It's been rather noisy around here lately. Not the usual noisy of donkey and horse carts, tractors and dump trucks, but a noise reserved for a certain occasion.
The noise began after nightfall yesterday. Beautiful dancing by local people in their traditional clothing was accompanied not only by the local music, but also by loud drums and gongs. People here usually wear bright colors, especially the young women like those who were dancing, but not last night. The reds, pinks, yellows, greens, and blues were all replaced with white: the color of death.
I watched the rest of the ceremonies from our apartment rooftop this morning. More drums and gongs, plus trombones, french horns, and trumpets followed the coffin in parade-like funeral procession. Before they left for the burial, they raised the coffin a few feet off the ground and set off ear-shattering firecrackers under it. Once those had quieted, I could hear more chanting and music. Twenty or so men hoisted the coffin onto wooden rods on their shoulders. They joined the parade of musicians and what look like giant papier mâché piñatas: a car, a house, several people and horses, even an elephant. All the paper items will be burned during the burial ceremony in hopes that they will come to life in the underworld to assist the now-deceased person.
Just now, as I type, I hear more fireworks going off at the apartment where the person lived. The reason the family makes noise with the fireworks, the drums and gongs, all the musicians, and every other loud thing we've heard these last 2 days is to scare off spirits with evil intents from bothering their deceased relative. Everything the person will encounter in the underworld is mysterious and frightening. The singing and dancing is not the same as during a wedding feast; this is not a time for hope or joy.
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Let's rejoice and be thankful that we have confidence in where we'll be after we leave our bodies. Rejoice and be thankful that we who know Him have nothing to fear! Rejoice and thank Him that He hears us in our quietest prayers and our unspoken thoughts. Rejoice and be thankful that there's no need to make a lot of noise just to be safe, and that even if we made all the noise in the world, we could never scare Him off!
As you sing for joy and thank our Father, please speak with Him about the people here. He'll hear your softest tears and your loudest pleas the same. Ask Him to transform the hearts of the people here so that they would walk with Him each day. Ask Him that the next funeral they attend would be loud because of joyful shouts of people who have confidence in their family's eternal destinies! Ask Him to use you and to use us to make known the Joy that only He can give.
Thank you all,
L.A. & P.
