Vig ([1892] 2001: 31) observes that in spite of their belief in the immortality of the spirit the Malagasy traditionalists have no notion of the resurrection of the dead.8
According to this belief in the continuity of life, the Malagasy people claim that human beings can physically die, but do not thus disappear. Hence the deceased cease to exist physically in this visible world, but their immortal spirits continue to live in an invisible world (Dubois 1998: 80-81). They become razana (ancestors), but at the same time, they continue to be incorporated into the family life; as people say, they shall still be with us, ‘those who have gone home’ (Ratrema 1985: 95).9 In other words, the family bond linking the living with the dead is not broken by death. For Ela (1977: 37) such a belief in ‘making the presence of the departed actual is the primordial sign illuminating the basic African thought: “The dead are not dead”’. Ramarojaona (DTF 1), an informant from Antsirabe, argues that this incorruptible relationship between the living and the razana involves mutual obligations. On the one hand, the living must take care of the razana by erecting worthy tombs for them, observing the ancestral customs, and especially by organising famadihana to show respect and veneration for them. If they fail in their duties, the razana blame them for their irresponsibility and may punish them. On the other hand, the razana are expected to bless the living in providing them with good health, prosperity, fertility and protection. If they do not accomplish these duties, the living mock them as follows: ‘if the razana are not able to bless people, wake them up to dig out sweet potatoes’ (DTF 1). It is therefore noteworthy that the razana occupy the central position in the Malagasy world-view. The customs vary but the key status of the razana is dominant throughout the island. The famadihana is probably the traditional rite which best expresses the relationship and interaction between the visible and invisible worlds or, more precisely, between the living and the razana (Rasolonjatovo 2003: 30).
The following sections will describe how the famadihana is practised in the Malagasy traditional context, on the one hand, and in the Malagasy Roman Catholic Church (MRCC), on the other. The presentation will indicate what the Catholics reject and what they retain as far as the rituals and the ceremonies of the famadihana are concerned. It will also allow one to know what possible new elements the MRCC brings to the famadihana.
The famadihana in the Malagasy traditional context
By definition, the Malagasy word famadihana expresses the action of ‘turning over’. Therefore, the famadihana is a traditional religio-cultural rite, which involves turning over or re-exhuming the razana and renewing their shrouds, which people generally call lamba mena (red cloths).10 It is the Merina and Betsileo ethnic groups who mainly practise this ritual.11 Generally, the famadihana takes place two or three years after the death, i.e., after the flesh has completely decayed, and then is periodically performed every five, or seven, or even nine years, according to the family’s concurrence or ability. 12 According to Molet’s investigation (1979b: 278), members of these groups believe that the razana will become tired of lying down on one side for a long time. Likewise, they might feel cold if their shrouds are damaged. Consequently, they need to be turned over and rewrapped in new shrouds.
The period when the famadihana originated is difficult to determine. Nevertheless, Ravelojaona (1947: 146) suggests that the famadihana possibly began being practised among the Merina more than a hundred and fifty years ago (counting from the time he wrote his book). If one considers this suggestion, one can suppose that the Merina started to practise the famadihana before or during the reign of King Andrianampoinimerina which, as already mentioned, lasted from 1780 to 1810. This is possible because it was King Andrianampoinimerina, according to some oral traditions, who taught the Merina to build family tombs, in which all their dead should be buried. He is also supposed to have established the custom of returning, to the family or ancestral tombs, bodies that had been buried far from their native villages.
As mentioned above, Molet (1979b: 279-281) identifies, in general, three types of famadihana: the transfer famadihana, the inauguration famadihana, and the prestige famadihana.
Transfer ‘famadihana’
This type of famadihana specifically consists of transferring or repatriating bodies from temporary burial places (cf. Photo 2) to the family or ancestral tomb (Molet 1979b: 278; cf. Photos 1 and 3). 13 As already explained, the razana are considered as still part of the family. Consequently, the Merina and the Betsileo ethnic groups perform the transfer famadihana as a sacred duty towards their departed relatives that have been temporarily interred in distant burial places (cf. Photos 4).
Rakotozafy (DCF 1), an informant from Ambohimandroso, describes the transfer famadihana as follows. When a family, gathered by an elder, has agreed to transfer a relative’s body from a temporary burial place to the ancestral tomb, a diviner is consulted to Rakotozafy (DCF 1) explains that when the group carrying the body arrives in the village, all the people present (inspired by music) dance, sing and shout for joy to welcome the new razana. A tent is then erected in the family’s courtyard, into which the razana is placed on a trestle or on a table for two or three days before being ceremoniously placed in the ancestral tomb.17 Rakotozafy notes that these few days during which the razana is in the village are days of festival with good and abundant meals as well as alcoholic drinks, dance, music and songs. 18
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT, HYPOTHESIS AND PURPOSE….
1.3 METHODOLOGY
1.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER TWO CASE STUDY ONE: THE FAMADIHANA (TURNING OF THE DEAD) IN THE MALAGASY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 CONTEXT
2.3 THE MALAGASY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH’S USE OF OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS IN THE FAMADIHANA
2.4 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELEVANT TEXTS IN RELATION TO THE MALAGASY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH’S USE OF THESE TEXTS
2.5 FROM TEXT TO TEACHING
CHAPTER THREE CASE STUDY TWO: NENILAVA’S ROBE AND CROWN IN THE MALAGASY LUTHERAN CHURCH
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 CONTEXT
3.3 THE MALAGASY LUTHERAN CHURCH’S USE OF OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS RELATED TO NENILAVA’S ROBE AND CROWN
3.4 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELEVANT TEXTS IN RELATION TO THE MALAGASY LUTHERAN CHURCH’S USE OF THESE TEXTS
3.5 FROM TEXT TO TEACHING
CHAPTER FOUR CASE STUDY THREE: TRADITIONALISTS’ USE OF OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 CONTEXT
4.3 TRADITIONALISTS’ USE OF OLD TESTAMENT TEXTS IN THE MALAGASY
TRADITIONAL CONTEXT
4.4 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELEVANT TEXTS IN RELATION TO MALAGASY TRADITIONALISTS’ USE OF THESE TEXTS
4.5 FROM TEXT TO TEACHING
CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION
5.1 METHODOLOGY AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
5.2 THE THREE CASES STUDIES AND A COMPARISON
5.3 RELEVANCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN MADAGASCAR/AFRICA
5.4 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN MADAGASCAR/AFRICA
5.5 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TEACHING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN
MADAGASCAR/AFRICA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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