Ancestor worship in traditional Benin Kingdom: a socio-religious appraisal

Abstract

An ancestor is a person in any family who lived a long time ago. This study is a critical inquiry into the traditional practices in Benin Kingdom on the veneration of the living-dead. The dead are believed to be constantly watching over their living relatives. It was discovered that not everybody that died become an ancestor. To become an ancestor, the person must have been an adult, married, and died a natural death. Ancestors are intermediaries between God and humans while the first son is intermediary between ancestors and other siblings in the family. The symbol of ancestral worship in Benin kingdom is ukhure, which the people use to pray for protection, provision and healing, among others. There are multiple problems associated with the worship of ancestors, hence, the conflict between Benin tradition and Christianity. This article, therefore, addresses death and the hereafter in traditional religion, rites of passage in relation to ancestors in Benin kingdom, qualifications of becoming an ancestor in Benin tradition, consequences of not becoming an ancestor in Benin tradition, the role of ancestors in earthly families in Benin tradition, problems of ancestral worship in Benin kingdom, conflict between Christianity and African traditional religion on ancestor worship. To do this the study made use of ethnographic and analytical methods. The conclusion reached is that ancestor worship in traditional African religion should not generate crisis if other religions respect and imbibe religious tolerance.