* Restrictions stop large gatherings, rituals
* Relatives forgo cherished traditions
* Funeral industry hit as families cut spending
By Emma Rumney
SOWETO, South Africa, May 8 (Reuters) - Maaki Modimola sways
along to a hymn in the yard of her dead sister's home in the
South African township of Soweto, a bottle of sanitiser swinging
in her hand.
Later at the cemetery, mourners sit on chairs spaced one
metre apart. The usual choir is replaced by a recorded track
blaring out of a single speaker. Maaki's sister Mary did not die
from COVID-19, but its influence is everywhere in the ceremony.
Township funerals are usually much more extravagant affairs.
But, like grieving families across South Africa and beyond,
Maaki and her relatives had to scale back their plans and forgo
some cherished traditions to comply with coronavirus
restrictions.
Vigils before interment have been banned. Funerals are
limited to 50 mourners - still more than the 20 allowed in
Nigeria or the 15 in Kenya.
Maaki had wanted to help prepare Mary's body, but the
funeral director said that was not possible.
"I would have loved to ... make her beautiful, put make-up
on her face, doll her up the way she liked, " Maaki said after
the service.
The infection has now spread across the continent,
overturning a myriad of traditions and social norms in its wake.
More than 3,500 miles (5,500 km) away from Soweto in
Cameroon's commercial capital Douala, Constantin Size's uncle
died from a COVID-19 related condition, and was buried the same
day without full ceremony.
In any other time, Samuel Wambe - a village noble,
businessman and football manager - would have been taken back to
his village, Size said.
In most regions of Cameroon, people usually gather for
funeral events that can last days, even weeks. But the
transportation of corpses and big burial ceremonies have been
banned, and people are interred quickly.
"My uncle belonged to the class of nobles called 'Suinfo'
(friend of the king). Only the initiated are allowed to attend
his burial, with rituals aimed to accompany his soul to the
creator," Size said.
"It is absolutely necessary to do these rituals, if not it
will have repercussions on the family lineage."
SHALLOW GRAVE
It is a delicate balance for authorities: dealing with the
pandemic, while respecting customs over the treatment of the
dead.
Last month the county governor of western Kenya's Siaya
County, Cornel Rasanga, apologised after a video was posted
online showing health ministry personnel in white protective
gear dropping a body into a shallow grave in the dark as
relatives wailed.
Back in South Africa, some in the Zulu culture believe
proper custom needs to be followed or spirits will not rest.
"The spirit of the deceased will come back to haunt the
living - that's the belief, that their spirit will wander
because they didn't have that respect and that dignity during
the process," said Professor Sihawukele Ngubane who teaches at
the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Miles away in Soweto, the scaled-back funeral is proceeding
as planned.
Some mourners wear face masks and carry white flowers. At
one point, a woman reaches across the gap between the chairs to
rest her hand on the shoulder of another mourner.
Similar scenes are playing out at most funerals, says
Lawrence Konyana, president of the National Funeral Directors
Association.
Families are paying for the basics but the big marquees and
catering have been cut back, he says. Supplies of flowers have
dried up as markets shut down during lockdowns.
Monageng Legue, chief executive at Sopema Funerals which
organised Mary Modimola's service, said he had seen an around
30% fall in revenues as families cut extras like a cow for
slaughter.
"I am a bit saddened, that her life wasn't celebrated by the
people who knew her, some who were close to her," Maaki Modimola
said after the funeral. "But I think she is happy, wherever she
is."