278 Chapter 12
the part of the deceased. At the musician’s funeral, the pouring of rum
onto the grave represented a particularly emotional practice which
emphasized the musician’s position as a beloved member of a kin
group; a loved grandfather with a special connection to his grandson.
Usually Cuban funerals end after the coffin has been lowered into
the grave. The funeral attendees may stay by the grave for a short
moment, standing in silence. After that, an employee of the cemetery
arrives to close the grave and to pile the flower wreaths on top of the
grave. The mourners slowly walk away. Often there are no speeches or
any type of further ceremonies at the burial.
However, in Vilma Espin’s burial in June 2007 a tape featuring
three songs sung by the deceased was played when her ashes were laid
to the ground. A female informant commented: “That was what she
wanted. People ask in life what they want after their death.” Her son
said: “The first two songs were lullabies for the children and the
grandchildren.” Her husband continued: “This [the third song] is the
song she sings for Raúl. It is a bolero.” At Vilma Espin’s funeral,
music was her way to comfort the loved ones she had left behind—a
way to continue caring for them after her death. Death could not put
an end to her position as a mother, grandmother and a spouse.
I witnessed also on another occasion a state representation on
funerals stressing an individual’s kinship position over that of a distin-
guished socialist. During the evening news, the funeral of a significant
state personality was described this way: “People did not say to him
that he was an excellent journalist—which he was. People said to him:
You are my brother, my son, you are a great friend.” Here kinship
idiom is employed to display the extraordinary personal worth of the
deceased, but not in a manner that would emphasize the value of the
deceased as a father, grandfather, uncle, brother, or son in his personal
kin relations. Instead, kinship terminology is used to represent the
value of the deceased as a compañero to those working with him, as a
family member in a ‘socialist kinship group;’ here the revolutionary
Cuba as a whole (“people”) is made to represent the kin group into