The time i attended a burial vigil

''this world is not my own

im just passing through....

the angels beckon me

from heaven's open door

and i cant feel at home

in this world anymore''

Songs like this usually rent the air during vigils at burials in my village,there was usually a live band playing songs all through the night,people would be gathered under the canopies made from palm fronts ,drinking 33'' beer and malt or soft drinks,the older ones consumed stronger alcholic drinks locally brewed in the village called Kai Kai. There was a lot of meat to be eaten and food was prepared by the family of the deceased.   

I was never allowed to attend vigils

My grandmother said it was not a place for children,but some of the children in my school did attend ,and they filled me in leaving no details out,

i always wished to attend a burial vigil and somehow i got my wish when my great grandmother died.

''Anenne'' as we called her was quite old,nobody knew her age but she must have been close to a 100 years if not more. 

She used to make the most delicious beans using only crayfish and locals spices,she thought stock cubes were poison,oh well,her beans was delicious always,i snuck over sometimes during break times in school to eat some and then dash right back into the school and continue with classes,fun times.

She lived in a small hut,even though her sons had asked that she move into their modern houses,she has refused and stayed in her mud hut instead. Annenne also never stopped going to her farm,everyone asked her to stop,that she was too old and should rest and that she would be taken care of,she didnt stop,she stuck with her old ways until she died. 

When i heard she had died at night i feared the worst,i thought her old hut had collapsed on her while she slept,but it was nothing of the sort,Nne had just slept and not woken up again,she had died in her sleep.

So finally,after a series of meetings ,Annenne's burial date was fixed. And ,there would be a vigil,i was all for that,because how would my grandmother tell me not to attend the vigil of a family member? she wouldn't dare,i was going to be in those canopies all night long and no one could stop me.

My great grandmother had never been to church,she didn't attend catholic Mass with us at our village church,she hadn't believed in the white man's religion or in their God,she was a traditionalist,so all we could was give her a traditional burial. 

Everyone came home for the burial,all my aunts and uncles were at home,i could smell the fufu and afang soup everywhere,the night finally came,my aunt and i had prepared a song,the rest of the event was a blur,i played and ran round the whole compound with the other children,ate everything in site,at some point during the night i'd slipped on some plantain leaves while running somewhere and some how i'd scraped both my knees.

The next morning when my grandmother found me asleep in one of the rooms where the children slept,she had gently woken me up,made me bid everyone goodbye,then on our way home had plucked some ixora branches which she used to flog my legs all the way to our house.

Annenne was buried in her hut that day,i did not attend ,i was still smarting from the pains from my knees,and how my grandmother had flogged me all the way home.