The Lie We Believed

When we were kids, we were asked to stay indoors anytime a king died. Not only kids, but everyone. We were told that anyone who stepped out was going to be captured and beheaded for the king’s corpse.

From what I remember, those people who were beheaded were going to serve the king in the afterlife. I didn’t really understand the rationale behind it, but I believe it’s because he’s royalty? I don’t know. I don’t know. But that's what we were told. I remember my brothers and I being so scared anytime we heard someone from the royal family had passed.

There was this particular day that my brother got stuck on a mango tree during the royal mourning period. And then it was also getting late, so people started rushing home. I vividly recall how my brother climbed the tree to hide in the branches while I went home to inform my mom to either go to his aid or he gets beheaded. And trust me, I was very dramatic about it. Mmm, what can I say? I didn’t want to lose the one person who was sending me through the stubbornness training series that I needed. Oh, you thought I would say I was scared of losing my brother? Hehe. Okay, let me get back on track.

Anyway, fast forward to today, and guess what? I found out it’s all a lie. How did I find out? So the queen mother of the Ashanti kingdom in Ghana is dead, and today, they were talking about how the burial rite is going to be.

After they explained the process, someone asked a question about the heads they’ll bury the queen mother with, and the man laughed. From what he said, there was and has never been anything like catching people to behead them. There was beheading back in the day, but it was mostly done to murderers who were on death row and were prepared to be executed.

So instead of hanging them or giving them lethal injection, they behead them for the burial rituals. I was a little curious as to why they would let murderers serve the king in the afterlife. And as if the man heard me, he answered that they weren’t killed to serve the king; it’s just a tradition or something like that. I didn’t quite catch that.
I can’t believe we’ve been living with that lie for all these years. You know what's funny? Up till today, I get scared when I hear that a king is dead.