what is a black funeral

What happens at African American funerals?

African American funerals are elaborate events filled with lively processions, passionate prayers, and gospel hymns. Through these special rituals, they strike a unique balance between joy and grief as they celebrate the life of the deceased and their return to heaven. Traditional African American funerals are known as homegoings.

Why is the colour black associated with funerals?

The association of black with funeral is deeply-rooted in Roman Catholicism and Christianity, but for other religions, white is often the colour which best represents mourning.

Are black funeral food traditions an essential part of grieving?

2) “Black Funeral Food Traditions Are an Essential Part of Grieving” by Nneka Okona. R.I.P. T-shirts are ritualized mourning wear. Although it may not be unique to African American mourning culture, it is absolutely distinct to it.

What was the purpose of the African American burial society?

In the early 1900s, African American churches began to form Burial Societies that assisted congregations in planning funeral services. Burial Societies collected money from church members to pay for their graves, coffins, and funerals.

What happens at a black funeral?

It's a chance for family and friends to pay their respects in a less structured fashion. The funeral will follow, usually in a funeral chapel or a church. The celebration is often quite large, with lots of guests. Black families often hold funerals on Saturday, allowing as many people as possible to attend.

What does the color black mean in a funeral?

mourningThe wearing of black clothing has been a long-accepted funeral tradition intended to show respect for the deceased. Wearing other colors is in fact seen as a major social faux pas, or an out and out slap in the face to mourning family members, regardless of how subdued or otherwise formal the offending clothing is.

What do you wear to a black funeral?

Although black is the most traditional of colors, smart and dark clothing is also acceptable. Wearing dark grey or deep blue is just as appropriate as black, while brown and lighter greys are suitable for the vast majority of funeral services.

What do you bring to a black funeral?

Dress Conservatively Black is still the safest color for funeral attire, but you don't have to wear solid black. A black suit with a white shirt is acceptable or a dress that's mostly black but has a subtle color in the pattern is also fine to wear.

How long does an African funeral last?

Ghana's lavish funerals can last up to seven days.

What do colors mean at a funeral?

Red: courage, love, respect. Red, Dark: grief, love, sorrow. White: humility, innocence, purity, reverence, spirituality, youthfulness (often used at the funerals of children) Yellow: devotion, friendship, loyalty.

What colors mean death?

Black. Donning dark colors for mourning has been strongly associated with death and loss for centuries in the west and is a practice believed to date back to the Roman times.

Why do they cover the legs in a casket?

They cover the legs in a casket because the deceased is not wearing shoes in many cases due to the difficulty of putting them on stiff feet. Also, funeral directors may recommend it to save money, for religious reasons, in the event of trauma, for easier transportation, or with tall bodies.

Is it disrespectful to not go to a funeral?

It's considered proper etiquette to pay your respects in another way if you're unable to attend the funeral. While you shouldn't feel guilty if you can't attend, you should take action to honor the deceased and their family.

What does it mean when someone wears white to a funeral?

White is a color of mourning across the globe Buddhists wear white to funerals as a symbol of mourning, and respect to the deceased person. Believing that the first three days should be a period of positivity, so that the deceased can transition from life to death peacefully, Buddhists prefer to mourn in white.

What color should you not wear to a funeral?

Black is the traditional color for funeral services. It's generally acceptable to wear non-black clothing, such as dark blue or gray. Stick with subdued colors and fabric textures so that you don't pull attention away from the person who is being honored. Avoid red, bright pink, orange, yellow, or other bright colors.

Can you wear all black to a funeral?

Funeral Attire Colors Black is the traditional color most people think of when it comes to funeral clothing, especially in Western cultures. In color psychology, black often symbolizes death or mourning. Black is still a safe choice for funerals.

Should you give money at a funeral?

Money is not an appropriate gift, although exceptions may be made when the family is left in extreme financial difficulty. In that case, friends may wish to pool contributions to make a gift of assistance. The Funeral Service.

