A Xhosa Funeral

Going to a Xhosa funeral wasn’t on our original schedule, but some of us got to see one close-up.

Over the past weekend, our team was divided into two groups and assigned to a different Xhosa church in two villages in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.  One group did teaching at a men’s conference.  Another group did house to house visitation with church members and helped in some church services, with Xhosa translators.  We were exposed to (and blown away by) the music that makes South Africa famous.  The beautiful  harmonies and rich voices make the whole congregation sound like a choir.  The singing was a huge part of the service, and even the children had impressive voices.

Back to the funeral.   Our host pastor had been asked to speak at the funeral of an old woman who had recently died, and he invited us to come to the funeral to experience that side of Xhosa culture.  The service took place under a huge rented tent on the woman’s home property.   About three hundred people were crowded underneath.  While the girls on the team sat on benches in the crowd, the “men” (our guys) and myself were ushered to the front, squeezing between the coffin and the front table.  We watched the proceedings within arm’s reach of the coffin.  The service, which lasted a couple of hours, was filled with remarkable singing that went on and on.  Even our Northwestern team was asked to come up and share a song.  We knew we couldn’t begin to measure up to the South African standard, but we sang with our hearts “You’re Beautiful,” which was actually pretty appropriate for a funeral.

Mafu (Mathew), our Brazilian MK who’s always ready for anything, ended up being one of the pall bearers at the end of the service.  A long procession made its way out of the tent to a nearby steep hillside where the grave had been dug.  Prayers and more songs were offered, and the coffin was lowered into the ground.  The officiating pastor gave a final word to the crowd, “And remember, our dear departed is now in heaven.  Her spirit is not here to be appeased, so do not come here to offer your sacrifices to the ancestors.”

Back to the tent we went to be served a huge meal.  Our plates were piled high with food: rice, “nqosho” (beans and maize), beef chunks, chicken, potato salad, pumpkin, beets, cabbage, and apples.  Everyone did their best to clean their plates…