Religion and Environment Photo Gallery: Emma Szymanski, “Rooted in Tradition”

Title: Religion and Environment Photo Gallery: Emma Szymanski, “Rooted in Tradition”
Description: Townsfolk in the village of Worawora (pronounced “Ra-ra”), Ghana, watch dancers and offer customary greetings during the final funeral celebration of one of the community’s elder sub-chiefs. The procession circles around a massive tree at the end of the town square, clad in the traditional mourning colors of red and black. Later in the day, children and older men would take refuge from the intense sun under the widespread shade of ancient branches, climbing and sitting on the sturdy raised roots. At three in the morning, the sub-chief would be returned to the earth, buried after months of preservation and ceremonial funeral rites. I was generously given the opportunity to join in the procession with my host family, who were relatives of the deceased. Polyphonic layers of drumming, synchronized hands and canes beating the surfaces of cylindrical, stretched animal hides, and sporadic booms of rifle blanks fired into the hot air accompanied the cheerful choruses singing praise of the life and spirit of the sub-chief. Photo credit: Emma Szymanski
Creator(s): Emma Szymanski
Relation: Religion-Environment Photo Gallery at Ohio State