Slog
News & ArtsMonday, November 9, 2009
Death A Dead Man Appears at His Own Funeral
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:18 AM
CNN reports:
On the holiday known as the Day of the Dead, a Brazilian bricklayer walked into his own funeral. The sight of Ademir Jorge Goncalves alive shocked relatives, some of whom tried to jump out of the windows of the funeral home in southern Brazil."In my 10 years in this business, I have never witnessed a scene like this," said Natanael Honorato, manager of the funeral home in the Parana state.
On November 1, some family members and friends had identified the victim of a car crash as the 59-year-old Goncalves...
...When the bricklayer got word of his funeral, he showed up at the Funeraria Rainha das Colinas funeral home Monday morning. Later that day, the mystery was solved when a family in a neighboring town came inquiring about a son who was missing.
The family recognized the body — and took it away for burial.
In this happy/sad story, a Brazilian story indeed, we feel something like a breeze coming from the strange land in Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis' novel Epitaph of a Small Winner.
The report begins with the shock and joy and ends with sorrow and grief. The ancient trick of resurrection did not overcome death but merely transfered it. The corpse moved from the the bricklayer to the missing son.
A ghost of Antigone makes an appearance at the end of this story. The family is still the institution that must recognize and bury its dead.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
The Saturday Morning News by Unpaid Intern
-
NYC Man Ticketed for Not Riding in the Bike Lane by Jonathan Golob
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (5) RSS