Death in the house and Playing cards - Ethiopian Journey - Post no – 49.

It was a regular Saturday and as usual things were moving at a snail pace at Bahirdar. I was planning to go the market to post letters to India and USA. Padma wrote very elaborate letters and it was my duty to mail them. I would Xerox the bulky letter and send the photocopy to India and the original to USA. Postal rates to send letters to India were less expensive than sending letters to USA. It costed us 8-10 birr to send a letter to India and around 15-20 birr to send it to USA. The post office was near POLY, next to Ethiostar.

There was a sudden commotion. I opened the main compound wall and cautiously peeped outside. I could see people rushing into the opposite house and the noise levels increased. I could not understand what was happening. Luckily for me, my friend the English professor arrived. He went in the house and came out after some time.

His face was ashen. He was troubled “I have some bad news. The owner’s aged father just passed away”. I went inside the house to offer my condolences. The old man was laid down on the floor and there were grieving relatives all around. I offered my condolence to the teary eyed neighbour. 

Then something strange happened. After some time, there was pin drop silence. A small make shift tent was erected right on the road itself and people started arriving. Most of The visitors had wrapped themselves in long white cloth called shamma. They could arrive silently and it looked as if they were floating their way into the house!

They would go inside offer their condolences. The men would come outside and sit in the make shift tent. Small talk was made but in a very hush hush manner. It was very mysterious. Then they all started playing cards!

At this time, I called Padma. We watched the scene unfolding in front of our eyes with utter disbelief. Death and they are all playing cards! “Look, Look!” Padma exclaimed “They have just finished a game and money is being offered to the winner”.

The drama continued for the entire night. People came and went but the card playing continued. Some played for long and some played for a short duration but the card playing binge went on the entire night.

It was very intriguing! The next day I went up to Addis Gedefaw and explained what happened. Addis unraveled the mystery to me “what you have seen is something that happens very commonly in Ethiopia. It is so common that it is not even seen as anything strange. But as you have come from a different culture, you are not able to decipher what happened”.

Taking a deep breath she added “they are not playing cards. They are paying their respect to the departed soul. As you are aware, Ethiopia is a very poor country and most bereaved families do not even have money to spend for a decent funeral. And when they are grieving, it is difficult to talk about money or even to think of borrowing it from friends and relatives.

So the mourners who play cards are playing to support the family. The entire earnings of the card playing marathon are given to the bereaved family to help them give a decent burial to the departed soul”.

I was deeply struck by the simplicity of the situation. People have come and have given their 1,2,5 or 10 birr and it was not charity. It looked as if they were enjoying themselves! Slowly but surely I have started to scratch the surface of one of the oldest civilizations of the world – Ethiopia, the place from where the human race started and proliferated itself throughout the world.