FEATURE: West African funerals give rise to Ghana’s renowned pallbearers
PRETORIA, June 8 (ANA) – Despite many Africans having embraced religions that are not indigenous to the continent from centuries back, they still attach enormous honour to their ancestors.
In most African cultures, death is not viewed as the end of one’s life but as a linear passage to becoming an ancestor. This belief has led Africans to revere and honour the deceased because they are considered to have assumed a key position as a mediator between humans and God.
Funerals are therefore a big deal in Africa. Hence the right burial ensures that the ancestor doesn’t remain to haunt and exert power over the living, but instead rests in peace and protects the family.
There’s a belief that if the deceased is not buried correctly, their spirit will haunt the relatives and bring misfortune to the family until certain rituals are performed in order to appease their spirit.
West African countries in particular are known for their funerals. In Nigeria and Ghana, funerals are the most lavish, elaborate and often drawn-out occasions. In fact, it’s common for families to spend more on funerals than on weddings.
Ghanaians and Nigerians usually wait for weeks or months before they bury a loved one. During this time the family is busy with planning and saving up money to create the funeral they desire. Immediate and extended family members and the community are expected to help in paying these high costs.
The costs usually cover thousand of posters printed to announce the death of a loved one, hiring performers for entertainment, sewing expensive clothes for the deceased and immediate family, and slaughtering animals that will be enjoyed during an elaborate feast.
CNN reported that some families even hire professional mourners to cry at the funeral of their loved one because “it serves as a reward to the person who has died,” said Adwoa Yeboah Agyei, who owns The Funeral Shop and Services, a franchise with locations across Ghana’s capital, Accra.
From ancient days, Ghanaian funerals always featured heavily symbolic rituals involving giving offerings to the spirits of the ancestors and loud traditional dancing and drumming to accompany the dead on their journey.
From this practice, the Nana Otafrija pallbearers from Ghana was birthed and they made a name for themselves. The group has become an internet sensation thanks to their signature moves while carrying a coffin during funerals.
The dancing pallbearers first became famous in 2017 with their “coffin dance”. Families are increasingly paying for their services to send their loved ones off in style.
Speaking to The Guardian, Benjamin Aidoo, the lead pallbearer, said that he started working as a pallbearer while in high school in 2003.
He told the publication that he came up with the idea of dancing with the coffin because he wanted people to be able to celebrate their dead. He also noticed that people would often grow so upset at their solemn funerals that they would faint or injure themselves. If they could focus on the dancing, he reasoned, they would be less likely to get hurt.
Things changed for Aidoo’s business when the family of a member of parliament who had died hired Aidoo and his fellow pallbearers but insisted they wear all-white matching outfits. The MP’s family paid for the outfits and the funeral celebration went so well that they tipped handsomely, too.
“That was the first time I ever saw a US$100 bill,” Aidoo was quoted saying.
After that, he said, “I had a vision for what I am doing.”
Aidoo now employs about 100 staff – 95 men and five women. Two of the women are lead pallbearers. Like Aidoo, they march in front of the coffin with a cane decorated with the Ghanaian flag, and a top hat.
Aidoo has also recently hired a manager and together they are trying to build a global brand.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Yaron Blecher