DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i02.027

Pages: 526-532

This is a paper which looks at funeral rites in two different places, Zimbabwe and America. There is an attempt to trace common origin if possible as black people in America were taken in as slaves from Africa. The paper looks at folklore. There are many forms of folklore but this paper looks at social customs. This category includes rites of passage, rituals, naming ceremonies, initiation rites, death ceremonies, marriage customs, harvest festivals and other celebrations of life and venerations of death. The way people treat, revere, and bury their departed loved ones shows their beliefs about life and death. The paper relied mainly on participatory observations and interviews conducted in the two places under study. The results are that there are both similarities and differences in the manner in which people from the two worlds pay homage to the deceased.