Funeral rice, better known in South Africa as begrafnisrys, is part of a rich South African tradition.
The grim procession snakes from the farmhouse across the werf towards the low white wall that surrounds the little fenced cemetery. The dominee’s right arm is heavy under the weight of the leaden family Bible, rendering him lopsided, as though he has a limp. An old man near the back of the procession leans on his walking stick, head bowed, brow morose; the son should not die before the father.
But first, after the sombre ritual, there must be the joy, inasmuch as any can be found in it, the trenchant telling of tales about the life of the departed, and the feasting. There was even an element of what today might be termed rent-a-crowd. When a funeral was held after dark, lantern bearers were hired to light the way for the cortège. Weepers, calledor procession joiners were hired to bring up the rear, to create an impression of greater numbers.
“At the funeral of Joachim von Dessin a barrel of beer and 40 bottles of red wine were consumed,” wrote Coetzee. “Adam Tas sent five pails of wine, a Cape ham, three legs of mutton and bread to the funeral of a servant who had drowned.”, Hester Wilhelmina Claassens cited a tradition of food being placed on a grave as an offering in the old German manner. This, she wrote, had developed into a funeral feast to honour the departed.
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