Funeral Season

So around here, dry season is the time for funerals and Ghanaians celebrate funerals in a bigger way way than almost anything else. Important people that died this year, (and everyone is important to somebody) get celebrated in a three day event that draws huge crowds from far and wide. Sometimes, families wait for quite a while before having a funeral for their relative, even several years. These days, there isn't so much to do, so funerals are all the time. Every weekend there is a funeral somewhere, drumming and dancing and drinking and eating is going on, usually within earshot of my house, almost constantly.

I went to visit my good friend and housemate Robert and attend the funeral of his fiance's mother. Women's funerals and men's funerals are different, mainly in the types of dancing. Men's funerals may have a War Dance, but there wasn't one of those when i went to this funeral. There are plenty of variations, I'll describe the one i went to recently.

Funerals are put on at the family house of the deceased and family and friends from all over the country come to them. Preparations start 3 days before by brewing pito, which takes three days to ferment. On the third day, the funeral starts and everyone arrives. Visitors bring gifts for the family of the deceased, often alcohol or other beverages. They also bring animals like fowls, guinea fowls, goats and sheep. The animals are food, of course. and are usually slaughtered and fed to the masses. You have to give the animal alive, though. Giving someone a dead animal is strange and suspisious.

Groups of drummers and dancers arrive and perform for tips, people eat and drink a lot, hang out and offer condolences. The atmosphere is not normally sorrowful, it's rather like a carnival. People come from the surrounding communities and there are people selling all sorts of things, plenty of snacks and drinks. Let me stress: lots of drinking. There are sad people, of course. The funeral will have people designated as "chief morners" whose job is to be sad while everyone else has a good time and works hard. The dancing and masses of people are exciting. Sometimes there are fireworks too.

At the end of the first day, lots of tired, full, drunk people sleep all over the place and where ever they can find space. The next day, many say goodby and go back to wherever they came from. They get parting gifts of food and drink. The second day is more for family and they spend the time relaxing in the home, preparing food, cleaning up from the night before, and dancing. The woman's family arrives in the evening and there is more dancing and celebration. Since in a traditional Ghanaian marraige, the woman goes and lives with the man's family, the wife's family is separate and not the same as the rest of the family and guests.

On the third day, the woman's family travel back to their place, and they take the spirit of the woman and the funeral back with them. Before they go, they dance and go around to the neighboring houses to say goodbye to them. They carry gifts and a few belongings of the deceased woman. The neighbor houses also give gifts, food and drink mainly. Animals(food) are common gifts.

After the family leaves, the funeral festival is over and people can go back to their regular work. next week, there will be a funeral at someone elses house and you can go have a good time there.

I had fun at Cynthia's mother's funeral and I enjoy going to funerals occasionally in Sirigu, but there are so many that i don't go all the time. I also attract alot of attention and at a big funeral there are lots of people from out of town and they don't know me so they tend to get bothersome or annoying. Drunk strangers want to talk to/harrass white people, especially white women (which i'm not). But it's not so bad and certainly interesting. Next time you come to visit me, I hope we can go to a funeral so you can check it out.

I posted some pictures from the funeral and other pics on facebook

Love,
-Toby