Abstract: | The African mystical society comprises the deceased ancestors, who are called the living dead, their physically surviving relatives, and children yet unborn. The ancestors, by establishing the roots of the descent group in the past, have the function of legitimizing the authority of family and lineage heads and of providing sanctions for the maintenance of proper relations between kin and spouses. The belief in and the desire for reincarnation refers to the dependence of the descent group for its continuity on the renewal of the personnel. Reincarnation in African religion implies the conservation of the clan, and of moral and traditional values. Bibliogr., ref. |