Cleanse

Quote

At Owerri, when a woman’s husband dies, she is made to sit down that day in her hut on a small piece of wood and must refrain from touching any part of her body, as her hands are defiled. After her husband’s burial her hands are ceremonially washed by a female of the family, who rubs them with palm-fibre and a snail and chicken.

• Source: Meek, Charles Kingsley. Law and authority in a Nigerian tribe: a study in indirect rule. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970.
• Culture: Igbo
• Location: Africa