TWIN REFUSES TO LIE INSIDE GRAVE BEFORE SIBLING BURIED

MANZINI – Contrary to cultural belief that a surviving twin should lie inside the grave before the deceased’s coffin is lowered, a 64-year-old refused to observe this ritual.

This happened at Mbikwakhe in the Manzini Region on Monday, at a funeral of one Gabriel Sanele Mkhize (64).
Mkhize was a lecturer at the University of Swaziland (UNISWA).

Narrating the predicament was Stella Lukhele, who is an aunt to the two. She said Gabriel and his twin Steven led separate lives, so much that the latter resided in Johannesburg while Gabriel was in Swaziland.
As per expectations, when Gabriel passed on, Lukhele said the family expected that Steven would come home for his twin brother’s funeral.
However, she said he did not come home until on Sunday evening.

Even then, Steven reportedly neither alerted the family’s elders that he had arrived nor did he make himself available, although other relatives from South Africa were present by Sunday.
After noticing that Steven was still not available on Monday morning when it was time to go to the burial site, Lukhele; as an elder of the family, informed clergymen who were  present that the ritual was to be observed regardless of the fact that Steven was nowhere to be found.

Lukhele said in cases where the surviving twin was not available for the ritual, there were alternatives that may be done in order to prevent bad luck on the family or the community.
In this case, Lukhele said her option was to use a grass mat (licansi lelukhwane), which was placed inside the grave before the coffin was lowered in.
She said the surviving twin’s clothes may also be used in his place when he or she is not available to perform the ritual.

Explaining the purpose and significance of this practice, Lukhele said since the two shared a womb, it was pertinent that when one died, the surviving twin performed the ritual as his way of bidding farewell to his sibling.
She described lying inside the grave as paving the way for the deceased (kumendlalela).

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