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I grew up in a small city and half the town would show up for quite a few of the wakes and funerals especially well known business people. Black or formal dress from leaving work was customary. The most popular funeral home has a video system set up that ran photos of the person's life. That was very nice and gave everyone something to remember and talk about.
My grandfather was waked at home in the living room in the old fashioned way. My uncle had a military funeral which was impressive. I personally like bagpipes.
Wailing is probably more customary at black funerals. I've never run into it elsewhere. Animation and emotionalism are common in black churches. Everyone really needs to go at least once to a black church. You will be inspired and blown away.
Thanks for reminding me to put a new fan in my purse as I lent out the last one to a friend.
The service lasted about an hour. It seemed a bit longer than most funerals I've attended in the past, except for Catholic ones that include communion.
An hour is actually quite short for an AA funeral. I've attended one right here in Texas that was about three hours. As a matter of fact, my grandma says that when she was a little girl, funerals could sometimes go 6 to 7 hours!
I've been to services where the preacher says certain lines and the entire congregation responds with a specific response, which is really confusing if you have never been before and don't know how that works. I always thought that was what was meant by call and response, I wonder now if that has a different name?
This is very common in AME. My mom's family is AME and they do this with Bible versus during service at the beginning of the service.
I have been to AME services in various parts of the country and all of them usually do this type of call and response. I can see how people would be confused about it.
I am not a big church goer but I feel the black church is one of the most important cultural aspects of black Americans, especially in regards to AME since it was the first denomination created for and by black people. Even though I'm not religious anymore I feel it is important that my kids experience black churches and so they go with my mom now that I moved back "home" to Ohio and my daughter mentioned that people were "talking back to the preacher" after her first visit lol.
When I was a kid my mom wasn't an avid church goer and I also went to church with my grandparents and I know every hymn in the hymnal book due to that and because I was forced to joint he choir by my grandma who was shocked that I could carry a tune while I was singing TV opening theme songs lol. So I know quite a few old negro spirituals and practically all the most popular hymns as a result. Unfortunately since my grandmother died they don't have a youth choir at our family's church as my daughter can carry a tune too and I think it important that black children especially learn our spirituals and hymns. I am working with some people to create a mass youth gospel choir here since less people go to church and I fear those beautiful songs and the traditions will be foreign to the next generation.
This is very common in AME. My mom's family is AME and they do this with Bible versus during service at the beginning of the service.
I have been to AME services in various parts of the country and all of them usually do this type of call and response. I can see how people would be confused about it.
I did some googling and I think you are right, I think it was a methodist church where I experienced that. I have read that many of them actually print out the call and response ( which usually consist of biblical passages) so that the congregation can keep up with the appropriate response, although I think I must have visited a church where most of the congregation had the responses memorized because I sure don't remember anybody reading from any kind of program!
I did some googling and I think you are right, I think it was a methodist church where I experienced that. I have read that many of them actually print out the call and response ( which usually consist of biblical passages) so that the congregation can keep up with the appropriate response, although I think I must have visited a church where most of the congregation had the responses memorized because I sure don't remember anybody reading from any kind of program!
Call and response in the African American church began during slavery. Slaves were not permitted to speak to each other while tending the field so they resorted to their African tradition. They sang. The songs were spiritual song but they weren't intended to be religious. The purpose was to mislead the overseer or plantation owner. White Southerners viewed songs with biblical themes as non-threatening. A spiritual-singing slave was perceived as joyous and content.
A slave who wished to communicate with another would call out his thoughts or feelings using a song. In return, another would respond with a song. Hence, from an uprooted- African's need to communicate, a genre of music was created. Authentic spirituals were originally called Shouts. Spirituals, such as 'Steal Away', were often used to announce such meetings. Nat Turner, a slave who led a revolt in 1831, used this song to secretly announce his furtive meetings (Steal Away).
Wade in the waters is a song with lyrics that alerted runaways that slave catchers were nearby, and advised the use of waterways to avoid being detected by scent-sniffing dogs. Follow the Drinkin' Gourd is a Negro Spiritual that functioned as Map song. The song told them to use the North Star compass. Slave children were taught to locate Polaris as soon as they reach the age of understanding. Slaves from the states of Alabama and Mississippi used this song to pass along an escape route from plantation to plantation (pathway).
The Drinking Gourd is attributed to an old man with a wooden leg called Peg Leg Joe. An abolitionist who spent winters in the south, Peg Leg Joe would visit plantations under the premise of looking for work (Owen Sound). The song's first verse advised slaves that early spring was a good time of the year to escape. The second verse instructed runaways to keep close to the river bank and to follow a trail of clues, left on dead trees, that were marked with a left foot and a right circle. In the third verse, slaves were instructed to continue North until the river ends between two hills. From there, they were to travel along the Tennessee River. Slaves were told that the Tennessee River joined the Ohio River in the last verse. Once they crossed this river, a guide would be waiting to transport them to freedom.
Here are a few coded spiritual songs:
Go Down Moses
Steal Away
I Couldn't hear nobody pray
Keep a-inching along (like a poor inch worm)
We must watch as well as pray.
Oh, freedom!
In the morning when I rise
Down by the riverside
Over my head
How do you feel? (when you come out of the wilderness)
Bye and bye (I'm going to lay down this heavy load)
Lining out is one of the practices many older style Baptist churches as well as many black churches still do. It was brought to the US by Europeans. A leader will recite a phrase of a song and the congregation will sing it back. This became less common as sing schools were more popular and more people learned to read. Although the practice of lining out has its origin in Europe, it fit so perfectly into the African structure and practice of call and response that some many black churches still use it.
I was at a funeral in a Catholic church and there was a practice of the leader reading a passage and the congregation reciting something back. I have attended two Catholic funerals recently and only one did this. The church I grew up in this was done in the part of the service referred to as the Invocation.
2. Wearing something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
3. Cutting the cake together - I HATE when people feel like they need to smash cake into each other's faces. I much prefer the bride and groom to gently give each other a bite - or forego the bite thing altogether and just cut the cake together.
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My pastor, age 62, says that in his experience, couples who shove cake in each others' faces are much more likely to eventually Divorce.
I'm from TN and have been to my share of funerals - though I don't think they've all been for white folks. The differences I've noticed are not just rural/city, but also church denomination. My grandparents lived in a rural area and were members of a small Pentecostal church - both of their funerals were very emotional, but then their church services were in general very emotional. It's just a part of being Pentecostal. I've been to funeral in Nashville, in upscale Baptist churches that were a lot more sedated.
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