What is the African tradition when someone dies?

Death is recognized in Africa through a rite of passage that prepares the spirit of the deceased to journey on to the next realm. In many African societies, after the body is buried, the family will have a second, more elaborate funeral. This second funeral takes place some forty days after the first burial.

Why is a coffin carried on the shoulders?

It can be seen as a mark of respect for family and friends to perform this duty, whether carrying the coffin or bearing it on their shoulders.

What happens to the soul 40 days after death?

It is believed that the soul of the departed remains wandering on Earth during the 40-day period, coming back home, visiting places the departed has lived in as well as their fresh grave. The soul also completes the journey through the Aerial toll house finally leaving this world.

What is the African American funeral?

David Duford last updated on May 16, 2021. African American funerals are elaborate events filled with lively processions, passionate prayers, and gospel hymns. Through these special rituals, they strike a unique balance between joy and grief as they celebrate the life of the deceased and their return to heaven.

What is a traditional African American funeral called?

Traditional African American funerals are known as homegoings . A homegoing is believed to be a spiritual return of the soul to its heavenly roots.

Why do people attend funerals in Ghana?

As in most African countries, funerals in Ghana are regarded as crucial life cycle events. Families spare no expense for funeral ceremonies that last for days and draw thousands of people from all over the country. The number of attendants indicates the status of the deceased. Wealthy families hire professional mourners to cry and wail at the funeral, as well as to increase attendance.

How did African Americans gain the necessary knowledge for working within the funeral industry?

During the Jim Crow period, further segregations helped African American funeral business to thrive. African Americans had to rely on black funeral directors to give the deceased family members respectful burials.

What is the significance of funerals in African American culture?

In African American traditions, just like in continental Africa, funerals focus less on the life of the deceased than the eternal victory of God who is bringing them home.

How long does a Christian funeral last?

While Nigerian Muslims traditionally bury their deceased as soon as possible, Christian funeral preparations can last up to several weeks.

What is the purpose of African American procession?

Once the funeral service is over, a procession heads to the cemetery to bring the deceased to his or her final resting place. African American processions are intricate and festive occasions, with mournful wails accompanied by cries of joy.

What is a black funeral?

Black funerals are a testament of rhythm and blues that fill chapels, soul that pours from organs, intonation wrapped around eulogies, final farewells at the close of the casket, and jubilance of breaking bread and celebrating Black life at the repast. The Black funeral is a mood. It is radical Blackness and love at face value without ...

Why do black funerals thrive?

Black funerals have thrived and continue to be void of whiteness. Perhaps that is why they thrive. Homegoings are where Black folks perform Blackness with whole and unfettered reverence. Benevolence and group economics are often at play because life insurance isn’t always part of the deal.

What is homegoing for African Americans?

For African Americans, homegoings are the ultimate form of liberation. The funerals—or homegoing celebrations, as they’re called in many Black communities—of Aretha Franklin and hip-hop artist Nipsey Hussle garnered millions of views from people across the globe on live television and viral online videos.

How did the Civil War change the lives of black people?

Black soldiers and civilians were relegated to recovering, embalming, and burying the dead bodies of other Black people, soldiers and civilians, and thus developed a vocational skill that would not only be profitable, but revered in Black communities.

Did slaves have to perform funerals?

In her book To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death Suzanne E. Smith writes that during the antebellum period, en slaved Africans were prohibited from performing funerals, much less practicing traditions that memorialized the dead.

Is a black funeral a radical?

Black Funerals Are a Radical Testament to Blackness - YES! Magazine

Why do people wear black at funerals?

In those days, attendees would wear a dark-coloured toga, known as a toga pulla, to show they were in mourning for the deceased.

What color is used for funerals?

Other colours in other cultures. The association of black with funeral is deeply-rooted in Roman Catholicism and Christianity, but for other religions, white is often the colour which best represents mourning.

