The Role of the Church in Postcolonial African Burial Rituals in Collins Chabane Municipality: A Pastoral Perspective

Abstract

Death is a painful reality that strikes and affects all human beings. Death knows no boundaries, race, age, gender, belief system or status. It affects the family; the social, political and economic networks of the deceased and the community at large. Death comes with different challenges that require coping mechanisms. While Africans from all walks of life use different approaches to help the bereaved deal with death and loss, the church has become the biggest role player in attending to this crisis. Although the church is a latecomer in the lives of African people in general, for the people of Collins Chabane Municipality in particular, it is given priority when death strikes. This article seeks to articulate how the church has become central to the death and burial rituals in that municipality. To that end, the researcher conducted a review of data collected through individual and focus group interviews carried out with traditional community leaders (local chiefs) in the municipality on the theme: The erosion of postcolonial African funeral traditions in rural South Africa (Limpopo).