Funerals
Being in Ghana
does make you more aware of your own mortality.
I was at the funeral of a friend’s brother, a Head Teacher in his 30s (I
think), my friend’s younger brother.
As is tradition here, he had a burial not long after his
death, followed by a funeral a few months later. Funerals can be years and years later
sometimes, if the family has to save up and the person who has died is a chief
or other important person in the community.
Thomas’s burial and funeral were Catholic, but often funerals are very
traditional affairs, with war dances. As
Thomas was a young man, the funeral was more sombre.
In this picture, you can see my two colleagues in their
funeral attire. She is wearing funeral
colours (blacks, reds, browns), though many people just wear their best
clothes, whatever colour they may be. He
is wearing a smock – which is best described as the Ghanaian equivalent of a
kilt! (I know people don’t often wear
kilts to funerals or work, but it was the best description I could come up with
for an American friend who didn’t know about kilts!)
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