How long do women wear black clothes after death?

Indeed, in some cases, ladies in mourning were expected to wear black clothes for a whole year after the death of their husband, and to observe “half-mourning” for three years after that. In this time, it was permitted to allow purple and grey to enter back into their wardrobe again.

What are the new trends in funerals?

With the population of the world (and the West in particular) becoming less and less religious and more and more liberal, new trends have sprung up over recent years. Rather than an occasion of mourning, some people tend to prefer to view them as an occasion for celebration of the deceased’s life.

Does funeral director fee include third party costs?

The Funeral Director fees quoted do not include third party costs (often called disbursements). The Funeral Director will guide you through your options. These costs are:

Is direct cremation the most economical option?

This involves the cremation of the deceased without a funeral service. A Direct Cremation is generally the most economic option because costs of the coffin, preparation of the body, funeral service and expensive transportation are not included.

How many days before a funeral is a wake?

A wake is then held for the deceased between 2 to 3 days prior to the funeral, and this allows family members and friends to have few personal moments with the deceased. On the day of the funeral, a group of police escorts arrive to the bereaved family’s house, and the family is escorted to the church. During this process, the family bypasses ...

What is home going funeral?

A home-going is a traditional African American, Christian funeral service held to rejoice the deceased person’s returning to heaven, and this elaborate funeral ritual has a deep history dating back to the arrival of African slaves in America in the 1600s.

What is the role of a flower girl in a funeral?

At the church, some of the women of the family act as flower girls, and their job is to remove the elaborate bouquets of flowers that will be placed on the casket during the funeral. The service itself is often an emotional, high energy event that entails family members singing African American hymns and a boisterous eulogy by the pastor.

Why did people wear black to funerals?

Those living in this era wore black to a funeral if that was the color of his or her suit of clothes. Otherwise, a mourner might wear a black, gray, or red cape over everyday clothes to depict sorrow.

What Cultures Don’t Wear Black to Funeral or Memorial Services?

Some cultures throughout the world wear colors other than black to funeral services. The color may be dependent upon the region, country, and religious beliefs of the family.

What is the mourning dress called?

The mourning dresses, called “widow’s weed, ” were trimmed with crape, a hard, scratchy material. After a specified period, which was dictated by the women’s magazines, a woman could remove the crepe from her garment. This process was called “slighting the mourning.”.

Why is it important to support the family of a deceased?

Therefore, it’s more important to support the deceased’s family instead of staying home because you don’t have the right thing to wear.

What does it mean when someone wears white at a funeral?

Even if a person wears white to a funeral, they probably mean no disrespect to the surviving family members or deceased.

What images come to mind when thinking about symbols of mourning?

What images come to mind when thinking about symbols of mourning? You may think of flags waving at half-mast. You may think of dirges playing quietly in the background of a room filled with sad people. And if you had to choose a color that was a symbol of mourning, most westerners would choose black.

Can you wear clothes while mourning?

Not wearing the proper clothes while in mourning was not an option. Dressing inappropriately while grieving could make you a social pariah in some communities. As you can see, funeral etiquette was serious business in Victorian England. These beliefs spread to the United States, as well.

What are the funeral arrangements of African Americans?

African Americans in the south have always had traditional ways of handling funeral ceremonies and burials of loved ones. African Americans mark the final resting place of love ones in a unique way. In African religion, death is the last transitional stage of life and it requires passage rites, it was  believed this took a long time to be completed. The deceased had to  be “detached” from the living in order to  make a smooth transition to the next life. It was and still is common to use floral arrangements at funerals and at burial sites. During earlier burial years, personal property of the deceased was often placed on top of the grave. Some of the items often put on the graves were small emblems, toothbrush, cup, clock, toy, and many other items. A traveler who once visited Gabon observed that on the graves of the rich mourners often left life-pieces of cookery, knives, and even sometimes a table.

Why do Africans bury their dead?

