It is imperative to draw the line between mourning the dead and a fiesta”. This was the submis­sion of Mr. Charles Ezeani, Chair­man, Information, Tourism and Culture Committee of the Anam­bra State House of Assembly while buttressing need for a proposed law to regulate burial ceremonies in the state in order to curb exces­sive spending. Indeed, such a law is overdue not least in this era of re­cession when we are witnessing gal­loping inflation and low purchasing power, yet people are still mandat­ed to keep up with traditional bur­ial rites that leave many families in­debted, just so as to give their dead relatives a “befitting burial.” The so-called befitting burial that is abso­lutely of no benefit to the one who has passed on but only massages the ego of organisers, the surviv­ing relatives. According to Ezeani, the sponsor of the bill, it “seeks to curtail outrageous demands on the families of the deceased by tradi­tions and customs enforced by el­ders without any consideration for financial capability”, noting that the trend had led to “unhealthy compe­tition among families and friends, each trying by every means to out­shine the other”.
You may have noticed that peo­ple from this part of the country do not undertake funeral rites of their departed ones soonest. Rather the corpse is kept in a mortuary pend­ing when they are ready for it. This may take as long as one year. Mean­while relatives have to pay for eve­ry single day the corpse spends in the cold room. Private mortuar­ies thrive here. For the poor who cannot afford mortuary costs, the remains of their departed are ‘put underneath the earth’. As the phrase indicates, this is not recognised as a burial by the community. In fact the literary translation of this is that the deceased is in the “underground refrigerator”. The deceased person is regarded as having been formal­ly buried when all funeral rites are completed. Until then the wife of the departed one is forbidden from go­ing to the market (buying and sell­ing) and attending meetings, asso­ciating with the community more or less. Ditto the direct relations of any deceased persons. Preparations for the funeral ceremonies begin with gathering enough money which more often than not, involves bor­rowing because of the huge amount to be expended. Among the things required, are renovating the house or compound of the departed, giv­ing it a new look; or building a house where there is no ‘befitting’ one; buying uniform cloth for the de­ceased’s family and extended fam­ily members (uncles, aunts, niec­es, nephews, children, etc.); killing a cow ‘in honour of the dead’, hir­ing a live band to entertain guests, including traditional dancers and of course, food for all and sundry.
The burial ceremony lasts for at least a week, beginning from a Thursday. Thursday is wake-keep­ing, Friday official requiem mass and dust to dust ceremony by the church after which the community’s folks commence their own ‘mourn­ing’ rites, comprising of women’s groups, age-grade groups and other community societies/associations. Saturday is for friends, associates, in-laws and other extended fami­ly members. Sunday is for church thanksgiving by the deceased’s fami­ly. As I indicated earlier the ceremo­ny may last for a month as family of the departed one continue to re­ceive ‘mourners’ of all genres every other day –various groups, associa­tions and personalities. These sym­pathisers have to indicate in advance when they would come calling so the family can prepare adequately for them in terms of dances, food and meat. As a mark of a ‘befitting’ burial or better said, to show off, the bereaved family usually kills cows for the many groups that come to sympathise with them. A portion of the cow meat is given to each group/association as a memento. Also, at the thanksgiving mass, the family often presents numerous food gifts and a cow to the church during of­fertory in order to be highly regard­ed. It is often bandied about that in this part of our country, it is more expensive to bury a departed one than to take care of him/her whilst alive. Although many of the sym­pathisers, groups and associations do give the bereaved some cash, it is often not, enough to recoup mon­ey spent for the burial ceremonies.
As a matter of fact most be­reaved families would say they are not mourning the departed but cel­ebrating his/her life while on earth. But the burial ceremonies are the same for the one who passed on at the “ripe age of 80” with numerous children and one that departed at an ‘untimely’ time of 40 years, leaving behind one child and wife. Mean­while amidst the pervasive jubila­tion and jollification, the wife may be grieving inwardly with a passive countenance. The question is, to what benefit are these festivities to the departed? We are told that they are meant to bid the departed spir­it bye-bye. These celebrations are of little or no value to the depart­ed. Thus the funeral rites can be classed into two, namely, the spirit­ual and social aspect. The spiritual aspect consisting mainly of prayers for the departed is what is of value to the human spirit while the social side is mainly for those of us still liv­ing on earth. I believe it is this as­pect that the proposed law on bur­ials seeks to regulate.
Ikeano writes via vikeano@ya­hoo.co.uk -The Authority