Every Igbo funeral seems like an all-comers affair — a sea of people, music, movement, and emotion. But it isn’t. Everyone present has a link to the deceased or the living relatives. It is only when you attend an Igbo funeral without any relationship that you begin to see the rhythm in what looks like chaos. There is an underlying order. The paternal and maternal kindred, church groups, age grades, and social and professional associations—both of the deceased and their relatives—usually form the