While it is an option to be born, dying is a must for everyone who ever got a chance to live. Death being the rite of passage, it is both feared and respected in equal measure by many African communities.
However, the manner which the dead departs with his/her life will predict how the living will take on him/her. For instance, if someone dies a natural death, he/she will be accorded respect– The living will be told to emulate some of his or her behaviors. For those who die a suicidal death, the story might be different.
According to one of African communities, traditionally, is was not expected that a person dies by suicide and as a result, doing so was regarded a bad omen. Consequently, members from the family of the man who committed suicide would need to pass through cleansing process.
So numbing is suicide that in many African communities, elaborate rituals are conducted to cleanse the living and ensure ‘the bad omen’ does not recur.
Before the arrival of Missionaries, An African elder has revealed that it was considered a bad omen if someone committed suicide. According to the community’s traditions, the body of the dead will first have to be whipped before being taken too far away from the dwelling places.
A group of 10 people from a different clans who normally do this job, are hired by the family of the deceased and paid handsomely. Those who commit suicide are usually buried at midnight when everyone else is asleep in some African Communities.
The dead are buried at this ungodly hour so that their spirit do not come back to haunt the family members left behind. No one, including family members, is supposed to witness when or where the corpse is buried according to one African Elder.
The same burial rite applies to a person who drowns either by accident or through suicide, and those who succumb to fire or are struck by lightning.
Equally, those who died through hanging were first whipped until tears tricked down their cheeks as well before being finally disposed off.
When one commits suicide, whoever stumbles onto the body is not allowed to go to his or her home until the family of the deceased pays. If this is not done, they will start receiving disturbing dreams from the deceased. These cultural practices vary across different African Communities. I welcome you to weigh in your cultural experience through the comments section.

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