On Sunday I was stopped by the police as I was cycling back home from the swimming pool and I wasn't allowed to proceed until 4 army helicopters landed in the grounds of the nearby school. It transpired that the helicopters were carrying President Rajapakse who was visiting Galle to pay his respects to the wife of one of his advisers who had died recently.
Death, as in most developing countries, is a common occurrence here in Sri Lanka and, like all key stages in life, has a serious amount of ritual associated with it. The newspapers are peppered with adverts, sometimes half a page in size, publicising someones death. Equally, street light posts are covered in posters put up by the family telling everyone around that their loved one has died. The area near the house is covered in white flags and white streamers to signify where the body will be laid out. Three days before the body is buried, Buddhist monks arrive at the home and chant. For the next 72 hours streams of family, friends, neighbours and colleagues visit the home to pay their respects and eat rice and curry and drink tea. Unlike weddings were one has to be invited, funerals are for everyone. Even those with the slightest connection to the deceased is expected to come. I've been to 4 funerals since I've been in Sri Lanka all of those of relatives of my colleagues who I'd never met when they were alive.
The deceased is laid out in splendour in their coffin surrounded by fake flowers and elephant tusks. They are dressed in white - the grandmother of one of my colleagues looked rather like a black and white minstrel as she was wearing white gloves which were 5 times too large for her tiny hands. I kept expecting her to sit up and do the Minstrel wave!
It must be incredibly costly for a family when someone dies as they're expected to feed and give drinks to everyone that visits. Not only does this happen for the 3 days before the funeral itself but it is also repeated 1 week after the burial, 3 months after the burial and then every year after the burial in perpetuity. Guests bring sugar and milk powder to help but it must mean the family is left with mountains of these things and nothing else.
At the other end of the life cycle, I am so pleased to let you know I'm an Auntie (although I don't plan to let people call me that - it sounds so spinsterish!). My brother, Tim, and his wife, Anna, had twins early yesterday morning, 13th November. Both boys and their Mum are doing well. I can't wait to meet them in March when I head back to the UK. Well done Tim & Anna!
No comments:
Post a Comment