Village Lifestyle : The Reality of Funerals in My Village
Steem greetings from the motherland-Caneroon to all friends on the Steemit ecosystem. Guys, it is a cold morning from my end with heavy rains. Today, permit me to share with you all the notions of funerals in my village.
Growing up as a child in the village setting, it was uncommon to see people feast when someone died. It was a period of mourning for almost a month. You could see how family members mourn early in the morning, everyone assembles in the family compound to cry 😭 for almost an hour before having breakfast. This was done for 7 days, every morning was crying time. Also, when a new family member arrives at the funeral ground, everyone present accompanies them in crying.
The mourning period was dedicated by the bereaved family members to mourn the loss of their loved ones. In case of the death of an elderly person in the family, the mourning period is prolonged to almost a month but in case of the death of a child, mourning takes place immediately after burial, and everyone is asked to go back to their homes because it was not a good seed.
After the mourning period, a day is dedicated to celebrating the life of the person who died. Prior to this day, some traditional rites are performed by the family head and some cleansing before the celebration day.
On the day of the celebrations, each close relative of the bereaved is required to bring in a traditional or church dance groups to perform. After the dance group performances, it was time for eating and drinking.
Nowadays, the story is no longer the same. A lot has changed over the years as I see people no longer go into that extensive period of mourning. Rather, funeral grounds have been turned into feasting grounds.
It is common practice today during funerals to see the family members rather bothered about what people will eat and drink on that day, or what they will wear and their appearance matters a lot. Some go to the extent of putting on eyelashes, doing makeup, and installing good wigs.
At the funeral ground nowadays, it is common to hear people gossip “…the funeral was a mess...” You will wonder why it was a mess because the family was not financially capable of hiring the services of a music band and cooks. There was not enough to eat and drink, etc.
People now come to funerals with their smartphones ready to capture the performance of music bands not because they enjoy it but to sit back and analyze if actually, it was a cheap or expensive music band hired for the funeral. This has pushed some family members to go to the extent of borrowing money just to satisfy onlookers at the funeral.
The latest of it all is hiring the services of a catering service. Without a catering service at the funeral, no one in the village would even talk about what happened at the funeral ground. To satisfy villagers, the bereaved family contributes money to hire a catering service.
In sum, in my village, there is no more value attached to the dead. People easily move on after losing their loved ones unlike in the past when a period of time was dedicated to mourning. This has kept me wondering what has happened to bring about this drastic change.
You can share in the comment section if you have noticed the same change about funerals in your village.
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I think this big feast in burial is an Africa thing! Before my grand ma burial took place, I never thought of doing anything at all. I just had plans to just pay my little contribution as grandson and leave the rest for the parents… two days before the burial, I was forced to rent canopy and make arrangements for food because all my friends said they were coming to my canopy to enjoy themselves…
as long as is an old person, culture has now made it compulsory you celebrate the dead not mourn again and it’s pathetic
The rate at which family members indebted themselves just to satisfy onlookers at the funeral baffles me.
Culture is the way of life of the people in any country,due to this fact, people do their thing differently, Burial in some areas is different in terms of how things are done there.
I can see that it was really a good day as culture of how a dead person can be honored,.
Giving a last respect to some one that dead is an amazing thing.
Looking at the photograp,it shows the process of how funeral is done in your village.
I real because with the way ambulance is taking the corpse accompanied by the Brads Band is a unique culture.
I think it is due to respect and give last honor to a dead person.
But to the families that lost this person,I do sympathize with them.
Please receive my heart felt sympathy.
#sec-newbie
Unfortunately, culture has lost it all nowadays there is no mourning but rather feasting. I can imagine the amount of money spent on drinks and food not to talk of ashuabi 😔.
The African understanding of death is deeply influenced by its rich cultural and religious traditions. The common belief is that death is not the end of life but the beginning of another state of existence. The soul continues to exist in the ancestral world, influencing the lives of the living. Rituals, ancestor worship, and the belief in the cycle of life hold significant importance in African culture. These concepts not only reflect attitudes toward death but also embody the deep sense of collectivism and harmony with nature that pervades African cultures.
The true African culture is no more, especially within the context of Cameroon. Mourners are more bothered about what to eat, drink and wear. Emphasis is no longer laid on the period of mourning.