Also, when an African person died at home, some people believed the body had to be removed through a hole in the wall instead of through the door . The reason was to make it difficult for the dead person to remember their way back to the living, and the hole would be immediately closed. The body would often be removed by the feet first pointing away from the former place where they lived.  But, there were also Africans who wanted to make it easy for their dead loved one to find their way home, so they buried them close by.

What are some items that are put on a grave?

Some of the items often put on the graves were small emblems, toothbrush, cup, clock, toy, and many other items.

Why do Africans put things on their graves?

Putting items on a grave was more than an emotional gesture. It was believed by the Africans that the spirit needed these items to keep from wandering. Some graves in the United States south are also decorated with items such as white ocean shells and pebbles which represent the ocean, lake, or river.

Where do people wash their graves after a funeral?

After the funeral people would normally be invited to the  home of the decease for the funeral meal; this tradition is sometime used in the southern states of the U.S today. Many people follow a cleansing ritual at the gate of the house, where everyone must wash off the dust of the graveyard before entering the house.

Can children attend a funeral in Africa?

Other traditions from Africa do not allow children and unmarried adults to attend a funeral. During the burial the immediate family of the deceased is expected to remain together on one side of the grave  in a specific location; they were also forbidden from speaking or taking any vocal part at the funeral.

Do African Americans have funerals?

African Americans in the south have always had traditional ways of handling funeral ceremonies and burials of loved ones. African Americans mark the final resting place of love ones in a unique way. In African

What is the significance of the slave cemetery?

The slave cemetery, shunned by historical plantations, was the space amidst the trees, water and outskirts of the plantation that our Black ancestors claimed for themselves and their ancestors. They buried their loved ones and remembered them there. As Lynn Rainville has uncovered in her research on hundreds of slave cemeteries in Virginia, these spaces tell the important stories of African American history and culture but also American history, and therefore must be protected instead of left to rot with no financial backing from the federal government. On December 29, 2020 the U.S. Senate passed a bill, The African American Burial Grounds Network Act, that will protect and financial support the restoration and preservation of these sacred spaces.

What is a casket sharp?

More than anything, the open-casket viewing is a time for the decedent to shine and look their very best–”casket sharp.” Casket sharp is a term commonly used in the Black community to describe not just that someone is wearing formal wear, but that the person is stylish and very well-dressed in a manner that is fit for the most formal of formal occasions – the Homegoing. The description of style and flair in the overall ensemble that includes coiffed hair, shoes, and accessories is simply unmatched. Casket sharp is not thrown around but intentionally invoked when someone’s outfit is clearly superior to all present. It is so flawless and thus should be the last outfit ever worn– their Homegoing.

What happened to the African American people in 2020?

The gut-wrenching murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 put African American mourning and burial practices on international display. From the ways in which white supremacy undergird African American deathways, to the ways in which Black mourners courageously used their grief to demand societal change in policies and laws that long oppressed Black communities, the world took notice of Black grief, mourning, and burial.

Who wrote Aretha Franklin's funeral fashion?

1) “Aretha Franklin’s Funeral Fashion Showed Us How to Mourn” by Doreen St. Felix.

What did Aretha Franklin's death illustrate?

Not too long ago, the passing of Aretha Franklin illustrated to the world the stylish and lavish ways Black folks bury their dead. From her open-casket viewing revealing her ‘red bottoms,’ to her gold Promethean casket (the same model George Floyd was buried in), African American last rites and mourning are steadily moving from margin to center. Although coverage of the Homegoings of George Floyd and Aretha Franklin ran non-stop on many national news networks, the vast majority of white folks and people deemed outsiders of the American Black community, still did not know exactly what they were looking at.

African American Funeral Practices in The Present Day

See more on buylifeinsuranceforburial.com

African American Funeral Practices Through History

African Traditions and African American Funeral Customs

Funeral Practices in Various African Countries

Additional Resources