A Grenadian Funeral

Meena and our family during happier times

Over a month ago our friend Meena's grandmother died, she was 83. On Thursday we attended her funeral. It took so long because her children live in the USA and Europe. Thy had just been here in February for their father's funeral, so Meena lost both grandparents in a year. Meena's father and mother both live in Grenada.

When we arrived at the funeral we were about 5-10 minutes late. The funeral was held in a church in Grenville. The whole inside the first and second stories were full and there were many people outside also. We were outside with Meena and our neighbour Janice. It is different from a Canadian funeral where mourners and ministers are very subdued and quiet. Grenadian funerals people are more emotional, they cry loudly, they wail and moan. The preacher was shouting. It was sad.

After the funeral we went to the cemetery and I got out. Janice was a little superstitious about the graveyard, she wouldn't even look at it. So Owen and Janice stayed behind. At the cemetery Meena's dad had held all his tears in but at the burial he got very sad, it was hard to hear him crying.

Something very different is there does not seem to be any taboos about standing on graves or markers. People stood on them and cleaned their shoes on them, I could not do that. In Canada that would be very disrespectful, but know everywhere is not the same as Canada.

Then we went to the grandmothers house for the reception or after party. It was like a kitchen party with beer and people visiting. They invited 30 but about 60 people showed up. We stayed until about 7:30, so we didn't get home until 8:45. We came through the centre of the island over a huge mountain- Grand Etang.

I was glad I went, it was an experience. And most importantly Meena was glad I went.