Alando's funeral has been the past few days- yes, it lasts for days. Everything seems to be a big event here, especially birth and death. Usually babies don't receive a name until a week after they are born, at their naming ceremony. Christians usually have their naming ceremony at church and then have a big party afterwards. I was told me that it really important to be accepted in the society by having a naming ceremony. Families borrow money and make preparations that could seem elaborate to us considering their means. Funerals, I have learned, are also very important. Alando's started on Thursday when they brought the body from Tamale. They usually have funerals within a few days and don't embalm but because of the murder his body was sent to Tamale for an autopsy and they had to bring it back in the hospital van... I haven't seen any hearses around here.
On Thursday night they had a wake and although we didn't go to that, it usually lasts all night. On Friday they had the burial service, which lasted for hours and then they buried him in a room they had built onto his compound. Apparently they usually bury people inside the courtyard of the house, but Alando's courtyard was concrete so maybe that's why they built a room. We went to his house for the visitation last week. His house was one of the nicest around here and yet it was still set up like the mud hut compounds – individual rooms all around an open courtyard. He has 2 wives and they each have a room in the house. It's mostly non-Christians that have multiple wives but I've seen some Christian men, like Alando, that have more than one wife. I was told that Alando's father had 5 wives. There's so many aspects of the culture that I still don't understand and wonder how the church really should approach these things.
Ok, so back to the funeral. Yesterday they had the memorial service with tributes, sermon, music and even dancing... interesting to see dancing at a funeral. Many letters and tributes to Alando were read and everyone talked about what a great man he was. They even had T shirts that many people wore with his picture and name on the front and “May he rest in perfect peace” on the back. Another interesting thing is that the family has to prepare food for everyone, instead of everyone bringing the family dishes as we do in the States. On Friday and Saturday, they made food and distributed it out to all of us, which is a huge task and expense, considering there were probably close to a thousand people at the burial and hundreds at the memorial service the next day.
Today there was a Thanksgiving service at church, with the purpose of thanking God for all that He has done for us in these past few weeks. I thought it was both interesting and wonderful to have a service to thank God as part of the funeral. Please continue to pray for the family and friends during this time, because no matter what culture or funeral practices, death is never easy. And pray for peace in this community, for love to replace hate, and for comfort to fill the hearts of the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment