Please go home after funerals By Tupuola Terry Tavita If we are truly sincere about easing the burden on grieving families during faalavelave - particularly funerals - then please take your plate of food and go home immediately after the dead is buried. We don’t know when the practice of presenting traditional gifts and money to all the pastors, deacons, theology students and even the widows of dead pastors began, but it is certainly the norm at funerals these days. And they are not shy about it either. They show up at the service, at the burial, then calmly wait for hours in the shade – fanning themselves – waiting for their names to be called out, their sua presented, their envelopes handed over and their portion of herring and beef to be tucked away in their pickups before taking their leave. The gift-giving appears to be vindicated by their presence. There was once a time when mourners rushed to their cars immediately after the burial. To leave the families to grieve their loved one. When ushers – if they are not quick enough - had to chase mourners to their cars to give them their plate of food. It was a time when only the presiding reverend and if so, the faifeau toeaina, were given sua presentations, usually at their homes because such an open display of gift presentation was deemed unsuitable for a person of their disposition. Now it is anyone with some attachment to the cloth armed with a sense of self-entitlement who hold no qualms in calmly waiting for hours for their pound of flesh. Pointed but true. And if this publication does not point this out now, it is going to get much worse in the very near future. It is already taking a big hit on many families wellbeing. At a recent funeral, the grieving family had to dish out 143 sua presentations to the members of the cloth who turned up. So please, thank you for your presence, your kind words, here’s some food to take home and you may now take your leave sir. That way, a few more cows will be spared to roam the green pastures, a lot more boxes of elegi and corned beef need not be credited from the wholesaler man, no big loan from the bank our family will have to pay in the next ten years and a few more tala will be spared for the children to be fed a regular square meal and buy their school books now that their father has passed away.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 23:00:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015