Sending God-Grandmother off her last journey

9 April 2010

My god-Grandmother is also my Grand Aunt. It was a common practice in the past for children to have god-mothers for various reasons. One reason could be the lack of sons for the god-mothers. Another reason could be that the child is weak in health, so by having a god-mother, it is believed that it would improve the child's health status.

When my Father was young, he suffered a severe injury. One day, his elder brother was using the changkol to work on the soil and accidentally struck it at my Father's head. My Father would always say that his lacklustre academic performance could most probably be due to that accident. Hence, my great Grandmother instructed that he be a godson of my god-Grandmother.

It was only on Monday, when my god-Grandmother passed on, that I got to know about this special relationship.

I remember my god-Grandmother would always come by our place during the day and chat with my Grandmother. She would feed me lunch, carefully blowing the porridge to make sure it is not too hot.

With Father's passing, I made it a point to attend the prayers. I find it weird not knowing all the members of this big family.

On the last night of prayers, a group of more than 50 sworn brothers offered their prayers. Sworn brothers are members of a triad. In the old days, triads were common but not now. Triads provide great support to a bereaved family. On the day when we sent God-Grandmother off her last journey on foot, the sworn brothers carried the coffin.