The diary game | 15th December, 2023 | Attending a burial ceremony

A photo of me at the burial ceremony

A family friend was burying his late father on Friday, and my family was invited to the event. Interestingly, the burial ceremony was being held in my village in Abia State, Nigeria, as the family friend hailed from the same place as us.

The journey to the village was a long one. My family and I left our home in Port Harcourt as early as 7am so that we could make it on time. We passed through several police checkpoints. We also followed a new route, so we kept stopping at several points to ask for directions. Thankfully, there were good Samaritans to give us proper directions. At some point, we also had to utilize Google map.

We arrived at the venue for the burial ceremony by 12:30pm. Canopies were set, tables and chairs were also set. It appeared we were quite early because the ceremony hadn't begun. We headed to the church for the church service which was part of the program of events for that day.

The venue for the burial ceremony

After the church service, we all went to the venue for the ceremony where the body was laid to rest. A good number of people were present. There was food and drinks for the people who attended. In my opinion, the ceremony was well organized.

An entourage accompanying the coffin as it was about to be buried

Deep into the ceremony, my family and I left to visit our own house after paying our condolences to the aggrieved family. We also visited family members who were around. We discussed with those family members for a while. We also explored other places in the area.

I discovered that there were several other burial ceremonies at different places in the village. It was as if they all planned to do the ceremonies at the same time. However, when I made inquiries, I was told that that Friday was the last day for burial ceremonies for this year in that village. After that day, any other burial ceremony will have to be held next year.

Next, we embarked on our journey back home.

It was another long tiring journey as we made our way home. At some point, it got dark. It was obvious that everyone was tired. There was a slight traffic jam but thankfully, it wasn't so serious. Eventually, we got home, had dinner and went to bed.

That is how my day went. Thanks for reading.