Virus forces us to re-think customs and societal norms

Global disasters tend to present new opportunities to review some societal norms which, until then, may not have seemed outdated or even unnecessary.

Medieval Europe was forced to reinvent its labour-intensive industries and adapt to a smaller workforce. Weapons and artillery, medical and scientific innovations still being built upon and used today can be traced back to the awful mid-15th century period of famine and plague across that region.

It comes as no surprise that a 21st century plague, born to free thinkers, innovators and leaders of a much more liberated world, could rein in the next level of optimisation of how the human race exists on earth.

The virtual workspace and classroom saw an earnest introduction to the public of South Africa, no longer a cumbersome and expensive gimmick for the wealthy and well-connected.

Likewise, families have been forced to reinvent what it means to stay in touch, leaving an opportunity for South Africans to see their cultural norms differently and do away with that which was no longer practical for health and financial reasons. Some of these practices, I think, were never necessary.

It is not a new concept that South Africa’s most mandatory customs in social spheres were overtly expensive and amounted to unnecessary waste and environmental damage, as culturally significant as they may be. None would fit this bill more than weddings and funerals.

This year, Disaster Act laws have seen the budgets of events such as bridal showers, weddings and related gatherings go from hundreds of thousands of rands to the low hundreds, with the use of such platforms as Zoom.

Funerals have followed the same path, but these are tricky to turn into permanently small events beyond the Covid-19 era because mass mourning is a sacred and deeply entrenched part of the culture of South Africa’s people. From religious practices in Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and many Afro-Christian denominations to indigenous cultural norms, the death of a loved one is an event for hundreds and often thousands of people to attend.

I struggle to imagine the piteous sight of my uncle’s upcoming funeral, which will be attended by no more than 50 people, who will gather around his final resting place, having skipped several steps associated with the traditions of funerals in Africa and by Anglican congregants.

He has joined the hundreds of South Africans who met the deadly virus while receiving treatment in hospital for an unrelated ailment.

There are thousands of families, bereaved in this time under similar circumstances – and it is a widespread change to the norm when it comes to the experience of life as we know it, even the things which were deemed sacred and mandatory.

Preserving life has become the necessity which will birth a new way of life beyond the next few years.

It is a strange new world, but just as people have figured out ways to attend and witness weddings, birthday parties and baby showers, over time we will figure out ways to reinvent the collective mourning and respectful ways to say goodbye in the time of plague.

Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni.

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