so...i went to a funeral..

I know how terrible the title of this post sounds...but seriously, funerals in Ghana are vastly different from the rights and customs that we are used to in the states. And that they are giant social events, and many of the people are quite intoxicated for all of the 3 day event. However, it was a sad weekend, we buried my former landlady (Afua), she had passed away the day after Christmas. She was extraordinarily kind to me, and even cooked for me on a number of occasions. She was the first person I really met when I moved into my house. Her kids and extended family have also extended the same kindness to me. This is a photo of the obituary notice that is posted around the town and the surrounding area..Here's a breakdown for Funeral traditions in my area:

*Friday night: wake-keeping. (play loud music over gigantic speakers all night. My house is more than a quarter of a mile away and down the hill, and I can always hear the music as if it is setup right outside my window.)
*Saturday morning: Viewing the body and taking the body to the church for the memorial service, for this it is casual wear. You wear traditional cloth (ntoma) made into a shirt with black pants and shoes.
*Saturday afternoon: In the afternoon, the family sets up tents with chairs and offers refreshments and food for the guests. Doing all of the serving and everything. And from the food, everyone then attends the traditional funeral wearing the traditional cloth wrapped in the traditional style and more music is played and then there is the giving of donations and much drinking and dancing.
*Sunday morning: Thanksgiving service in the church. It's a long service and you wear the traditional black and white cloth, either in the traditional style or made into a shirt.
*Sunday afternoon: Same as Saturday afternoon, for all of the people that couldn't make it to the service on Saturday. So there is more giving of donations, much drinking and dancing.
So a funeral is a very big event and brings the entire community together. I attended my landlady's (Afua's) funeral and did my best to respect the different traditions and customs. I wore the traditional cloth both as a shirt and in the traditional style. My teachers told me that I had to get up and dance as well, so in front of 250+ people I got up and attempted to dance! LOL, while wearing the traditional cloth no less. It was an experience, I'm sure that many of the people had never seen a white man (try to) dance before, one of my fellow teachers also decided to take a video of it on their cell phone. And for this I actually took some photos, I hope you all enjoy...
oh yeah, school this term is also chugging along smoothly. I'll post more about that next time!



The top photo was taken with my former headmaster, Mr. Ninson. He was really excited to see me wearing the traditional cloth.

And this is a photo of me dancing with some of the teachers at my school.