Ivory Coast: Costly funeral traditions make death a big business

Valerie Bli Lou, a shopkeeper from a modest family in Ivory Coast, is determined to give her late father the sumptuous funeral that Ivorian tradition demands - whether she can afford it or not. Dancing through the night in a flowing burgundy-and-black tunic at her father's wake in Yopougon, a working-class neighbourhood in the economic capital, Abidjan, the 60-year-old recounted the hardships of organising and paying for this lavish tribute to his life. Death is big business in Ivory Coast, where families are expected to say goodbye to their loved ones with massive, music-fuelled feasts tinged with moments of both joy and sadness. Bli Lou said that including the three cows she bought, she had already paid more than $4,275 for her father's funeral rites - more than 15 times the average monthly salary in the country, according to the World Bank. There would be more expenses to come, she said. Transporting the coffin to a cemetery 500 kilometres away, building a tomb, and hosting and feeding hundreds of guests at the burial. Bli Lou, who is Christian, said she was "proud" to be covering the expense, despite the difficulty. "My father is like my second God. I must honour him," she said. When her father died in July, she did not have the money to organise a funeral in line with tradition. So, she did what many families do. She paid to preserve his body in a morgue, at the rate of about $12 a day, while she got together the funds she needed with the help of family and friends. She finally managed to put together the wake at a vast centre in Yopougon known for hosting funeral events, where crowds of mourners converge every Saturday. Families often have to reserve weeks in advance. The centre was holding four wakes in all on the October night Bli Lou celebrated her father. Families had hired bands, set up sprawling arrays of tents and decorated chapels with portraits of their late loved ones inside. The feasts were a mix of tears and music, embraces and dancing. Funerals are so important in some Ivorian communities they unleash competition and rivalries between families, said anthropologist Leo Montaz, who has studied the subject. Some even get into debt to come up with the money. For Muslims, Ivory Coast's other major faith, funerals must be organised more quickly -- but the multiple ceremonies involved are still often expensive. The importance of funeral rites has given rise to a booming industry in the country. In Yopougon, stores offer coffins, funeral clothing, artificial flowers, headstones, jewellery and scents for perfuming the dead. Gertrude Brou has worked in the industry for 15 years, selling funeral articles and dressing the dead. "There's a need for funerals, and it's a job that earns you a good living," she said. Her colleague Georges agreed, saying he had built his house and sent his children to study abroad thanks to his funeral parlour. "It's a thriving profession," he said.