Just returned From My Grandfather’s Funeral

If you have been wondering why I haven’t been updating the blog I was out of the country for the past week. My grandfather died on January 10th 2008 of Prostate Cancer. I was in Jamaica for the funeral last week. I just returned to Canada early this morning a bit past midnight. I am so tired right now emotionally, physically, and psychologically.

I have only visited Jamaica three times and this is the first time I was in the country since I was only nine years old back in 1986. Everything has changed. Jamaica is a different place now you have to be careful there. My family warned me that Jamaicans can spot foreigners a mile away just by the way I dress and my accent. I don’t pretend to speak with a Jamaican accent because I just don’t have one. Some other young Canadian relatives of mine try really hard to sound like they have an authentic Jamaican accents but they just try too hard. Jamaicans can tell if someone is a fraud or not.

It was a very emotional week of highs and lows. I will admit I didn’t really know my grandfather but he was loved unconditionally by the family. The funeral was in the town of Lucea Jamaica last week Saturday. I don’t know how to explain it but if you have ever been to the black church you will just feel the energy, the soul, and the spirit. I am not a very religious person but I was so touched and moved by the funeral service.

The part of the funeral I found most powerful was when my father and his siblings all spoke about how much they miss and loved my grandfather. The one part of the funeral I was upset about was when the pastor asked for cash donations to the church. I was like is this out of some movie? Is this for real? The funeral service costs money the church in Lucea already has money. I just felt this was so disgraceful! The church asking for money at a funeral! Give me a break!

When my father informed me that my grandfather died I was shocked even though he was eighty three years old and ill. After the funeral service my grandfather’s body was brought back to his old house in the town of Richmond. Richmond is a town in the Parish of Hanover close to Montego Bay. I was crying when I saw my grandfather’s body placed in the tomb next to my grandmother. Some people think Jamaicans are weird because my grandfather’s body was not placed in a cemetery. My family has a plot of land in the town of Richmond in Jamaica and he was buried right next to my grandmother in the backyard. I think the reasons Jamaicans bury our dead in the backyard is due to the fact we believe there is a closer connection to the family this way. Maybe North American culture frowns on this but this is the way we run things.