English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy
Of Water and the Spirit
by Malidoma Patrice Somé
dramatized by Shaun MacLoughlin
Part 6: The Third Initiation: The Land of Shadow
PART 7: THE FOURTH INITIATION, THE BURIAL
| DRUMMING, A LITTLE LIKE A HEARTBEAT. THEN THE SOUND OF DIGGING. | |||
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| MALIDOMA: | For two nights in a row we did something terrible to each other.
We spent the days digging our own graves and the nights burying each other. We could choose whether the grave should be vertical or a horizontal.
Because the ground was stony it was harder to dig vertically. When the coach came to Nyangoli and me he asked who wanted to be buried first. My heart was beating wildly. I decided to wait until tomorrow. THE DIGGING STOPS. DRUMMING REACHES CRESCENDO AND CEASES Nyangoli did not mind. He let the coach cover his body with oil, lay in the horizontal grave and I slowly covered him with dirt, so that only his face showed. |
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| NYANGOLI: | We should have dug a vertical grave. The weight of earth would not have hurt so much. | ||
| MALIDOMA: | That was all he said. I sat beside him all night. DISTANT SCREAMS Screams seemed to come from everywhere, but Nyangoli made no sound. He just breathed slowly and regularly. DRUM HIT ONCE OR TWICE When the coach hit the drum I opened my eyes. It was dawn. It was time for "resurrection". The coach walked from grave to grave pouring cold water on each boy's head. I removed the dirt covering Nyangoli. He lay there for an hour before getting up. That night when I was covered I felt tremendous weight and then intense heat. MALIDOMA SCREAMS
I was the first to scream. While you scream the pain waits till you're done to speak back. HE SCREAMS AGAIN As the heat increases with the weight of the dirt, the mind cannot tolerate being in the body any longer. I began to hallucinate. The area around me became light as if the sun had risen. It was filled with smoke shaped in human forms. I seemed to get up from my grave and they followed me into the bush. We sat in a circle on the ground and the circle began to rotate. My body got colder and colder until I could not bear it any more. I opened my eyes and the coach was pouring water on my face. Nyangoli dug me out. I was too weak to move and I fell asleep. When I awoke the sun was high in the sky. SOUNDS OF NATURE, OF THE BUSH That day I had a sense of well being and of the unity of nature. I went for a walk in the bush. I knew nature loved me. I had friends in the trees and the grass. I was able to observe the tiniest insect hiding behind the tiniest blade of grass. LOSE BUSH SOUNDS. |
PART 8: THE FIFTH INITIATION, THE KONTOMBLÉ WORLD
The dramatisation continues until, after his initiation, Malidoma is required by the Elders to bring the Dagara's ancient, healing wisdom to the West.
For more information please go to The Healing Wisdom of Africa, Malidoma Somé's Website. and to Drums of Change, Drums of Spirit for some inspiring you tubes.
I should like to thank John Minshall for introducing me to Of Water and the Spirit.
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