Funerals were an Important Part of the Ibo Culture

• At funerals, the ekwe is played. The ekwe is a wooden, hollowed out instrument. It carries "the news to all the nine villages and even beyond" (pg. 120).
• If an important person dies (for example they took titles), then they were buried after dark. Only a glowing brand would be lit to light the ceremony.
• Guns and cannons are fired to announce a death in the village, and they are set off throughout the day.
• Men dash around cutting down trees and animals that are in their path, dance on roofs, and jump over walls.
• When men visit the person that died, they wear raffia skirts and paint their bodies with chalk and charcoal.
• Egwugwu's come and go, speaking in an "unearthly voice" (pg. 121). Some are violent, and the people of the village run away from them. But most are harmless.
• Men of titles have two funerals: one in the daytime and one at night.

Added by Renee Conrath

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