Why is black pallbearers so popular? This is the death funeral culture in Ghana, Africa, which regards death as life.

Everyone should have seen the black coffin-carrying dance circulating on the Internet recently. At first I thought it was a spoof, but after many studies, I found that this dance is not a spoof, but a formal death culture in Ghana, Africa. Black pallbearer dance is very popular in Ghana, Africa. Their death culture at that time was like this. They don't feel sad about death, but regard death as life, so this coffin-carrying dance can completely reflect their funeral culture of death. So does this dance fire mean?

Recently, there are endless pictures and stalks of men in black carrying coffins, but it seems that there are too few people who really understand them.

I hope this popular science can be understood by everyone, and after laughing, I can broaden my horizons and increase my knowledge.

The most important thing is not to discriminate against this culture, treat it rationally and maintain respect.

A loving netizen made a dynamic version, which is quite cute.

First, the beginning of all stories. Have you seen this video of dancing with the coffin?

/video/bv 1nz 4y 1j 7 NW？ zw

I chose one for you. You can look around.

Actually, this is a BBC report, which introduces a local coffin-carrying dance in Ghana and China. People will hire a professional coffin-carrying team to bid farewell to their loved ones in this cheerful form.

Introduction (divided into two parts: cultural environment and the origin of coffin-carrying dance) 1. Ghana's special cultural background.

The reason why the coffin-carrying dance appeared in Ghana is related to the unique local culture of death and funeral.

There are two things that Ghanaians can't avoid, one is going to church, and the other is funeral.

In Ghana, 80% of the population believes in religion, and in Ghanaians' view, funeral is a very important ceremony, and people should leave this world with dignity after death.

"People's death is not the end of life, but a new beginning, so we should also pay attention to it."

Aken, who make up the majority of Ghana's population, will even lose everything for a funeral, just to make it wonderful.

Ghanaians are also more open to death. They believe that death is the process of relatives going to their ancestors' world, so people will make beautiful coffins to send their families on their last journey. They also believe that their relatives will live happily and continue to enjoy a better life because of coffins made of the things they loved most during their lifetime.

Because of their open attitude, these coffins have a variety of appearances, some with animals as the theme, some looking like cars and planes, and some even packaged into mobile phones, cameras and Coca-Cola. Anything the deceased likes or wants can be a coffin.

This is actually the same as burning paper when we pay homage. It is also a wish to tie paper to luxury cars and villa banknotes.

The tip of the iceberg (you can see fish, crabs, eagles, chickens, cows, tigers and other animals, as well as cars and rowing boats)

Have you ever imagined that your coffin is a camera?

Open-minded to death, let Ghana's funeral have everything except sadness and tears.

The funeral of Ghanaians is generally divided into three stages: the day of death, the preparation period and the time of burial.

Once a family member dies, relatives will rush to tell each other and publish obituaries in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Obituary fees have even become the main source of income for Ghanaian media.

After the obituary is published, relatives will hang large photos of their loved ones on the street, adding "Although you are gone! But still live in our hearts. "

There are many funeral preparations in Ghana, including not only large banquets for guests, but also entertainment programs such as fashion shows. Therefore, it takes a lot of preparation time, and many family members even take special leave to prepare for the funeral.

First, you need to distribute invitations to your relatives, friends and neighbors and invite them to the funeral. People who receive invitations generally need some money, ranging from ten dollars to fifty dollars.

In order to ensure the scenery, the preparations for the funeral can be described as luxurious. The host needs to arrange music, buffet lunch, drinks and desserts for the guests to dance, and also needs to hire professional sound engineers and announcers to host. At the same time, it is necessary to choose a good place to build a cemetery and write a funeral manual that records the life of the deceased.

Once an 84-year-old entrepreneur died, and the funeral handbook was written in 226 pages.

Although the preparations for the funeral were meticulous, due to the lengthy process, the deceased could not be buried in the morgue for an average of 3 to 6 weeks.

When attending a funeral, the attendees usually wear traditional national costumes. First of all, say goodbye to the body, and the priest will pray for the dead. After the burial, people will hold a festive banquet in the host's house for hours, and the hired dancers will start performing with the music, and the prepared food and drinks will be delivered to the table one after another.

