26 return to, the society will disintegrate, because it will be difficult to maintain its cultural integrity and social obligations. In response to a death in N’djuka society, a whole series of complex religious rites and ceremonies are set into motion, which require between six months and a year to be completely fulfilled. This process is of critical importance because it is fundamental that the dead are honored properly; as a result, the rites demand the largest assembling of people and resources for ceremonial purposes in N’djuka society. It is extremely important to have possession of the physical remains of the deceased, since the way the corpse is treated in death ceremonies reflects how much the person was respected during his or her life. Moreover, it is necessary that human remains be placed in the burial grounds of the appropriate descent group. On the other hand, in all Maroon societies, the idea of cremation is repugnant; thus, the possibility that the corpses of many Moiwana residents were burned would have been considered very offensive. If the various rituals are not performed according to the traditional rules, it is considered a moral offense, which will not only anger the spirit of the individual who died, but also may offend other ancestors of the community. This leads to a number of “spiritually-caused illnesses” that become manifest as actual physical maladies; however, they cannot be healed by conventional or Western means. These illnesses can potentially affect the entire natural lineage, that is, the descent group to which the deceased belonged. These problems and illnesses do not go away on their own, but must eventually be resolved through social and ceremonial means; if not, they will persist through generations. Considering all of the above, the situation of the Moiwana survivors is “catastrophic” and “unprecedented for the N’djuka people or any Maroon people.” The sheer scale of the number of deaths due to the attack is imposing enough; but the fact that the community cannot even begin the necessary rituals to achieve reconciliation is “difficult to imagine.” Justice is a central concept in traditional N’djuka society; indeed, one of their primary institutions in daily life is the council meeting, which is the means to resolve conflicts of any nature within the community. The institution has spiritual dimensions as well, since ancestors are believed to partake in council proceedings, which provide their decisions with particular legitimacy. In the context of the Moiwana massacre, traditional values would dictate that this must be dealt with on a collective level; mere individual efforts would not be enough. In order for such a serious problem to be resolved, it requires help from the community as a whole. Indeed, as time goes on and the conflict is not resolved, it will affect more and more people and social groups within the society. Individuals acquire rights to land at birth by virtue of their membership in a number of descent groups – and each of these groups has its own legal mechanisms that are particular to it, through which these rights are distributed and activated. Land rights in N’djuka society in fact exist on several levels, ranging from rights of the entire ethnic community to those of the individual. Larger territorial land rights are vested in the entire people;