BURN THE PRESS AND PRINTING HOUSES, at least many of them. Pull down all the bill boards and tear down the hoardings, desecrate the public/ private notice boards, kick the bulletin boards, discolour the signboards and spit on the advertising boards. It was an order, O-R-D-E-R, and we had to carry it out. Then somebody nudged us, and we realized, it was a dream, while we lay on the bed.
Then. Of all the 21 or so dreams in the Bible, we remembered that of Nebuchadnezzar who charged the Magi: “Tell me what my dream was, and interpret it”, The magicians, sorcerers, enchanters, astrologers, all said: “What the king asks is difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods and they do not live among men”. Daniel had favour in the sight of God, and he told the King the dream: “… a huge, glorious statue of a man”, and interpreted it: “God had given Nebuchadnezzar much power… the next kingdom will be inferior to Babylon… God will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.”
Two thousand five hundred years later, we have seen Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires. So, we do not joke with dreams; they can be symbolic, and if you are able to “crack the code”, you stand to gain from it.
But somebody asks: “Are Ghanaian writers and readers incorrigible?” How many times have we not tried to explain the proper use of “lying-in-state” against the improper use of “laying-in-state”. My Fante friend, Nanabenyin-Dadson, would say: “Na laying in state n’ara nso ofi hefa?” Brofo-ye-duru may not refer to the English men themselves as brave; Africans in World War 2 displayed greater gallantry, but it may refer to the English language we learn, and adopt as our own. Hence, we anglicize our names. Adu – Aidoo; Fredua – Collingwood; Edweso – Ejisu; sedee – cedi (Ghanaian currency adopted in July 1965).
Then, fortunately, we go to Wikipedia which every person, or, do we say, some people have on their phones (the internet). It begins: “Lying in state is the tradition in which the body of a dead official is placed in a state building, either outside or inside a coffin, to allow the public to pay their respects… while the practice differs among different countries, a viewing in a location other than the principal government building may be referred to as lying in repose. Ahaa, se wontee lying in repose da?
Let’s continue the Research: “In Canada, official lying in state is a part of a state funeral generally reserved for former Governors – General and former Prime Ministers… Ex-Governors generally lie in state in the Senate Chamber while former Prime Ministers lie in the Hall of Honour. During the period of lying in state, the coffins are flanked at each corner by a Guard of Honour… Provinces may also mount state funerals and have a lying in state for a distinguished former resident. For instance, Maurice Richard, nationally known hockey player, was given a state funeral by the Province of Quebec when he died in 2002, his body lay in state at the Molson Centre…
In Russia, “…the state funerals of the most senior political and military leaders, such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko, Yuri Andropov all followed the same basic outline. They took place in Moscow, beginning with a public lying in state of the deceased in the House of Unions, and ending with an interment (and people wrongly write internment) at Red Square. For the lying in state at the House of the Unions, the coffin would be placed on display in the Column Hall…”
In Singapore “… (t)he vigil guard may be deployed during the public lying in state of the deceased person at Parliament House…” In South Africa, “…Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected President to lie in state in the Union Buildings.”
Shall we go to the United Kingdom, to the land of what certain people call usurpers and some call colonial master? “… In and ceremonial funerals in the United Kingdom the lying in state takes place in the Westminster Hall. The coffin is placed in a catafalque and is guarded around the clock by detachments… At the lying-in-state of King George V in 1936, the guard was mounted by his four sons… The first British Monarch to lie-in-state at Westminster Hall was King Edward VII in 1910 apparently inspired by William Gladstone who had lain-in-state in the hall in 1898. A picture of King Edward VII has the inscription “The lying-in-state of King Edward VII in Westminster Hall, May 1910”.
We navigate to the New World (the United States of America): “Lying in state in the United States is the rare honour either authorized by a congressional resolution or approved by the congressional leadership… After the death of U. S. Senator John McCain in August 25, 2018, at the age of 81 years 361 days, it was announced that he would lie in state at the State Capitol in his home state of Arizona on August 29 (which would have been John McCain’s 82nd birthday)”.
Being Catholic, how can we leave out the Vatican City? Wikipedia writes: “A deceased Pope customarily lies in state in the chapel of the Apostolic Palace and then in St. Peter’s Basilica, between the holding of a Mass of Visitation and a Requiem Mass.” There is a picture Pope John Paul II’s body beneath which is written: “Pope John Paul II’s body lying in state.”
The Research shows a distinction between ‘lying in state’ and ‘lying in repose’. Lying in state is more formal… accompanied by a guard of honour. In the United States, lying in state is considered to be when one’s body is placed in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. When the deceased person is placed (REPEAT: is placed) in another location like the Great Hall of the Supreme Court, they lie in repose. The remains of Presidents who die in office generally lie in repose in the East Room of the White House; those of former Presidents generally lie in repose in their home states… the body of John F. Kennedy lay in repose… Not everyone eligible to lie in state does so. For instance, the body of former President Richard Nixon lay in repose at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on Yorba Linda, California. Senator Edward Kennedy’s body lay in repose at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and Senator Robert Byrd’s body lay in repose in the Senate Chamber at the Capitol.”
Why would a simple woman called Durowaa, a farmer, die in a small village, Mayera (I’m lost) and that brief period that the body is laid on a decorated bed is described as ‘lying in state’? Which state? Any guard of honour? Would the body not be lying in repose, at best? As for the expressions: “laying in state”, “laid in state” they do not exist at all! It is a grammatical inexactitude, those with a penchant for big words would say. Period. Quod Erat Demonstrandum (which was to be demonstrated).
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From Africanus Owusu-Ansah