Funerals in Socialist Cuba 275
This underlies the fact that in addition to the socialist state, the Catho-
lic Church is an important provider of ritual services at the time of
death in Cuba.
This second part of Cuban funerals is normally attended by less
people than the wake. The matrilateral, patrilateral, affinal and some-
times ritual kin come, as well as the closest friends and colleagues of
the deceased.
The Catholic blessing of the body is performed by a deacon and it
is a very rapid and a rather improvised event. Advance bookings are
not required and the deacon typically has no prior knowledge as to
whether a body is going to be brought in for a blessing or not. Rather,
he just waits at the chapel and blesses bodies as they are presented.
The blessing does not cost anything to the participants and there are
no specific records kept concerning it. With only two permanent dea-
cons working at the chapel on alternate days at the time of my field-
work, the deacons are highly overworked; sometimes there was a
queue of bodies waiting for a blessing outside the chapel.
The family members of the deceased decide either beforehand or
on the spot whether the body will be taken to the Catholic chapel for
a blessing. Sometimes the blessing evoked heated arguments amongst
the funeral escorts, when a part of the family wanted to have the body
blessed while others refused. Sometimes the situation was resolved in
such a way that a part of the funeral company went inside to the cha-
pel with the body and stood next to it while the deacon performed the
rites. Those who labeled themselves as non-religious stayed outside of
the chapel. Others remained somewhere in-between, standing in the
doorway of the chapel half way between the religious and non-reli-
gious space, or moving between the two during the rapid five to ten
minute Catholic rites. For some people, such as my informant Norma,
this was the only occasion ever for visiting a church: “The only time I
have been to a church was when my mother-in-law died, the mother
of Juan (her husband) was passed by the church”.