After Arabmat died, the elders performed a seance to determine who caused his death. At night, a burning log was hung from a rope through the floor of a house while the village gathered outside. The dead man’s spirit was called on to reveal the guilty person by breaking the rope when a name was spoken. One by one, the names of the men in the village were called, with the belief that when the rope failed, responsibility had been exposed.

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After a woman died in childbirth, the seance ritual was performed again to determine who was responsible. This time, I watched from inside the house. When the rope broke during a name they didn’t want to accept, the ritual was simply restarted. What followed raised a deeper question about the true power behind the rituals.