COVID-19 has brought illness, death, economic loss, and uncertainty, just like the Black Death during the 14th century. And just like the Danse Macabre trope back then, 21st-century humans have created memes about this pandemic. Except this time, it’s the Dancing Pallbearers. The Ghanaian troupe has gone viral on social media, but there’s a deeper story behind the sharply dressed young men in the videos and images.
Bringing Joy to Ghanaian Funerals
You probably know them as the Dancing Pallbearers, but the group’s official name is Nana Otafrija Pallbearing and Waiting Service. Founder Benjamin Aidoo, who took up pallbearing as a profession during high school, came up with the idea of choreographed coffin dances. The Accra resident explained to the Guardian’s Helen Sullivan that he wanted people to celebrate their dead instead of growing upset, fainting, and injuring themselves. Dancing, he reasoned, would capture their attention.
Aidoo was right, of course. Because of Nana Otafrija’s success, it currently employs over 100 people. The pallbearers’ signature dress code was a major turning point for the business. The family of a deceased parliament member requested that the pallbearers wear matching suits. With an overwhelmingly positive response, Aidoo made the trend permanent.
The Dancing Pallbearers Go Viral
Business was good for Nana Otafrija in Ghana, but how did the rest of the world learn about the Dancing Pallbearers? Viral videos in 2017 brought the group to global prominence. One clip from BBC News Africa showed the group performing several dances while carrying a coffin and cheered by onlookers. The video circulated widely on Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms, bringing Aidoo and his group to a worldwide audience.
Fast-forward to 2020. The Dancing Pallbearers are once again famous, but for a different reason: COVID-19 memes. Maybe you’ve seen some already, featuring a screenshot of the group at the 1:47 mark and an ominous warning: “Stay Home or Dance With Us.” As Accra-based BBC News correspondent Favour Nunoo explains, the group went viral on TikTok in April thanks to a short clip from BBC News Africa’s original video. It quickly spread to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and the memes almost wrote themselves thanks to the pandemic.
A Socially Responsible Message
Unsurprisingly, Aidoo’s group is using their new fame for good. Aidoo posted a video of the pallbearers on his Twitter feed in May. Aidoo thanked doctors all over the world for responding to the outbreak, then urged fans to stay home. Although social distancing has impacted Nana Otafrija’s business, Aidoo remains hopeful. “One day we will surely get there,” he said, speaking of life after COVID-19. “This pandemic will be over and then we’ll all meet.” His post-pandemic plans include opening branches in other countries and training new pallbearers in the same skills.
Meanwhile, pallbearer memes comment on the consequences of defying physical distancing during the outbreak. Washington Post writer Danielle Paquette mentions a few examples. Want to reopen a mall, refuse to mask up, or protest shelter-in-place measures? The pallbearers may be dancing at your funeral next. Aidoo’s dark laughter at the end of the group’s Twitter video seems to drive the message home.
Dark Humor as a Coping Mechanism
The dancing pallbearers’ memes reveal one key truth. Humor is one of our best coping mechanisms as a species, and dark humor’s been a thing for centuries. Our medieval ancestors came up with artwork of dancing skeletons during the Black Death, after all. “The pallbearers offer a fun twist on doom,” as social media manager Kevin Mboya told Paquette. And with no cure for COVID-19 yet in sight and a vaccine still quite a way off, we need all the help we can get.