270 Chapter 12
The Wake
After a doctor has declared a person dead in Cuba, one of the family
members of the deceased contacts the funeral home of their choice
(normally the closest, local establishment). A car is then sent to pick
up the body and a representative from the funeral home then books a
time for the wake. Funeral homes are numerous in Havana, and in
keeping with the equality-ideal of the socialist government, the ser-
vices offered by them are entirely free or very low-cost. Wakes take
place very soon after death since (with one exception) there is no
refrigeration in Cuban funeral homes.
Prior to the wake, the body is prepared for display at the funeral
home. Preparation takes place to aid in the conservation of the body
as well as out of consideration for the attendants at the funeral home.
The body is dressed in clothes chosen by the closest family members
of the deceased. Employees of the funeral home apply make-up to the
face and block all of the body’s orifices. All bodies typically receive a
coating of foundation on their face, some blush on their cheeks and
some color on their lips—regardless of the gender of the deceased.
While more make-up is usually put on women’s faces, men may
receive a wig and fake eyebrows. In other Cuban life cycle rituals the
modifying or decorating of the body centers almost solely on the
woman. In this sense, funerals downplay the gender difference, which
is so central in day-to-day life.
The preparation of the body is completed to ensure the body takes
on a more lively, healthy, and pleasant to view appearance for mourn-
ers attending the wake. An employee of a funeral home explained this:
“Sometimes a man had a cause of death that left him very pale, too
pale, so he is given color on the face, sometimes his lips are very
white, they are given a natural color, so that he looks like a person
who is alive, the color of a person who is alive. And [the body] is given
a form that is like slightly smiling on the lips so that family members
do not see that he had a cause of death as if very traumatic.” The
funeral home employees’ task is to try to relieve the suffering of the