It is used to announce mourning, but also to animate songs and dances during funerals: which are opportunities to honor the deceased and to strengthen relationships between the living
One of the things that caught my attention in the first months of the mission was the “village within the village”: that is, the cemetery. It is often the most beautiful and well-kept place. Almost everywhere the cemeteries have the same style, always clean and tidy. I have sometimes wondered why people preserve the graves of their homes almost better.
Even when I was in Italy for my training, I was very impressed by the beauty of the cemeteries. At every celebration of the commemoration of the dead, we went to the Monza cemetery to visit the deceased and to pray for them. Each time I was impressed by the beauty of the tombs and the floral decorations. It is right that the memories of our loved ones are always beautiful: because memories become memory.
Despite this, however, when I arrived in Ouassadougou in Ivory Coast, it was a surprise to see that the cemeteries are almost more beautiful than the villages themselves. Then I realized that it’s because people celebrate death here. Not because they love it, but because they welcome it and because they respect the deceased.
This is why even the funeral is always a party, where everyone is actively involved. A party that can’t start without the sound of there there. A sound that first of all communicates who has died, whether an adult, a child or a woman – and where he died – whether in the village, in the fields or in another city. When the there there (speaking), everyone gathers and the funeral begins.
Death is a great event: it is the departure of a loved one towards the world of ancestors. It is not just a family affair, but of all families in the entire village. He mourns for the deceased, he mourns for and with his family. But death is not just crying; it is also songs, music and dance to the rhythm of there there, so as not to abandon the family alone in pain. Dances, music and meetings continue for several days, to accompany the members of the deceased’s family. It is an occasion that unites people and villages.
This sign of respect and veneration of the dead is also realized in the tombs. «They remind us that we are not here as masters of the land – a village elder told me – but as guests for a short period of time. These tombs are our future and tell us that we must live our present well: they are our school of life. They also remind us that all the deceased deserve respect. They are like museums that tell history, treasures that preserve the mysteries of life. They are our “family photo”.
This is how I understood why graves are more beautiful than houses.