Ra mufi ari tluriwi: Is the tradition of honouring a person’s final wishes still upheld in the context of a changing South African society?

Abstract

In an African context, the concept of death inspires discussions about rituals and ways of remembering the departed, with the latter being influenced largely by how they lived, including what they loved and spoke about. The prevalence of the saying ra mufi ari tluriwi among some South African black communities, like the Vatsonga and Vhavenda, is often received with mixed expressions and feelings, in which the bereaved family are often confronted with a difficult choice between doing and not doing what is requested by the deceased. As much as this saying conveys the respect held by the living for the wishes and the instructions expressed by the deceased prior to their departure, it also raises issues of the feasibility and acceptability of what is being claimed to have been the deceased’s proposal or plan. It becomes more debatable if it is about the funeral and the possessions the deceased left behind, especially if the plan or words of the deceased are not written as was the tradition in the African context. The wishes of the deceased may be about how his or her burial should be conducted and arranged or about what he or she leaves behind in the form of inheritance. Recalling what the deceased said or proposed becomes more subjective, and the engagement about that may prolong or even disrupt the funeral arrangements, depending on the contestations of the veracity of the raised matter. This article intends to find out if the practice of honouring and respecting the wishes of deceased people is relevant and valid within contemporary society prior to and after their funerals. The study will adopt structured interviews with the cultural representatives in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Contribution: The research reported in this article was carried out with the intention of an unbiased examination of the circumstances relating to the carrying out of the wishes of the deceased.