“Ouroumina is dead,” Toussaint declared one morning.
Ouroumina was a very friendly, short, old man. He was also amusing, making jokes all the time. Ouroumina was actually a nickname which means “the king’s poop.” He earned that nickname because he used to say with a smirk on his face: “Whether you’re a king, or a servant, whether you are rich or poor, your poop stinks.”
His long earrings identified him as a member of our town’s royal family.
Last year, age started taking its toll. Ouroumina was going blind and could no longer go out alone. Most of the time, he sat in his yard, receiving visitors. Although almost blind, Ouroumina still had an important role to play amongst the villagers—he talked to the dead. Whenever someone needed advice from a deceased relative or friend, Ouroumina would contact the spiritual world on his or her behalf. This was especially true in instances when someone recently died and the family needed to find out who or what had caused the death. Ouroumina was the one who could help. Now he was dead, and many wondered who would take the position to consult Ouroumina’s spirit?
Just before noon, we could hear the drums and knew that the funeral procession was approaching. Four men, surrounded by dozens of mourners and accompanied by the drummers, carried a simple coffin. On their way to the family’s burial ground, the group was passing in front of a bar when those carrying the coffin were driven by spirits toward the establishment. Once in front of the bar, the people believed that Ouroumina’s spirit refused to continue. An old lady quickly filled a cup with palm wine and poured it over the coffin, assuming this was what Ouroumina was seeking. Indeed, the spirits were satisfied, further deceiving the villagers, and allowed the carriers to move on towards the burial ground. A few hours later, Ouroumina was buried, and the crowd returned to Ouroumina’s house to continue the funeral rites.
I wish we had made time to share with Ouroumina how sweet it is to talk to Jesus—compared to talking to the ancestor spirits—and that Jesus has all the answers we need. Ouroumina is gone, but many of our neighbors still put their faith in ancestor veneration and rely on the spirits to guide them in their decisions. Please pray that God will reveal Himself to our people.
