Good morning and I trust your night went well, mine as well though I forgot to publish an article yesterday due to a stressful day and also flexing Friday, well I know that only a few will understand what I mean by flexing Friday though, and I'm going to explain to it here in this article so everyone can at least understand what I mean by flexing Friday.
Before I begin, I just want to say that, what I'm about to write might sound wrong, though we are not proud to say it but is a normal thing in my country and no one is to blame.
I don't really know much in other countries, but in West Africa (Nigeria in general) Fridays are usually for burials in my country, I have seen countless Americans and Philippines movies and I just see them wear all black and pay their last respect to the dead person, after that, they will console the family of the person being buried for an hour or two and go home to rest.
That's how it is done in my country, I know it might sound funny, but in my country, we usually throw a party before the final rest of the dead person (burial ceremony) each try has their way of laying to rest their loved ones, though some tribes don't throw a party for the dead, because they believe that the real party is up there and they do it here is a disrespect to the person, while in most tribes (about 90 percent tribe) when a loved one dies (especially when the person is old enough) we don't lay to rest the person quickly, firstly the body will be kept in the mortuary for maintenance, while the family of the person will call a meeting to know how will be able to throw a big party for the dead ( not that they are happy that the person is dead though, they just believe that for the good life the person lived, the dead person deserves a good and befitting burial so the soul will have eternal rest) this plan usually takes months if the family of the dead person is not that wealthy.
After they have all agreed on the amount each person will bring to support the burial of their beloved, they will all go home and work towards the money (they will buy materials to sow clothes for just the family members and they also buy more materials and sell to other people like friends and colleagues) it might sound like a business, right? Well, it's not the end yet, in Benin City/Edo State where I live, most of the children can be in a contribution meeting when the meeting members hear that one of their members, lost the beloved, they will prefer towards the burial to support her financially and physical on the burial ceremony (you have to be an active member in the meeting before they can show you love).
After they have set the date of the burial, they will make sure that a day to the burial bags of rice will arrive, vegetable oil will be there, cows will come in, tomatoes, tin tomatoes, and so many other foodstuffs, they will call caterers to do the cooking (the caterers that usually cooks in burials are advanced women that has long experience in cook)
On the day of the burial, musician's will be on the ground (most tribal musicians) they will be canopy and chairs for everyone to come and eat with them, they will preserve some canopies for families, meeting members, and some other group (the name of the group will be written in the canopy to stop others for seating with them) though most families prefer doing burial ceremony in an event center so it will be strictly by invitation, others that can't afford an event center, they will do it in the street and a lot of people will attend the burial, though most of them are an uninvited guest.
Why did I title this article Flexing Friday?
There's this playmate of mine back then when we were kids, the guy will be dressing up every Friday to attend any nearby burial ceremony, and most times if his luck shines, he will attend 3 burials a day and bring food home to eat later after eating to satisfaction in the burial ceremony, he was doing it regularly and most of my playmates decided to join him in his quest, lol. Even I too was considering joining them though, but I know the family that brought me up, ones they found out that I was going to burial ceremony without invitation, I will collect a lot of beating from my father and my elder siblings, so I decided to keep my cool and stay strong.
30/10/2021
This was funny, I like the fact that you go there to have fun and make merry even though you weren't invited... and got what you deserved 😄😄 I went to a strange party once and with the way I was treated I never tried it again..