Nigeria Indigenous community and befitting burial for the deceased going-to-the-spirit land

Funerals and associated rites are events paramount to Nigerian culture and serve as focal points for family members to grieve and celebrate the deceased. Nigerian funeral customs have their roots in diverse cultural traditions that differ among the country’s over 371 ethnic groups, with home burials being prevalent. This chapter discusses funeral practices amongst selected tribes in Nigeria, with attention given to home burials and the successful sending of the deceased’s spirit to the ancestral realm. Analysing home burials through befitting funerals in Nigeria, this chapter explores eligibility and rituals that characterise these dark events, as well as how the ethnic background of the deceased involves funeral rites. Drawing on primary fieldwork, this chapter further unpacks the debate about the cultural practices of burying the dead at home and government efforts to stop this practice, as well as opposition from the community. Concluding this chapter, the authors demonstrate how the traditional practice of home burials alludes to the belief that death is not the end of life, thereby contributing to the developing field for study of dark events.