Family of Late President Hage Geingob Resolves to Accept State Burial, Waiving Ancestral Rituals

The family of the late President Hage Geingob has acknowledged that his remains will not be taken to his ancestral land for traditional funeral rituals. Despite this, they express contentment that he will be laid to rest alongside fellow comrades at Heroes’ Acre. Geingob’s nephew, John //Khamuseb, explained the lion clan’s cultural practice, stating that traditionally, a person’s remains are taken to where their umbilical cord was buried. According to him, in the lion clan culture, a person is buried twice – first at the site of their umbilical cord burial, and secondly, when their body is laid to rest. //Khamuseb shared that the family had already committed to handing over Geingob’s remains to the State, despite the customary inclination to return to the first burial site for the cutting of the spirit, either in traditional or biblical contexts.