African Funeral
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2003
1
14
16
Trip End
Dec 12, 2005
Ikplinle,
Benin
Sunday, January 18, 2004
as always i hope this entry finds you guys well. Its been a while since my last post but I havent been able to make it to an internet cafe. Yesterday, I went to a town called Sakete. Le Gerant, which means "boss" of CLCAM lives there. I went to visit him, but also to go to a funeral. I was excited because it would be my first one to go to since arriving in country. Dont get me wrong, I have never been a fan of funeras in the states but here it is much different, let me explain. First off, once a person dies, there is usually a small parade type ceremony here. Much noise and commotion to say the least. The family cries and mourns and the deceased are buried. Often voodoo ceremonies exist and the like for the person. Next, the party is planned. I am not talking just a party. Okay i did some number crunching here. Lets say the average annual income here for a person in the states is $30,000. The actual, I think is like $22,000 but for ease of calcualating lets say 30,000. Okay the average annual income for someone here is $1,000. The party they have here for the deceased person costs around $5,000!!! That is 5 years worth of earnings!!! To put it in terms of the US, that is like spending $150,000 on a single party to honor a person who has passed away. I will venture to say that more is spent on someone who has died than given to them their entire lives in many cases! Well, the party is planned and relatives and friends from all over Benin are called and usually 4 or 5 months later the party is had. Get this though. Here's the kicker. The deceased person is brought out of the grave for the party and its an open casket!!! Not to get too graphic here, because you all have imaginations but if you place someone in the ground who is dead and the modern things e use like embalming and stuff like that to preserve things are not used here, you can picture the sight. The party draws thousands of people and everyone is feed until they cant eat any more. They have cokes and sprites, beer and liquor. Huge bands, dancing, singing and things to give to the attendees like fans with the deceased picture on it, plastic buckets wit the same...etc. It is nuts!! Well thats all I have for now, take care
Jace