At the same time of mourning, people will give money to the host. The climax of the whole funeral is that the radio host reads the names of the guests and the amount of donations one by one through the loudspeaker.

Every weekend, towns in Ghana hold carnival funerals. Many people have nothing to do on weekends, and even call their friends and ask, "Is there a funeral to attend?"

Funeral has also become an important occasion for many Ghanaians to make friends. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a special social occasion.

2. The origin of pallbearer dance

When it comes to the coffin-carrying dance in the video, Benjamin Aidoo must be introduced.

He is the founder and captain of the coffin-carrying team in the video and the inventor of the coffin-carrying dance.

10 years ago, he started to work as a coffin porter, and once a client proposed "dancing for a funeral", which inspired him.

Later, he founded his own funeral company, intending to innovate in traditional crafts.

So we abandoned the traditional all-black clothes and let the coffin-carrying team wear more fancy clothes, and the color can also be chosen by customers.

In order to be diversified and more targeted, they will provide different kinds of funeral services according to the needs of customers.

Some people like solemnity, so the ceremony is more serious. When carrying the coffin, they all move slowly in suits and ties.

Some people want to relax, so their clothes are more lively, and dancing will be added to the coffin lifting ceremony.

I didn't expect this to achieve good results, so more and more customers chose this way to bid farewell to their loved ones over the years.

Later, other companies saw the popularity of coffin-carrying dance and began to copy this model, but Benjamin's team was still the most professional and the highest standard.

The team consists of seven people, dubbed by netizens as "the death of the seven seas"

This special ceremony was naturally welcomed by many local people.

Third, say something else 1. The reason why the black coffin can take root and grow rapidly in the domestic soil is due to the second creation of netizens. I don't know who combined them with stalks such as "parents raise them for nothing as soon as the music rings", and a new spark collided.

Now you can learn a lot of new things every day.

2. One of the important reasons why black pallbearers spread so fast is also because of the severe epidemic.

Because many people can only stay at home and watch mobile phones, computers and TVs, how to kill boredom has become a very important thing.

For many people, black people carrying coffins is a kind of self-liberation.

Yes, the epidemic has claimed countless lives, not to mention that more people may die in the future, and death is around people.

In this environment, death begins to become data, and people who live between fear, sadness and numbness naturally want to find some ways to forget them temporarily.

In short, 2020 is already very sad, and I also want to get some pure sand sculpture happiness.

Of course, not everyone can understand the joke that black people carry coffins. Some people may find it cruel to laugh at other people's funerals.

But the beauty of terrier is that you don't need to explain why it is funny to someone who doesn't know terrier-you just need to find a group of people who think it is funny.

Because while laughing, you have an instant tacit understanding with someone at the other end of the network. This "you know" feeling is wonderful.

Everyone has his own understanding, which is not wrong.

In the video of black people carrying coffins, too much is reflected: the conflict between life and death, the attitude towards death, and how to treat the death of their loved ones.

Of course, many people will have their own opinions and feel that they are not respected enough.

This is no problem, because it is normal to have different views on the same thing because of different cultural environments.

But I still hope to treat it rationally and respect this special custom culture.

Attached here is the original video: bv1u5411t7zq.

It's a normal soundtrack. You can feel it.

In the original video, the soundtrack was not so exaggerated, and the people around me didn't laugh from beginning to end. Everyone respects and accepts. This open-minded spirit and attitude is still very unique.

Finally, say something and make a summary (the bad habit of liberal arts students haha).

I know that many people watch this video, like it, forward it, and even arrange the expression pack and avatar. Maybe they just want to catch their breath and smile under the pressure of life. After all, life is too hard now. I have a friend who always says that it is good to make a living, and I dare not think about anything else.

But I also hope that if I can understand this culture that "the first surprise is actually a hidden story" after I am happy, I will learn a lot. It would be better if I could have my own new ideas and ideas about life and death.

"Life and death are also big."

Above, thanks for seeing this.

Source of the attached reference:

From Zhihu.

Needless to say, the first video of the search for "black man carrying coffin" exceeded10 million.

End.