Changing Customs: New Burial Rites After Covid

By Anelisa Ndamase

Although burials are no longer affected by Covid-19 restrictions and regulations, its legacy still remains. Similar to the Apartheid era and its marginalisation of people and land, Covid-19 remains an invisible and insidious force in the rural landscapes of the Eastern Cape. Although one is a political system and the other a global health disaster, like Aparthied, Covid-19 shaped and continues to shape rural people’s lives economically, socially and spiritually.  This blog is based on my personal experience, interviews, and observations and aims to identify the changes to burials that people adopted during Covid-19 which persist to this day.

Figure 1: Burial during Covid-19 in the former Transkei (Credits: Aneza Madini)

As someone who buried his father in 2012, my mother during the pandemic in 2021, and my two brothers in the post-Covid-19 period in October 2023 and January 2024, I could not help but notice the changes in burial ceremonies that were brought by Covid-19. Similar changes have been observed in the communities where I conduct my fieldwork. Some members of my village were critical of how people were buried during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is surprising, therefore, that in the post-Covid-19 period, families are still burying their loved ones as they did during the pandemic.

For years before Covid, speakers at the funerals would deliver their speeches while the casket was on display, and afterward, people would proceed to the burial site around 12pm or 1pm. This happened at my home during the funeral of my father. In my experience,  seeing the casket of your loved one, as was common practice pre-pandemic, delays the healing process, making the funeral ceremony tense for those who are mourning. This view was shared by people in the village where I have been carrying out fieldwork, and this was not the only concerne that they raised about pre-pandemic burial practices.  Some of my informants also stated that the burial process was time-consuming, as the service at the gravesite would take at least an hour. Subsequently, people would leave the gravesite around 3pm and then wait for food, meaning they would not return home until around 5pm in the evening. This prolonged timeframe often resulted in the cancellation of any other plans individuals may have had for the day.

The time-conusuming nature of funderals was primarily a challenge for  working [employed] people in my village, because the day after the burial, the entire village mourns for three days and during this period no one is allowed to work, including working the land. The family members are required to mourn for seven days. The only exception is that people are allowed to work their land on the day of the funeral, but if the funeral ended late, that means they would be unable to work the land. Additionally, on Sundays, people attend church services, which typically end around 3pm. Moreover, many offices and stores in town are closed on Sundays, and some even close earlier compared to other days of the week.

When Covid-19 arrived and restrictions were announced, the state believed that funerals in rural areas could become super spreader events, and as a result, new ways of burials were introduced. These new ways of burials were initially criticised by people. Some of my informants said they found it disrespectful for the head of the household to be “buried like a baby”. Others were against the prohibition of the night vigils, stating that they were their last opportunity to say goodbye to the person whom they loved. However, as time went on, people began to adopt the proposed ways of burials. They also stated that the new ways of burials were beneficial to them because they were saving money. In the past, for the day of the night vigil, families were required to use money and groceries as if it were the day of the funeral. With the end of the night vigil, that meant that a certain part of the funeral expenditure had been cut. This is one of the reasons why people continue to adopt these new approaches to burials in the post-Covid-19 era.

In an interview I had with Zizo, whose family is from Mthatha, she stated that in the past, they used to attend funerals in Mthatha from Mount Frere, and they would return home late. However, funerals now end early. When the body arrives from the funeral parlour, it is buried in the morning, and then the service is held afterward, with the burial part of the service already completed. This facilitates a quicker burial and helps the mourning family to be less tense during the funeral service. Zizo mentioned that in the past, she would return home from funerals and simply go to sleep. However, now, after the funeral, she is able to return home and attend to her household chores. Similarly, in many families, when burying their loved ones in the post-Covid-19 period, they have adopted the burial method used during Covid-19. The body is buried in the morning, and the service is conducted later, resulting in the funeral ending earlier. This decision was made to accommodate people who had travelled from far areas and ensure that they could return home in time. In my area, this allows people to quickly work their lands after the funerals so that they can mourn for the three days or seven days knowing that they have already addressed pressing matters before the mourning period.

In conclusion I can see that even though the changes in burial rites were initially criticised by people, over time, they eventually accepted these new ways of burial. They also recognised the benefits of the new practices, such as helping the family mourn by burying the body earlier, saving money by cutting some of the burial rites, and saving time by streamlining certain time-consuming processes like visiting gravesites during the day. I had assumed that after the Covid-19 pandemic, people would revert back to their old ways of doing things, this adaptation has been embraced by the community even after the pandemic has ended, seemingly because there are both financial and practical benefits to pandemic-era funeral practices.