Continuity and Change in Tiv Concept of Death and Burial Rites

Over the last few decades, the Tiv culture of death and burial have experienced radical changes due to the confrontation of indigenous religion with western education, modernization and cultural borrowing from Tiv neighbouring ethnic groups and some of the “local communities” are among those that are visited during death and burial ceremonies. This cultural integration infiltrated Tiv culture, customs and traditions, especially death and burial rites. It also influenced the process of religious changes as a point of department from the pre-colonial practices. Today, death and burial ceremonies have become festivities and occasions for the bereaved to display wealth. The material mode of production which is capital-oriented and the desire for material gains have led the Tiv to become exploitative, especially to sons-in-law as regards death and burial rites. It also led to drastic shift in the roles that were performed by male children to female children in modern Tiv society. This made the Tiv to abandon the traditional practices of death for Christian-oriented ones. This research therefore, provides a new metric as supplemental for traditional practices of death.