Funeral Rights

December 23, 2011

When a person dies, in any culture, it is a time for families to come together and celebrate/mourn the life and death of a beloved friend.  In Vanuatu, I think the expression "Day of the Dead" is not only appropriate but fitting, as well.  It is my impression that every island and even every village has their own customs (kastom), which includes the unique processes of delivering a funeral.

Today, I was looking forward to going into town with my host family to do a little "window shopping" and "people watching" since it is very crowded due to Christmas coming up.  Sadly, our trip was cancelled when I went to drink tea with my family this morning, and my papa informed me that a cousin sister had died in her sleep last night.  Kastom, at least here in my village, is for all members of the family to stay near the home until the body is buried in the ground - no work, no nothing.  Now from what I have been told, if a person dies in the late evening or early morning, then the body is immediately buried that day, but if a person dies in the early afternoon/evening then the funeral will take place the next day.  Since my papa was a relative, we had to postpone our trip and attend the hous blo ded, funeral rights, and burial in the cemetery.  During training, in PST, we went over a simulation of what a funeral rights may look like, but from my experience today it was training x 10.  I will try and explain the events as clearly as I can.

Hous blo ded.  This is a time when all family, friends, etc. come to the house of the deceased or another family member, where the dead body is being kept and mourn the loss.  Now when you go to the hous, you bring a smol gift such as: kakae, money, mats, etc.  Then you go inside give your respects to the immediate family and mourn over the dead person yourself; if you want to: I did not want to, so I just went in and out as quickly as I could.  I don't know if it is customary in all deaths, but at least today the body was in the center of the room, lying down, and she had family sitting all around her and people were laying some flowers on top of her body and crying over her.  Then after you pay your respects, you leave and make room for the next wave of mourners.  All in all it is an experience that you can not imagine until you're in it.  Hemi depen to taem.

Next comes the funeral service.  Since this cousin sister went to church in town, we had to wait for the pastor to come here to deliver the sermon, but I have been told that if she had been a member of a local church we would have proceeded to a church; instead the pastor came to the house and gave the last rights.  This took close to 4 hours.

Afta, everyone followed the body and family to the village cemetery where some more speeches were given by friends and family, and the body was finally put into the ground.  This took another 3 hours; man blo vanuatu i likem tok tok tumas.  Kastom depends on when the family will go back to visit the body, but I have been told that the immediate family will go back 5 days, 10 days, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year for kastom reasons.  As a whole, the whole day was practically spent on the funeral.  Since they do not embalm the bodies, at least here in my village, the proceedings happen fairly quickly.  I don't know what the legal aspects are if a doctor needs to examine the body first, a death certificate is necessary, or what?  I'll try and figure out these answers.

Today was a very different day to say the least, and all I can say is TIV (This is Vanuatu).  Every day is different, but it was a very culturally eye-opening experience, which I was able to compare and explain about the funeral processes in America.  I think because families are so close in this culture, when an event such as a death occurs, you are able to see how magnifying it is on a whole community not just a single family, like in America.  Although it was disappointing to find out that the plans of the day had changed, I think the kastom here is very respectful for the dead, and I think it is just another way of showing a commitment not only for kastom but to that family member/friend by mourning the way that they do.

Love,
Elyse