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Hi
Thanks for popping in and please remember to check out the other links on this page. We have a few prayer points and a photo album with much more photos! Also you can get some info on our work here in Papua New Guinea.
Recently we attended a funeral and even though it was not our first experience of a PNG funeral it was still a very sad and emotionally disturbing event. The funerals we have been attending here are always syncretised spiritual events. In other words it is heathen animistic customs mixed with christian customs. In this case a Lutheran minister attended and led the service. Come with me and I will take you through the events.
- The days before the funeral people from all over will come to ‘bring their sorrows‘. They will come to stay with the family and support the family emotionally and financially. When we went to ‘bring our sorry’ we gave them some food. In these days there are many taboos that need to be adhered to. You are not allowed to mention name of the dead. You are not allowed to break sugar cane over your knee etc. etc. Many will not wash for days and they will cover themselves with mud and dirt in order to show their sorrow. Here is a picture of a ‘haus krai‘ in which the people will stay for the days before the funeral.
Because there are many people food will continually be prepared for all the guests. Here they are preparing some Kumu and stronpela banana. The Kumu is a type of greens and the banana is a different type of cooking banana which is very dry and tasteless yet very filling.
2. On the day of the funeral the body would have been there for at least 2 or 3 days and it is really smelling very very bad. It is kept in the house of the diseased and people can come and look at the body. In this case we could remember seeing body fluids dripping out of the coffin. On the coffin you can see a little bottle of perfume which is used to try and hide the bad smell. even after the funeral when we went home our clothes still smelled bad.
3. The people will just sit outside and wait for something to happen. These people are all sitting and listening to the little service of the Lutheran minister. If you look carefully you will see some people sleeping. I was shocked to hear what the man was preaching about. He spoke on The rich man and Lazarus and it was all very syncretised and legalistic. For example he would say that the man who died never killed other people and was therefore a good man and going to heaven. A works based theology!
4. A very important part of the day is preparing the Mu Mu. In this case two pigs were slaughtered. they kill the pig by smashing it’s head in with the back side of an ax. They had to give this pig a few shots.
After wards they drain the blood by cutting the thought, and the blood is then later cooked within banana leaves and eaten with the meat.
5. At least the coffin is taken to the grave. The man is buried on his own ground and only the closest family accompanies the minister. Even though this was a ‘Christianised‘ funeral, many people still believe that the spirit will dwell around and many believe that it will be incarnated in a new baby or enter an adult in order to point out who killed him through sorcery.
It is really sad for us to see how the people cry. The reason this happens is because they are actually not sure about the mans fate and about their own future. They are living in a hopeless condition, chained by Satan in fear of life and death.
We could not help but to shed a tear ourselves. Especially because we know that these people urgently need Christ!
Please continue to pray with us for these people! Thank you very much for your prayers and letters of encouragement. Every day we understand even more the need for continual prayer support. As we face these people and the situation they are in we realize than only God can make a difference, through the working of his Spirit!
Therefore pray with us for miracles!
Thanks for giving, writing and praying, may God richly bless you!
And as the Papuan’s would say:
‘lukim ju sampla taim‘
Most People are brought to faith in Christ, not by argument for it,
But by exposure to it.
Please follow the link to our photo album for more photos.