Funeral traditions in Ivory Coast are placing a substantial financial burden on some families while supporting a growing market for funeral-related goods and services.

Valerie Bli Lou, a 60-year-old shopkeeper from a modest family, organized a wake for her late father in Yopougon, a working-class neighbourhood of Abidjan. She said she had already paid more than $4,275 for the funeral rites, including the purchase of three cows.

Bli Lou said additional costs included transporting the coffin to a cemetery 500 kilometres away, constructing a tomb and hosting and feeding hundreds of guests at the burial. She also paid about $12 a day to preserve her father’s body in a morgue while raising funds with assistance from relatives and friends.

She described the expense as difficult but said she was “proud” to meet it. Explaining the importance she attached to the ceremony, Bli Lou said: “My father is like my second God. I must honour him.”

Funerals carry social expectations

The wake took place at a large Yopougon centre known for hosting funeral events. On the October night described, the facility was holding four wakes, with mourners gathering under tents and around decorated chapels.

Funerals in Ivory Coast are commonly expected to include large, music-filled gatherings that bring together grief and celebration. The ceremonies described included live bands, food, dancing, embraces and mourning.

The report said Bli Lou’s spending was more than 15 times the average monthly salary in Ivory Coast, based on a comparison attributed to the World Bank. The final cost of her father’s funeral was not stated.

Leo Montaz, an anthropologist who has studied funerals, said ceremonies could create competition and rivalries between families in some Ivorian communities. Some families also take on debt to finance funeral arrangements.

Businesses serve the funeral market

The importance attached to funeral rites has helped create a busy funeral-services economy. Shops in Yopougon sell coffins, funeral clothing, artificial flowers, headstones, jewellery and scents used to perfume the dead.

Gertrude Brou said she had worked in the funeral industry for 15 years, selling funeral articles and dressing bodies. She said the work provided her with a good living.

“There’s a need for funerals, and it’s a job that earns you a good living,” Brou said.

Another funeral-industry worker, Georges, said his funeral parlour had enabled him to build a house and send his children abroad to study. He described the business as “a thriving profession.”

The Yopougon centre is reported to attract crowds of mourners every Saturday, and families often reserve it weeks ahead. For Muslim families, funerals must be organized more quickly, although multiple ceremonies can still involve significant costs.

While the customs vary, the accounts from Yopougon show how funeral ceremonies combine social obligations, religious and family expectations, and commercial activity in Ivory Coast.