“If my funeral is not going to be like this, then I don’t want to die,” read the translated version of a now viral tweet posted by Daniel Cardona on September 12th. The tweet, in Spanish, was in reaction to a video that quickly caught attention.
The video featured an Ecuadorian woman twerking to reggaeton music on top of her deceased partner’s coffin. She even looked so sad while doing so, maybe even crying. The next day it went viral with over 10 million views after another twitter user retweeted it saying, “If yo girl don’t do this at yo funeral is she yo girl?”
https://twitter.com/DavidCardona_5/status/1304977099585880064
The 23-second long video features an unusual funeral celebration that takes place in Manta, Ecuador. In the video, a crowd of people can be seen surrounding an outdoor casket. The coffin is placed on top of two motorcycles, and wrapped around with a plastic stretch wrap.
On top of the coffin is a woman with black shirt, and blue jeans dancing to reggaeton music while barely hiding her tears. The cheering family, and friends also sadly hug each other at one point. Over the short course of the video, the woman twerks intimately on top of the coffin. She leans in twice to plant a kiss on her deceased partner on a coffin glass top.
If yo girl don’t do this at yo funeral is she really yo girl? https://t.co/TxbYLkm661
— Stay Wavy (@OutSmokeChapo) September 14, 2020
The viral video has a total of 29,000 retweets, and almost 100,000 likes on Twitter alone. After the clip went viral the original poster also shared a link to the catchy song “Ella Quiere Hmm..Ha..Hmm’ by Leka El Poeta. This song is played during the viral clip.
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https://twitter.com/simvnp/status/1305598923071827968
People in the comment section of the video seemed to be in a split. Some people found the video quite shocking and disrespectful towards the dead, and heavily criticized the attendees of the funeral for celebrating and cheering the woman’s dance. Others felt the genuine distress of the woman, and applauded her for sending her loved one out in style. One funny Twitter user wrote, “i gotta start working on my funeral playlist. definitely including young thug and a shawty to dance on my casket.” Another said, “and she’s crying? This is how you honor the memory of someone.”
And she’s crying? This is how you honor the memory of someone https://t.co/4Mnkr5kWMk
— Anna said ✌????Free Palestine (@annahossnieh) September 14, 2020
This celebratory funeral isn’t as rare an occurrence as one might think. Many cultures around the world celebrate the dead with cheerful music, and dances. Earlier this year a video of dancing pallbearers from Ghana went viral. Creating one of the most popular memes of 2020. More surprising maybe is the fact that twerking on a coffin has been done several times in different parts of the world in the past few years. Here is one where Ashawo women twerk on the coffin of their dead colleague as part of their protocol observed before they bury them. These videos aren’t new either, with some going back to 2017 in South America.
– “@efyahcutelyn : Herh this is serious ooo????????????????♀️. Most of you this is how your friends gonna behave @ ur funeral ????????♀️. Hmm????”
— Postsubman (@Postsubman) March 31, 2020
Obviously, all these videos feel surrealistic to this part of the world. Twitter wasn’t the only social media platform to be stunned by a video of a woman twerking at a funeral. A Reddit thread from about a year ago was flooded with comments reacting to a similar video. One user commented, “I mean, I would love this to happen at my funeral” while another responded “when i die, i hope all 2 people who come to my funeral can have a little bit of fun TBH.”
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A few of the Reddit commenters talked some similar traditions to the twerking. A user wrote, “No POS here. It’s a funeral tradition. Have you ever seen the funeral strippers they hire in some parts of China?” Another commenter added, “There are traditions around the world where they’ll hire strippers to show how important that dead guy was (places like Indonesia).” A third person said, “This isn’t uncommon in certain cultures. They’ll literally hire pole dancers to attend funerals.”
Taiwan in particular has become known for having strippers at funerals. They bring a little cheer and joy to an otherwise sad day. According to a Metro article, “Their life is feted rather than mourned and a big, joyous funeral is intended to give the deceased a last hurrah before they shuffle off this mortal coil.”
Obviously, we’re not here to judge anyone. Every person and every culture mourns the loss of a loved one, or perhaps celebrates the life they had, in very different ways. American funerals tend to be sad and solemn but clearly that is not the case for everyone. These twerking videos definitely prove that some people really know how to put the “fun” in funeral!
Video Created By:
Anes Hasi
