Yesterday clvrmnky and I were discussing blogging and the social web in general, and wondering a little what is the point. As I rode in the car on the way to a funeral after our conversation. I looked at the roadside scenes that have become so familiar as to be unremarkable, and thought the thing about a travellog is that you’re having all these new experiences. You have things to say every day. It seems like the more I get settled in here, the less of those funny/interesting/quirky experiences I have to write about.

Then we got to the funeral, and the president of Ghana was there. Yes, I saw him pass by waving, about 8 feet from where I was sitting. It was so exciting, I stopped reflecting on whether the funeral was more like Foucault’s concept of discipline or Geertz’s concept of deep play (really, there’s no place for me except academia).
Funerals are very interesting. I’ve been to a few now, but this was by far the biggest. The man who died was ambassador to Korea, so there were a lot of big name politicians and important people who showed up to give their respects. Also, the widow’s family is enormous (Mama J. is related to the widow, so we were sitting with the widow’s side. At one point, I mentally referred to her as “the bride” by accident).

In general, the funerals that I’ve seen are physically set up the same way, even if they are much smaller. There are roughly four sides of seats around a central open area. In the open area is a decorated table or raised platform, usually covered in red or black cloth. There are one or more pictures of the deceased on the platform, and maybe some flowers or ornaments. People can mill about or dance in the central area, and but the most of the people remain seated.

When you arrive, you are greeted by someone who is helping out. That person takes you to greet the front row of each of the four sides at a smaller funeral (at the large one, Mama J. and her sisters only greeted the widow’s side, and Aurelie and I just stood at the back and waited for them, and then we all sat in the back of the widow’s side together). The greetings very based on whether you actually know the people you’re greeting, but basically it’s a hand shake and maybe a “welcome” or “how are you” type exchange. When people know each other, though, it’s often full of smiles and maybe even hugs or laughter. I’ve not been to many funerals, but in general it seems that expressions of grief are relatively rare, and maybe limited to the dancers.

If the funeral is on a Saturday, then people wear black or dark brown, or dark colours with a bit of red or a sort of burnt orange colour. If people are close to the deceased or the official mourners (such as the widow), they will wear black with a very bright red waist cloth, or (and I’m not sure but this might be for the official mourners) all red. If the funeral is on a Sunday, people wear black and white adinkra cloth.

The funeral is a drop-in affair, with people coming and going over the course of the day, so there are almost always people moving around and greeting the front row. During this time there is music playing over loudspeakers, or sometimes drumming. At the large funeral there were about two or three different sources of music playing simultaneously. It is customary for guests to make donations to the family to offset some of the costs of the funeral. These donations are often either money or drinks (traditionally alcoholic, but now can be either alcoholic or “minerals,” what we call “pop” where I’m from).

The children were among the official mourners on the widow’s side. They were all adults, and while we were there, their spouses gave them gifts including cloth, drinks, and gigantic elaborate gold necklaces (the necklaces were so large and heavy that they actually had special kerchiefs that they put on the children’s necks first). The people I was sitting with explained that these necklaces weren’t for the children to keep, but they were an optional thing that the spouses could do to show their love, and respect, and also to show off. It was this that got me thinking about discipline (behaving in particular ways because people are watching) and deep play (performances of status).

There were official dancers and drummers at the ceremony, but we left before we really got to see much dancing.

Filed under: Ghana