Igbo Funeral Ceremony Essay

Many people don’t think about their funeral ceremony or what they want it to be like. Death is a situation that is faced all over the world every single day. It is grieved and life is celebrated in many shapes and forms. Death to the Igbo people can result in a beautiful, vibrant celebration or a ceremony or recognition at all. Burial rites and traditions of the Igbo people are created around how the person has lived their life, roles of the family, and the ceremony. How a person lives their life in the Igbo culture plays a big part in how one is buried. For example, if someone were to be in a tremendous amount of debt, they were to be given no funeral at all and left to rot in the Evil Forest. (Chinua 15-25) Chiefs, or leaders, get the most elaborate celebrations. Chiefs bodies are washed and dressed with the finest clothes, the family pays their respects, other leaders bring gifts and pay their respects, there are also songs and dancing to commemorate them. Women on the other hand, differ from the chiefs. Old, free women are to be honored with dance and a feast, whereas when young, free women die, they are given a play performed by their family and buried at her family’s home. Finally, for men, cannons are fired to signal their death over a span of six
days and also have plays and feasts similar to those of the women (Hauser 1). The Family is a very important part of the burial traditions of the Igbo people.
One role the family plays in the celebration is the preparation of the body. They wash the body, the sons and brothers carry the body to a room with shrines of their ancestors, and they dress the body in the finest clothes. Sacrifices are another important role of the family in the burial ceremony. It is common for the children to sacrifice animals such as dogs, cats, parrots, and eagles to assure their parents’ safety and power in their afterlife (Hauser 1). Finally, another role that the family plays is the meal and music. Drums play and feasts are made by all of the women so that the widows and their families will not go
hungry. The ceremony is the heart and a very religious part of the celebration. The ceremony is prepared for by the sacrifices of the family and the preparing of the body. During the wake the people pound their drums and pay their respect to the fallen (Hauser 1). The ceremony is the heart of the entire burial ritual. Someone, usually a fellow warrior or family member, will deliver a speech, or eulogy, carrying a basket of water. After, people will all dance until dark and then the body will be buried (Chinua 120-125). In conclusion, the burial traditions of the Igbo people are full of tradition and culture. There are many factors that will decide the fate of the burial like debt, freedom, leadership, and religion. The family is an important aspect of the ceremony as they prepare the body, make the feast, perform music and sacrifices, and moving the body place to place throughout the entire ceremony. The ceremony itself is full of life and music as guns are shot, dancing to the beat of drums till the darkness arrives, and the speeches given by those close to the fallen. Igbo burial traditions and rites are determined by many factors and are set to follow the special culture of the Igbo people.