The photograph is trending right now on social media and it beats the imagination how citizens of other countries beat Nigerians to this line of business of professional mourning! According to The Sowetan,they exist.
“Do you want to boost your funeral?” The question is asked. “We are here as professional mourners to come and cry at your funeral. And the prices are:
•Normal crying – R200 per mourner
•Crying and rolling on the ground -R300
•Crying and insulting a bit – R400
•Crying and threatening to jump into the grave -R500”
For example, in the UK there is a company, Rent A Mourner, that specialises in providing professional mourning services. In other words, they can supply “professional, discreet people to attend funerals and wakes” and that they “can supply people just to increase the numbers at the funeral, because empty seats are so unsightly!” Their site is www.rentamourner.co.uk.
“We are available for funerals and wakes by appointment. We work with agents throughout the United Kingdom and will supply a coordinator in your area to manage your needs. We are typically invited to help increase visitors to funerals where there may be a low turnout expected. This can usually be a popularity issue or being new to an area, or indeed, the country. We have a significant amount of mourners to call upon when the need arises,” the company advertises. The Daily Telegraph, reported also that for £45 an hour, the fake mourners “can be rented to cry for the duration of a funeral service”.
Over there, professional mourners are taken through auditions and training. “The Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas is very particular about this,” The Sowetan wrote.
Also, the BBC reported that the most well known professional mourner is a woman from Taiwan called Liu Jun-Lin. “In Taiwain professional mourning is an age old custom. The profession has historically been taken on by women,” the report indicated.