A Funeral (South African Style)

On Tuesday our schedule for the day was changed due to a funeral at the neighbors house. You can learn so much about cultures through their ceremonies (weddings, funerals) and rites of passage (birthdays etc). First its a very communal event whether you know the person or not and its last a loooong time. From the day that the person dies until the day of the funeral there is an evening prayer/memorial service every night at the home. The night before the funeral the evening service is 4 hours long. We heard them singing long into the night. We didn't have to attend that one, but we did go to one of the evening services. Lots of singing and praying. It was not in English so to be honest I feel asleep after the singing. oops...  The family cooks for the entire neighborhood that attends the funeral so everyone shares their pots, pans, dishes, etc. The women spend two days cooking. There was easily over a 100 people that came. That is so hard core something we in the states would never consider doing.

The coffin is brought to the home and placed in the father's room if its his child. I was wondering how in the world they would get a coffin through the doorway, but its much smaller than our ornate huge ones. Then 30 minutes before the funeral starts they open the coffin for a viewing. When its time to start which in this case was 7am the coffin is moved outside under a tent that has been set up in the yard with chairs for people to sit in. The only thing really different about this part is that about half of the people came late and it was outside at 7am in the cold. Brrr.. After about an 1 1/2 it was time to go to the cemetery. It is not that common to see a processional of cars in the states but here everyone does it. How do over a 100 people get there you ask?Well some people drive, but most take a bus. Yep, they rent a bus to take ALL the people to the cemetery. At the cemetery they sing and bury the coffin but not 6 ft down just below ground level because next the men use shovels to cover the coffin and make a mound above ground. This took a little while but we waited til its done. The fact that the men of the community actually bury the coffin themselves is fascinating to me. Something about it seems more personal or meaningful. After this part we went back to the neighbor's home and had lunch. All together it was almost a 4 hour affair but well worth it.