When a person is dying, you have a premonition that something will happen. At this time, a group of black brothers began to dance with the coffin.
The following masks that make people laugh, such as "black brother laughs, life and death are unpredictable", "black brother raises, human beings come for nothing" and "seven dances in the sea", are almost unbearable.
At first, I thought this video of "Men in Black Carrying Coffins" was an online spoof, but after research, I found that "Men in Black Carrying Coffins" did happen, which directly subverted my understanding of traditional funerals.
The funeral video of "Black People Carrying Coffins" took place in Ghana, a small country in West Africa. In the hearts of Ghanaian people, funeral is the most solemn ceremony in a person's life, and Ghana is also called "the funeral capital of the world".
Among West African countries, Ghana's economy is relatively developed. Gold, cocoa and timber, three traditional export products, are the economic pillars of Ghana. It is said that one out of every six chocolates in the world comes from Ghana.
Although Ghana's economy was once stagnant due to the influence of external economic environment in the late 1990s, Ghana's national income began to increase after the discovery of oil resources in 2007. Since 20 10, Ghana has changed from a low-income country to a low-middle-income country.
In Ghana, death is a time to celebrate the life of the deceased. Ghanaians are not pessimistic about death. They think that death is a part of life. The deceased will meet their ancestors in another world, and life will begin in another form, which is somewhat similar to the plot of the Mexican Day of the Dead in the movie Dream Journey.
People will spend a lot of money on funerals, and grand ceremonies are even worse than weddings here: hundreds of guests are invited, funeral parties last for several days, and some people even lose everything to hold a grand funeral. Of course, relatives and friends attending the funeral will follow the crowd to reduce the financial burden of the "bereaved party".
Before the funeral, tribal chiefs or prestigious people in the family will set up a "funeral committee" to inform people, relatives and friends of the obituary. Funeral preparation is a big project, and bands, meals and so on need to be prepared.
Funerals are usually arranged on weekends, so that everyone is free to attend. The funeral of Ghanaians is actually a family gathering. After the family members make an obituary, they have to wait for the whole family to come back, and the deceased will have to wait for ten days and a half months or even longer to be buried.
The average annual temperature in Ghana is 25 degrees, and people will freeze after death. It is also possible to "put it down" for a month or even half a year. After all, this last trip has to be attended by the whole family neatly ~
Another unique feature of Ghana's funeral culture is the shape of coffins.
People will create a unique coffin shape according to the occupation or favorite things of the deceased, such as this lifelike "lion coffin". Maybe the deceased was a lion lover or a fan of the lion king.
And this dead man may have been an endless schoolmaster before his death.
Even fans of "Fat House Happy Water" have to bring their favorite drinks when they go to another world.
In 2007, Benjamin Aidoo, a Ghanaian boy who was still in high school, worked part-time in the funeral industry. He found the process of carrying the coffin too heavy. Perhaps the atmosphere of the funeral can be more cheerful to express the memory and respect for the dead. He began to try to send the dead in the form of dance. Thus, the "coffin-carrying dance" came into being.
He prepared gorgeous costumes for the team, found a band to accompany him, and of course, the most important dance arrangement. His creativity was quickly accepted by the public, and more and more people came to ask for such a happy funeral.
20 17, the bigger and stronger Benjamin Aidoo even set up his own company.
Some time ago, foreign netizens used BGM to give the "coffin-carrying dance" a brand-new soul, and the rhythm of each dance step was perfectly matched with the music drums, detonating the whole network. This also made the electronic dance "Astronomia" turn red again after 10 years, and once again returned to the forefront of the electronic leaderboard version.
Now, YouTube and Bili Bili are full of videos of "Black people carrying coffins". I don't think it's appropriate to spread the video of the deceased like this.
Facing death, different countries, different nationalities, different beliefs and different skin colors, the final feeling may be sad.
Finally, let's end with one sentence:
After all, the lost life still aroused the last ripple of their emotional world.
The ripple aroused their last respect for him.
They also call this tribute a funeral,
When they commemorate the lost life with their own rituals.
Whether he is lively, calm, cheerful or sad.
He will never be in their world.
And will always exist in their hearts.
Become a memory
With the disappearance of the last person who remembers him.
It will disappear in the dust of history forever.