A Ghanaian Wake

Anyone in the know will tell you that if you get the chance to go to a Ghanaian funeral, take it! So I was excited when we were invited to go to the funeral rites of a lady who was friends with some of the dance instructors.

I'm not an expert by any means on the subject, but from what I've gathered, it is a three day ordeal. Yesterday morning it began with drumming, mourning, and drinking. Some of my friends participated, but I missed that part.

Instead, I went with four other friends to the wake last night. We were instructed to dress in black, and were given red strips of cloth to put on. The guys in our group put them around their heads, one girl put it around her arm, one around her ankle, and I wore it as a necklace (when I asked how to wear it one of the Ghanaians tied it for me). We left with a few of the people we know, thinking the wake began at 6, but finding out later it began at 8. Factor in Ghanaian time, and it only really began at 8:30 if not later.

We arrived at the house of the deceased to find chairs set up in a circle (then set up a few rows back) around drums (some 20 of all sizes and kinds) and an empty dance floor (and by floor I mean the same uneven dirt floor found everywhere else).

The drumming and some singing began, and from time to time groups of 1 to 5 would go to the middle and dance. The place wasn't extremely well lit, but you could still see the dancers pretty well.

After a while the main dancing began:
What we heard: Drumming, clapping, some signing, and the occasional shout or flute melody.
Smelled: Sometimes the sweat of the dancers, who amazingly didn't seem to get tired, and the alcohol on some of the people's breath.
Felt: Dirt between our toes, a rush of air when a dancer came by quickly, and the occasional breeze.
SAW: Dancing that would put some of our Prima Ballerinas to shame! The first group that danced was wearing all black with red strips, too. Their dancing at times reminded me of capoeira moves, and at other times were very acrobatic. When they really got going, we were in awe, as it seemed as if they were moving in fast foward. The second group had on costumes that were a mix of clothes, ropes, and the like.

At one point, to my complete surprise, initial embarrassment, but absolute thrill, one of the dancers pulled me up from my seat into the middle. I'm still not sure why, as up to that point they weren't even pulling out Ghanaians, but in hindsight, I think it might have been one of the people we were with before. When we reached the middle he let go of my arm, and began to dance. I asked him "Do I just follow you?" He didn't really respond, just kept smiling and dancing, so I just followed him as best I could. Luckily, he didn't do anything too complicated, and we only danced for a short bit, before he moved us back to where I was seated. I think it takes the cake for my favorite memory so far!

Another cool thing about the evening was observing the other Obrunis (for those of you just joining us, "white people"). When we first arrived, there was a group sitting down that looked very awkward and out of place. I found out they had just arrived a few days before. With some dismay I thought, "man, that must be what we look like."

But later on in the evening, after the first group left, some of the Canadians staying at our Hostel showed up. They've been here way longer and didn't really look out of place, but rather looked at home. My roommate pointed it out, commenting also that we were somewhere in between.