A member of my kgotla recently passed away, so I have been experiencing some of Botswana's funeral traditions. For example, there is a preparation and prayer session for the grieving family that is an entire week long, ending on Saturday which is when the burial is held. This week-long period is where members of the community can come to give prayers and help the family prepare for the funeral, usually by helping them with cooking and/or dishing food.
For a funeral, a service is held at 7:00 a.m., which I attended with my landlord this Saturday. Afterwards is the burial, where everyone sings songs and dances as the coffin is lowered into the ground, buried, and the headstone is set in place on top. The personal family will gather around the buried grave in a circle and sing and dance, singing the person into heaven. There is also a headstone reveal where guests can take a picture with the headstone. Most graves are surrounded by iron bars to prevent grave robbing. Then, it moves into a reception-like event where people eat food, blast music and dance throughout the evening. At this point in the day, many people from outside of the family will come and join, eat the food, dance, etc. This is a major difference between funerals in the U.S. and funerals in Botswana. In the U.S., it is typically only close family and friends to the person that passed away who attend the funeral reception. In Botswana, many people who do not know who died will attend the funeral reception, as they are seen more as group activities. As soon as the music starts, people who do not know who died will just come in for the fun and food of it all!
