The origin of the African dancing MEME

Meredith✨

· 28 Jan 2021

The origin of the African dancing MEME

#bestmeme

In this new era of social networks it is almost impossible for an event to not be registered and spread globally, it is through ironic phrases on somewhat cumbersome images that it can become a "meme", something comical can arise from an uncomfortable situation.
However, in this case it is different, almost all of us have seen this meme with different phrases on top, that of men dressed in suits dancing and holding a coffin on their shoulders.
It is curious to many that something like this can happen during a funeral, but the situation is true. It happens in Ghana, in West Africa, where some relatives say goodbye to their loved ones in a unique way.

The coffins are raised to the rhythm of the music by a group of dancers who perform a choreography before the burial; these services are becoming so popular that families pay more and more for this type of funeral, details the BBC.

The protagonists are known as coffins and come to be "coffin bearers" hired by the family of the deceased who decide how to say goodbye to their loved one, whether with joyful choreography or more solemnly. Funerals in Ghana can cost as much as $ 20,000, where this dance-carrying service is included.

However, these types of celebrations are limited in these times of pandemic. Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo suspended all public meetings in mid-March 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus; therefore burials have been limited to a maximum of 25 people.

While for Ghanaians the dance is a unique ritual of respect and a celebration of life for those who have already left this world, Internet users from the rest of the planet - many of whom are surely unaware of its meaning - have taken it comically to link possible risk situations.

-Darimel Urdaneta.

BBC.