ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the cults of the dead that are found in a society of a very different kind, that of the Edo of the Benin kingdom of Southern Nigeria who, for several centuries, have formed the nuclear population of a large and powerful centralized state. It is concerned with the way relations with the dead relate to the centralizing institutions of the state, and with the role of the dead in the village community, which is the basic unit of the political system. Edo religious life is very complex. The chapter focuses on fathers and elders, and examines how they relate to each other and to the distribution of authority in the lineage and the village community. The chapter examines the manner in which the mortuary ritual serves to effect, or rather symbolize, succession to village elderhood.
