Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences
I don’t know if there is any correlation, but when I was in Ghana last year we attended a funeral of a young girl. While there we were taught about the customs. The body of the deceased is usually kept on ice for a week or more while word is sent to family members outside of the village and they arrive. Because of the lack of communication and transportation available in rural areas, this process was sometimes lengthy. The funeral is a very importnat part of Ghanaian life, and is in fact the only time a family can take out a loan. (They cannot even get a mortgage to purchase a home.) The funeral is an event the entire community attends. Knowing this, and the fact that many African slaves were sent to the United States from Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, one could reason that present day blacks who wait a week before burying a loved one are celebrating a tradition from their homeland. I cannot say that this conclusion is a fact, but only one hypothesis regarding the situation.