{"id":105338,"date":"2022-08-13T16:01:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T14:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/?p=105338"},"modified":"2022-08-26T18:10:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T16:10:24","slug":"die-beerdigungsfeier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/2022\/08\/13\/die-beerdigungsfeier\/","title":{"rendered":"The funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a great challenge for me to document the funeral ceremony, which lasted several days. Even the 10 days beforehand were packed: all the women sat around for hours preparing tons of food for the mourners. More and more visitors from out of town arrived, and more and more helpers:inside. All the larger rooms filled with drinks, food, dishes and chairs – which were also labeled. The xylophones were repaired, as well as crumbling masonry and the dusty floor in the courtyard. Latrines were built, the field in front of the homestead was leveled. Already in Accra, Cynthia had to prepare the gifts with the domestic worker.<\/p>\n

Nobody had time. Everybody was busy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Das
Pigr’s image I shot 1989. Now it is on the small presents for the guests.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Das
The hand gel will be placed in a neat little bag right next to a surgical mask.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"In
Hand gels, handkerchiefs and surgical masks are then handed over in these festive bags.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Genug
The many drinks for the guests are being delivered.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Der
The shell of the new house serves as a storage room for all the supplies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Der
The clay jug once belonged to Pigr. It is later placed with her corpse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Es
Countless kilogrammes of onions had to be peeled and cut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Cynthia and Ruth take care of many tomatoes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Plastikbecher
The young people had to wash and label the plastic cups.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Irene,
Irene, Titu’s wife, has brought frozen fish in fat coolers from Accra. Now the fish have to be cleaned and gutted. A crazy job.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Alexis,
Alexis, one of many grandchildren Pigr had, renews the grave where Kuuyuour was buried in 1999. His bones are currently kept safely in the homestead until he is reburied together with Pigr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die
This is the place where the dead are laid out. The wall was whitewashed. Before that, it was repaired and the floor was renewed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Das<\/p>\n

The big shroud for Pigr has been washed and is drying on the wall since two days now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Kuuim
Kuuim prepares to tie the mat for the Pigr. She is her oldest daughter and took care of her mother the last years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
It is already getting to be evening. The boys go out with the donkey cart to fetch earth for the soil remediation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
The women sit together pre-cooking almost until midnight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die
The next day, shoes are ready, shined. Everyone will dress nicely for Pigr’s celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die
The radio station in Nandom, a bigger district town, has moved to a new building. We go there to announce the funeral.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die
The funeral is announced on regional radio the day before the ceremony. Five times in total. It only costs a few Cedis. The most important personalities and families are invited to come.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die<\/p>\n

The xylophones are now ready. They are played at the funeral for almost three days without a break.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Surreal
The night scene shortly before Pigr’s body arrives seems surreal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then came the big moment when the bodies of Pigr and Titu’s cousin Gaapagr arrived at the homestead. Pognyang, Titu’s sister, was buried with her husband. Just her picture will be shown. Pigr was taken into a room and laid on the floor. All the women went into the small hut and looked at the dead woman in silence. Pigr was washed, embalmed and dressed in a beautiful robe. The same took place for Gaapagr in his homestead. It was late at night when both dead bodies were laid out in the courtyard, only their silhouettes visible in the glow of many candles. Both were sitting on chairs. Then the drumming, xylophone playing and mourning began.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die<\/p>\n

The women gather around the dead woman and honour her silently.
\nAll pause in a moment of great respect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Vier,
Four or five women make sure that Pigr is washed and nicely dressed. Here Kuuim pulls a top out of a large sack. The group discusses what is the most suitable cloth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die
All the guests and the whole family gather for the first time to mourn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Pigr and Gaapagr are laid out in the courtyard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Nachdem
The women come to the dead first.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
All the grandchildren light a candle for Pigr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Viele
Many guests stayed at the homestead for the next two nights. I estimate there were around 50 people or more. In the whole there came more than 500 people to the funeral.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

No sooner had the sun risen the next morning than all the mourners gathered again in the courtyard and went back to both dead to honour them, mourn them and bid them farewell. Outside in the field, a tent was erected and decorated with great attention to detail, where Pigr and Gaapagr were placed inside from midday. Their belongings were draped around them: Suitcases, pots, fabrics for Pigr. Gapaagr had a bow and arrow, among other things. Next to the tent, the guests laid offerings for the family of the dead. Chickens and goats were tethered, bundles of millet and maize were laid down. The portraits I had taken of Pigr, Kuuyuour 1989 and of Ponyang and Gapaagr 2019 were placed in front of them. I was very touched by that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ein
A tent is decorated in the field for the two dead. Here they will stay for two days.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Die
Guests from the city are catered for in the house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Einige
Some women are resting in the house of Janet and Zumeh. They are offered millet beer, pit\u00f3, like all the guests.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the second day, there was dancing from the afternoon until sunset. And only on the third day were the dead buried.
\nThe grandchildren and all the women honoured Pigr, they literally “danced” a straw mat for her until she was busted . The men finally laid Pigr in her grave. Again they danced and sang. Until the next morning. Until everyone was completely exhausted. Until all the guests went home. Only slowly did peace return.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Am
The next morning, the last and the first are back on the field. Alcohol is sold here, a common scene at funerals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Fr\u00fch
Early in the morning, the vultures are the last to fly away, one by one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The exhibition REMEMBER<\/a> will be opened soon on the 2nd of September 2022. There I will how a documentary of my stay in Hiineteng, about 50 minutes long. Hopefully I can post the film soon on the blog or youtube or vimeo too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The funeral went on for three days. But the organization was an effort of more than six months preparations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beerdigung","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105338"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105365,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105338\/revisions\/105365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buero-moerath.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}