- Countries:
- Ghana
- Topics:
- Arts & Culture
An American in Africa writes about the burial of a traditional chief, two years after he passed away: “Anyway, Ga Mantse died almost two years ago, but tribal chiefs are not buried until their succession is settled. This is a phenomenon we have encountered quite a few times since we moved here. Delayed funerals are not uncommon. We have no idea where the deceased hangs out while he waits and there is no polite way to ask.”
4 comments
Join the Conversation
Recent Articles also in Sub-Saharan Africa
- › Namibia: The role of new media in 2009 elections
- › World AIDS Day: Fighting Discrimination Around the World
- › Arab World: Reactions to the Swiss Ban on Minarets
- › Video: Worldwide youth express themselves in 60 seconds
- › One East African Musician beats all odds for a global fan base
Recent Links also in Sub-Saharan Africa
Gay Ugandan discusses Uganda's anti-gay bill: “So, if I get this terrible bill and present it to Rick Warren, and he then goes ahead to wash his hands of the bills author without any other action, I am disappointed. Of course, my disappointment is kind of a compliment. I realise that I do not have any ability to stop this bill. And I realise that Mr. Warren does.”
25% of people participating in TED Fellowship Program represent the African continent, writes Erik.
Rebekah discusses anti-gay bill in Uganda: “I’ve been keeping shamefully silent on Ugandan MP David Bahati’s proposed anti-homosexuality bill, which would not only provide harsher penalties for gay and lesbian sex but would also criminalize blogging about homosexuality…”
Funding drive
Global Voices Email Updates
Get summaries of new stories from Global Voices in your inbox daily, weekly, or just sign up for important announcements.
Our Other Sites
Special Projects
This site is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
Please read our attribution policy.
.hj barraza7 posts 
Deborah Goldemberg8 posts 
Paula Góes580 posts 
Adil Nurmakov1320 posts 
Renata Avila64 posts 
Syafique Shuib3 posts 
Milton Ramirez51 posts 
Jorge Gobbi36 posts 
Kamla Bhatt60 posts 
Roger Franchini2 posts 
Jillian C. York382 posts
Why not find out the cultural significance. The weblog is not the right place to inquire about such things.
Culturally in Ghana, there is the need for procedures to be followed in the installation of a new chief when an old one dies. There is the need for proper investigations to be instituted into one’s background before he is installed a chief. All these are done such that as a successor is found before the chief is buried. After the chief is buried, the successor is outdoored and subsequently installed after which the new chief organises the funeral of the dead one. This is the little I know about it but there are more to it.
delay funerals are part of a traditional setting where the deceased are kept, renovations made and all necessary arrangments made to give the departed a befiting burial.
Our dead in Africa and Ghana in particular are belived to be travelling inotanother world and msut be properly prepared before they are sent hom
Consult local Ghanaian cultural experts for further explanations.
The blog may not satisfy all your curiosity.
The opinions expressed so far are valid. But let’s admit that things are getting exaggerated. Let us say about 100 years ago when there were no storage facilities in the mortuary could any ethnic group leave a corpse for even 2 weeks before burial? It is not the case that a successor must by all means be got before the dead chief is burried. If that was the case how come traditionally when a chief dies a reagent is elected to fill the space in the interim? food for thought!