A rare,strange way to bury the dead in Tete,Mozambique.

PHOTO:THE ROAD TO CAHORA BASSA


AN UNUSSUAL WAY TO BURY THE DEAD.
There is a place called Cabvurancie in the Tete province of Mozambique.

There,in 2012,I witnessed the strange burial of a woman who had died.They did not dig a grave for her,but all the same they''buried''her.You may wonder how.

It was,and still is,the most strangest of burials I have ever witnessed here and you may not have heard of any other burial like it that takes place in this modern time of ours.A small simple open shed made out of indigenous wooden poles and sticks.

On a makeshift wooden table in the shed was laid her simple coffin of reeds.Thus she was laid to rest in a dark,frigheningly quiet forest of prime,gigantic trees.I heard those present saying that ''the hyenas would come for her''.

'Do not turn back to look,just move on ahead!'',we were warned.I tried to restrain myself,but my great curiousity soon won over,and I turned to look.There was no ghost,no strange sight to see behind me except the dark,thick forbiding forest.

Later at the village,I asked why they had buried her in such a way.They told me that she had been very old and the siege of a strange illness had wasted her completely.Besides,she had been possesed,during all her days on earth,by the spirit of ''mphondoro'',the spirit of the lion.It seemed she had been a very imporntant person in her society.Their culture and tradition said such people had to be laid to rest that''special way''.