Ancestors Figures

Death is not the end of Life in Africa, the most ancient and basic belief is that Death is not natural and is the product of witchcraft (Soul Eaters). According to their belief, the Life force that Men and Beasts have (Nyama) can cause death as well.
The Africans believe that the dead live in another world but are also present with their relatives in this one. The same ancestors see and know all, so people must be careful with words and deeds, constantly aware that they are surrounded by the “Cloud of Witness”. According to this concept, the dead passing on to the World of the Dead are called the “Living- Dead” and are the most respectable part of the family. Their constant presence is felt daily: during feasts, portions are set aside for them, and at evening  meals pots are not entirely emptied, nor washed till morning,  in case the dead come and find nothing to eat. Particularly in the evening, they believed the ancestors are drawing nearer, and so after nightfall women will not sweep the house or throw water out into the yard, without first warning them out loudly.  
During crises they are being presented with costly presents to enlist their help. In special ceremonies like initiations, feasts, crises and disasters, the Africans awaken their ancestors through the ancestors’ statues, to magically strengthen the community by promising protection, fertility, health, success and so on. The Ancestors’ Figures are meant to protect from hidden powers.
The is the  reason why one of the most important duties of the African peoples, is to carry carefully the burial and later the mourning ceremonies for the dead, and often  it followed with great expenses and accumulate debts – as a expression of filial feeling.  For they believe that the angry ancestors will inflict upon them sickness and misfortunes - for neglecting in fulfilling the last rites with utmost care. Bad dreams are the reasons of anger of a restless spirit. Family life is strengthened by emphasis on performing full duties to the dead. Old men and women and parents are honored, and it is a great harm and humiliation to be cut off from the family. Without the protective benevolence of the ancestors, one is left without support, or protection – an easy victim of malevolence, never to be reincarnated again into a newborn child in the cycle of the family line -cut off from the flow of life continuity -the cycle of life (G. Parrinder, African Traditional Religion 1962).