A Caribbean Funeral Of Previous Years

Looking back at the time, or should I say the past thirty odd years when someone dies, especially in a small village, before the science of embalming came along, it was the  custom that the  deceased body  was washed by the people in the village at that time period if they knew the individual. The carpenter at the time would be asked to take the measurements of the deceased and build the coffin.

The washing of the body was done by male and female depending on the deceased individual, they were dressed and laid out on the bed for visitors to view the body later in the evening before the funeral, and burial
next day. At that time, during visitation prayers and singing were performed, and as the night continued it turned into what was called a wake and is still called so today.

A wake can go on for quite a while sometimes into the wee hours of the morning especially if alcohol is consumed, and coffee (strong) is served, and if the funeral services  are in the afternoon. In order to keep the body from decomposing rapidly it was placed in a make shift icebox, made of an inner and outer part. the outer part of the icebox was formed with galvanized, with a space between the inner part  wide enough to place ice between the groves all around the icebox coffin which the body was placed, in order to keep it cool.

The day of the burial it was removed and placed into the the coffin that was made by the village carpenter, and taken to the church, depending on how far the pallbearers had to walk to the church, two men with chairs would accompanied them. The coffin was placed on the chairs, and a new set of pallbearers would take over, until they reached the church.

During the funeral service the burial rites would be performed with the usual singing and they would always be a favorite song of the deceased sung then to the cemetery, which in some cases at the persons backyard if there is enough lands for the grave site. The gravediggers would lay the coffin in the grave after everyone left the site, if it was in a church cemetery.not so today.


After everything is over the congregation would return to the home and partake in some eats and refreshments that was prepared and talk about the deceased before setting out on their jurney to their respectful home's especially if they had to travel a great distance to attend the funeral.