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It’s the holidays in Zimbabwe. Time to celebrate by unveiling a family tombstone

HARARE,
Zimbabwe
(AP)

Chipo
Benhure
started
saving
early
for
a
holiday
season
to
remember
in
Zimbabwe,
but
it
wasn’t
for
a
party
or
vacation.
The
highlight
is
a
graveyard
ceremony
to
unveil
her
late
mother’s
tombstone.

The
generations-old
rite
has
come
to
be
associated
with
long
holidays
such
as
Christmas
in
the
southern
African
nation,
where
the weakened
economy
 leaves
many
people
struggling
to
do
their
duty
of
honoring
the
dead.

“I
didn’t
want
to
be
found
wanting
come
Christmastime,
so
I
was
putting
aside
a
few
dollars
each
month,”
Benhure
said,
standing
at
a
crowded
and
dusty
ground
on
the
outskirts
of
the
capital,
Harare.
Workers
used
grinders
and
stone
polishers
to
make
tombstones.
Others
chiseled
detailed
portraits,
referring
to
photos
shared
by
loved
ones.

Soon,
a
$450
black
granite
tombstone
was
added
to
the
flower
bouquets
and
sacks
of
groceries
as
Benhure
and
about
a
dozen
relatives
squashed
together
in
a
minibus
traveling
to
their
rural
home
for
the
ceremony.
The
cost
represented
more
than
twice
the
average
monthly
income
for
an
urban
household
in
Zimbabwe,
which
is
about
$200.

Zimbabweans
traditionally
use
long
holidays
such
as
the
Christmas
season
to
hold
often
joyous
graveyard
rites
that
include
song,
dance,
Christian
prayers
or
invitations
for
ancestral
spirits
to
protect
and
guide
the
living.

In
Zimbabwe’s
urban
areas
this
holiday
season,
household
yards
and
other
open
spaces
have
been
turned
into
makeshift
tombstone
manufacturing
zones
by
people
trying
to
eke
out
a
living.

Prices
range
from
$150
to
$2,500,
and
some
people
pay
in
installments.
Delivery
vans
and
trucks
are
on
standby
for
hire.

One
tombstone
provider,
Tafadzwa
Machokoto,
attended
to
a
stream
of
customers
and
called
this
his
busiest
time
of
year.
The
computer
science
graduate
now
employs
almost
10
people
for
making
or
marketing
tombstones.

“Our
customers
take
tombstone
unveiling
very
seriously.
They
would
rather
spend
on
the
ceremony
than
on
a
Christmas
bash.
They
need
the
blessings,”
he
said.

Machokoto
recalled
a
businessman
who
once
ordered
11
tombstones
because
his
transport
venture
was
struggling.
The
businessman
said
he
constantly
had
dreams
of
his
late
father
instructing
him
to
spruce
up
the
family
cemetery.

“It
rained
just
after
the
ceremony
and
everyone
took
it
as
a
sign
that
the
ancestors
were
now
happy,”
Machokoto
said.
“He
even
bought
me
a
smartphone
months
later
as
a
present,
saying
his
business
was
now
thriving.”

On
a
recent
weekend
at
a
cemetery
on
the
outskirts
of
Harare,
Zororo
Memorial
Park,
several
graves
were
covered
with
white
cloth,
ready
for
unveiling
ceremonies.

The
family
of
the
late
Kindness
Ziwange
said
it
had
spent
over
$2,000
on
the
ceremony,
including
$900
for
a
tombstone.
Afterward,
close
to
50
relatives,
friends
and
neighbors
feasted
on
fried
potatoes,
fried
rice,
grilled
chicken,
stewed
beef
and
vegetable
salad.

“We
will
lay
low
on
Christmas
Day.
We
already
had
our
big
day
today
as
a
family.
Some
traveled
through
the
night
for
this
event,”
said
a
relative,
Isabel
Murindagomo.

While
some
in
Zimbabwe
regard
the
ceremony
as
an
essentially
Indigenous
ritual
associated
with
the
ancestral
cult
and
reactivation
of
the
spirits,
others
view
it
as
a
Christian
event
to
remember
deceased
relatives,
said
Ezra
Chitando,
a
professor
in
the
University
of
Zimbabwe’s
religious
studies
department.

“The
majority
of
people
are
hovering
between
the
two
positions.
Some
try
to
moderate
by
contributing
financially
to
the
process
but
do
not
attend
the
ceremony,”
Chitando
said,
highlighting
the
religious
complexity
of
local
beliefs
associated
with
the
dead.

Although
the
majority
of
Zimbabweans
profess
to
be
Christian,
experts
say
many
combine
the
faith
with
traditional
practices.

Benhure,
with
the
tombstone
for
her
late
mother
now
in
place,
sees
little
difference
in
the
end.

“Honoring
the
dead
brings
blessings
to
the
living
irrespective
of
one’s
religion,”
she
said.