The funeral - part 2
After the service in church grandma was buried in the cemetary next to the church. The cemetary differed from the ones I have seen before in that it was located in the forest, and was not laid out with paths and grass. Someone explained to me that people are buried in the wilderness, and not close to where people go in their daily life, in order to avoid encounters with ghosts. A pineapple was growing next to grandma's grave and I felt comforted that if she decided to come back as a ghost at least she would have something to eat.
We then continued to the funeral site. All three funerals shared the same park and chairs were available for all the guests. Since ghanaian funerals tend to be very expensive it is common practice for all visitors to donate towards the cost. It is customary for the guests to,starting from the right, shake the hands of all the people sitting in the front row and wave to the people sitting behind, before finding their seats. I don't know how many people attended the funeral, but there were hundreds of people so there was a lot of shaking and waving going on.
Since arriving in Ghana we had been wearing black clothes to express our mourning, and on the day of the funeral we all wore clothes made from the same very beautiful black cloth. Mrs' older brother and I wore the traditional attire of a cloth that you wrap around your body, as did the uncles. The women wore skirt and top and the youngermen wore shirts and black trousers. The day after the funeral we wore a white cloth with black print. I am uncertain of the specific meaning of the change in cloth, but it has to do with that the burial hade taken place and that the funeral was over. We attended church again for a 4 hour (!!) service with no less than three rounds of donations for church refurbishments, and then a second stay at the funeral site. At the funeral site we danced a traditional Ashanti dance called Adowa (which we had practiced in advance in London), also to express our sadness and that we missed grandma.
This ends my brief summary of the funeral. I know I keep promising pictures, but it will have to wait until I'm back in London... :(
We then continued to the funeral site. All three funerals shared the same park and chairs were available for all the guests. Since ghanaian funerals tend to be very expensive it is common practice for all visitors to donate towards the cost. It is customary for the guests to,starting from the right, shake the hands of all the people sitting in the front row and wave to the people sitting behind, before finding their seats. I don't know how many people attended the funeral, but there were hundreds of people so there was a lot of shaking and waving going on.
Since arriving in Ghana we had been wearing black clothes to express our mourning, and on the day of the funeral we all wore clothes made from the same very beautiful black cloth. Mrs' older brother and I wore the traditional attire of a cloth that you wrap around your body, as did the uncles. The women wore skirt and top and the youngermen wore shirts and black trousers. The day after the funeral we wore a white cloth with black print. I am uncertain of the specific meaning of the change in cloth, but it has to do with that the burial hade taken place and that the funeral was over. We attended church again for a 4 hour (!!) service with no less than three rounds of donations for church refurbishments, and then a second stay at the funeral site. At the funeral site we danced a traditional Ashanti dance called Adowa (which we had practiced in advance in London), also to express our sadness and that we missed grandma.
This ends my brief summary of the funeral. I know I keep promising pictures, but it will have to wait until I'm back in London... :(
posted by Mats-o-palats-o at 5/03/2008 04:19:00 PM
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