The Onetime Farewell

            Ghanaians and most Africans believes in life after death. After all, we are all humans, we will all die someday and as it has always being, we perform a funeral rite for the dead.

As it is said in Gen.3:19 "By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

So whether rich or poor, young or old,whatever way we live our lives we shall surely be dead someday and so funeral has become a necessary evil for humans.

When a new baby is born, there is invariably joy and celebrations but death of an individual palpably is the exact opposite.

 Funerals, usually a ceremony that seeks to give farewell messages to the soul into the spiritual realm has become a major social event in Ghana.

In most communities in Ghana, funerals are organized differently depending on the status,tribe, age or religion of the deceased. Generally, they are organized on weekends with distinctive attires of black,red or dark brown. White is sometimes worn when the decease is above the age of 85.

In the olden days, in the Akan tradition, if someone's child has not died before, the first child to die is called "fea" and for such child no funeral is held.

Also people who are known to have died from bizarre illness, natural disasters, maternal mortality or is known to have committed suicide do not have any funeral rites performed on their behalf.

It was  believed that the person may have committed an offense which might have prompted the ancestors to punish him in such manner and therefore should there be any funeral, the wrath of the gods will be visited on the people.

However, in modern times most of these practices have been thrown away.

Funeral ceremonies are performed for all manner of people irrespective of the circumstances surrounding their death.

Immediately after demise of someone, rituals are immediately performed. Droplets of water are dropped on the mouth of the deceased. The faith behind this act is that the soul travels into the spiritual realm to his ancestors, hence the water. The chief of the community is informed and of course the head of the family.

Subsequently a family meeting is held and a decision is made on who oversees the funeral rites, who buys the coffin and the date that the ceremony is to be held.

In the case of whose responsibility it is to buy a coffin, it behoves the children to buy it when the father dies, and the father also buys it when the wife dies. Invariably, libation is pured and the dead body is bathed.

After which the body is carefully dressed and is laid in public for friends and relatives to file past it.

Relatives mostly present to the body, items such as rings, cloth, sponge and things the person is believed will need in the course of the journey to the afterlife. It is then taken to the cemetery before dusk for burial.

After the burial, a service is held the next day in his honour.

This is where the bereaved family accepts condolences and thanks the mourners and well wishers for the support.

Invariably, there is drumming, dancing and foods and drinks are also served.In modern Ghanaian societies funerals have become a place where people exhibit their wealth. A place of joy and celebration in contrast to the solemn nature of mourning.
Elaborate funerals are invariably performed in modern Ghanaian societies. Fancy caskets, banquets of all kinds, chairs and canopies being hired together with Djs who will entertain visitors. You should not be surprised when you visit someone and find his/her wardrobe full of funeral cloth because every funeral demands a special cloth bereaved families are supposed to wear.

However, originally food and drinks were provided to mourners who traveled long distances to attend the funeral and obviously didn't come from the community where the ceremony is being held.
Today, all that has being thrown to the  dogs. Banquets are held and mourners are expected to turn up in their numbers. The greater the number of mourners the better hence the colossal amount of money that is invested into the organization of these activities.
Consequent to this, huge debt are always incurred because families tend to organize showy funerals and spend extravagantly even if their financial situation does not  demand it.

Loans are contracted and this tends to worsen things. For once I can't believe that people contract loans just to organize funerals. Its no surprise that during the burial of the former president of Ghana Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, 3.5 million Ghana cedis or 1.8 dollars was spent whiles the poor people of Ghana languished in poverty.
As always when  families do this, nothing better is left of them  as they are chiefly forced into financial constraints.
As one of our legislators pointed out, it is indeed very sad that we are investing in the dead rather than the living.
It is my hope that Ghanaians will see the repercussions of these unwise spending and and manage their finances prudently.