Dominican funerals

Kiboko

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Dec 26, 2006
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The grandmother of one of my husband's Dominican co-workers passed away last week, and the funeral is being held tomorrow. Despite the fact that we are in Santo Domingo and the funeral is being held in the Cibao region, and that no one in the company ever met the grandmother, most of the employees of the company are planning to attend. At first my husband thought that so many strangers turning up would be an intrusion into the family's private time of grief, but since everyone is going, he feels he should go too. Is it typical for any and everyone even remotely connected to a family to turn up for a funeral in this country? Will the family mind? I suspect that the culture here is quite different to back home. Any insights will be gratefully received.
 

MKLATTE

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Jan 21, 2004
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yes, In the dominican culture is ok to go to a funeral of somebody you don't know, the co-workers will be very glad to received everyone from the company. also all the family will appreciated that. if this is the first funeral you attent is going to be a great culture experience.
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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www.ginniebedggood.com
if this is the first funeral you attent is going to be a great culture experience.

It most certainly is! Expect much more in the way of outward displays of grief, wailing etc. Can be quite harrowing for someone from a more northern, controlled culture. I'm sure this subject has been covered on DR1 before - it might be worth trying a search. Here's one thread to get you started but there are many more.
http://www.dr1.com/forums/general-stuff/51872-funerals.html
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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it is normal for the family (even the most distant) to appear on the funeral.
it's possibly the only thing dominicans can swiftly organize in less than a day :)
given the fact the diseased was grandmother (i.e. rather old) expect more of a social affair than tears, grief and hysteria - participants know "it was her time" they will certainly show sadness and respect but without much drama.
if she is to be buried in old cemetery full of tombs you will have mind blowing experience of seeing the coffin twisted and turned in all possible direction before it lands in it's final place.
ps i still think the employees just want a day off...
 

Kiboko

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Dec 26, 2006
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Thank you for the replies and for the link to that other thread. The comments on it regarding the cost of funerals were interesting. One of our worries was that a large number of "strangers" turning up would be extra mouths to feed and would place an extra financial burden on the family. I would like to think that all the company's employees are going in order to give moral support to their co-worker, rather than because it's an event and something to do, but I'm still a little confused over their real motivations. We'll see how it turns out, but you are right that it should be an interesting cultural experience.
 

LatinoRican

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Apr 11, 2004
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This to Criss Colon:
Spelling police? Me? Surely, you jest, sir. If I was the spelling police as you say, there would not be enough hours in the day to correct all the misspellings on this board! What I pointed out was an error in semantics (the meaning of a word). The spelling of "diseased" was correct; the use of the word in that particular context was not. Dv8 meant to say "deceased" or dead. If I was part of the spelling police, I would point out that the word "occasionaly" which I regularly see posted somewhere, in correct English, should be written "occassionally." But let's not hijack this thread, which I think was originally on Domincan funerals...

To the OP:
What may or may not happen at a Dominican funeral can vary widely from one to the next. It depends, as somebody already mentioned, on many factors such as if the death was expected or not, the age of the deceased, the manner of death, social status of the family, and others. Maybe you can post your personal experience now that you have been to one.
 

Kiboko

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Dec 26, 2006
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I don't have much to report, I'm afraid. I didn't go, but my husband did, along with many of the other employees of the company. They missed the mass in the morning due to having to wait over an hour for some of the employees to turn up at the meeting point in Santo Domingo, then they had to leave to come back home before the prayers were said in the deceased grandmother's room in the evening. As a result, they didn't take part in any of the "ceremonial" parts of the day and were just there for the food part. He said it felt like a typical Sunday at a family's home in the campo, sat chatting under the trees in the garden. In any case, their co-worker and her family seemed to be grateful that they went.