Birth and Death and Everything In-between

It seems that my stay here has been quite eventful. Power outages continue to happen frequently. My host, Kandasamy, says that they have been unusual until this year. He also told me that the power cuts out every time there is lightening. This makes more sense. We have storms most evenings (some more forceful than others) and loss of electricity about as frequently. I don't mind at all. I'm particularly fond of thunderstorms and candlelight. Power outages are an event!

The sister-in-law of Jeyanthi, my host mother, recently gave birth to a baby girl. Kandasamy and I happened to be in the much larger town nearby, while she was in labor. I didn't actually get to see the baby (I didn't want to intrude and wasn't specifically invited into the hospital room), but I spent some time waiting outside with other relatives. I don't know if Jeyanthi's brother and sister-in-law actually live in our village or in the town where the hospital is located or somewhere else, but a bunch of people traveled from my village to visit the family in the hospital.

And, yesterday, the funeral of Kandasamy's primary school teacher was celebrated. And I say celebrated, because it was pretty much a village-wide party. In rural areas, such as Sellipatti, everyone in a village takes off of work for a funeral. It's basically a holiday. Hundreds of relatives from the outside come to town and everyone joins in the festivities. I witnessed a performance of singing and dancing involving 4 male actors. Well, or maybe 2 males and 2 transvestites; they were men dressed as women in any case. I wish I could have taken pictures, but it wasn't appropriate. Anyhow, these people accompanied by several drummers and a horn player sang and danced and performed to express the sorrow the family must feel, except the atmosphere and dancing were upbeat. I don't know if all funerals are like this one. Perhaps if it had been someone other than a seventy-something year old man that had died, the mood would be more somber.

In addition to crossdressing, drumming and dancing, there were also firecrackers and a parade (funeral procession) with the body carried and completely enclosed in colorful and shiny ornamentation, much like a parade float. If this is a funeral, I can only begin to image what weddings must be like! Oh, and Kandasamy says this is the first death in the village in the last 10 or 12 years, so now I feel lucky or honored or something to have been able to witness such a happening.

The funeral procession was apparently going to "burial grounds" where the body would be burned. The teacher, was the first son in the family, so his body must be burned. Apparently, the second or third child can be buried, but the first must be cremated. Kandasamy also said that the brains of the first child are removed and used by "magicians". I don't know exactly what any of this means, but it is fascinating to be sure! I will have to look into Hindu burial practices to figure such things out.