Funeral + Solidarity

I call this solidarity. 

In Aceh, when we lost a member of the family we'll be helped by our neighbour and villagers around. In a deep sorrow of losing our father or mother or other family member, we are not alone. A lot of hands and help will immediately come from the very first day, start from the funeral, preparing the body until burrying. Men and women come with with everything they might need to give.

After burrying, the funeral will still continue for seven days forward. During these days usually people are coming for visiting the mourn family. In the moment like this, the host is not only the mourn family, but also the neighbor and the villager. They cook, make dishes, serve the meal, drink and cake or cookies. The kitchen then change to be outdoor and some kind of centre of the house at the moment. A plenty women or old women will take part for cooking. They will come with the rice from their own house to be collected and cooked in the mourning house. They start from the early morning for the first breakfast of the day.

Women are reparing the breakfast.

In occasion like this, rice is cooked in a big bunker and so did the water. That is why cooking the rice and supplying the hot water are always men duty.

Preparing three times meal a day it is not the duty of the host at all. The neighbor and villagers around will definitely take place. They will come alternately during the seven days.

Now preparing the lunch for everyone, especially for the mourn family and the guests.

Losing someone we love is always a deep sorrow, but here, we are never alone to carry that feeling. Warm people around are there to help us to get through and give everything they have. This is our tradition. This is our culture.