古巴的葬礼：价廉物不美

Not going gently
不平静地接受死亡

Cuba’s funerals: cheap and especially uncheerful
古巴的葬礼：价廉物不美

Bidding a loved one farewell is more painful than it should be in the socialist state
在古巴共和国，亲人失去痛离别。

Jun 28th 2018  | HAVANA
2018年6月28日 哈瓦那

CUBANS had nine days to mourn Fidel Castro, who died in November 2016. After a state funeral, soldiers escorted his ashes from Havana to Santiago, retracing the route taken by the revolutionary army he led. When someone less important dies, undertakers have to hurry up. Just two funeral homes have refrigeration, and that is reserved for foreigners and VIPs. Because of Cuba’s searing heat, most folk have to be in the ground within 24 hours. Cuba’s nine crematoriums handle a tenth of the 99,000 people who die each year.
据英国《经济学人》网站6月28日的消息：2016年11月，古巴前领导人菲德尔•卡斯特罗（Fidel Castro）去世。古巴民众默哀9天。国葬之后，卡斯特罗的骨灰在士兵的护送下沿着他领导的革命军队行走的路线，从哈瓦那抵达圣地亚哥。在不太重要的人士去世时，殡葬从业者会加快葬礼进程。因为古巴只有两家殡仪馆配备冷藏设备，而且是预留给外国人和大人物的。由于古巴天气酷热，大多数逝者必须在24小时内入土为安。古巴每年死亡9.9万人，而国内的9座火葬场只能处理死亡总人数1/10。

Funerals, like education and health care, are free in the socialist state (though cremation costs money). Cubans pay in other ways. Coffins, made by the state-owned forestry company, are flimsy. Pallbearers must carry them with extreme care, lest they fall apart. Government workers get better coffins; children are buried in white ones. With flowers in short supply, mourners make wreaths from twigs and leaves. That horrifies Miguel Pons, one of two deacons at the chapel at the Colón cemetery in Havana. “I would not allow someone in my family to put those ‘flowers’ [on my coffin], God forbid. Never,” he says.
葬礼，像教育和医疗一样，在古巴这个社会主义国家是免费的（虽然火葬会花些金钱）。实际上，古巴人通过其他方式支付了款项。古巴国有林业公司制造的多是薄皮棺材。扶柩者必须小心翼翼地抬棺，以免它们散架。古巴官员去世后使用的棺材质量会相对较好，而儿童使用的是白色棺材。由于鲜花供应不足，哀悼者用树枝和树叶做花圈。这令哈瓦那哥伦布公墓教堂的两名执事之一米格尔•庞斯（Miguel Pons）大为震惊。他表示：“我绝不、永不允许我家属把这种’花圈’放在我的棺材上。上帝也不允许。”

Demand for funereal paraphernalia is rising because of Cuba’s ageing population. Of the 24 cemeteries in Havana, all of which were nationalised in 1963, 20 have run out of space. At the Colón graveyard the mausoleums of important pre-revolutionary families near the gates give way at the periphery to unmarked stone slabs. These cover vaults containing up to 24 coffins in which the newly deceased rest for two years. After that relatives must collect the bones to make room for fresh corpses. Many deposit the remains in a nearby ossuary, which houses 80,000 skeletons.
由于古巴人口的老龄化，对殉葬用品的需求正在上升。哈瓦那有24座墓地，在1963年被古巴收归国有，其中20座墓地现已没有空地。在哥伦布公墓，靠近大门附近的革命前大家族的陵墓已被拆除，外围已被用来放置没有刻字的石板。此处墓地存放多达24具棺木，逝者可在这安放两年。此后，逝者亲戚要收集这些尸骨，为新鲜尸体腾出地方。许多人会将收集的遗骸存放在附近一座已藏有8万具骸骨的教堂。

The cash-strapped government promised in January to expand some cemeteries and build more crematoriums. Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s president since April, is eager to boost his popularity. Treating the dead better would create goodwill among the living.
2018年1月，财政困难的政府承诺将扩大墓地面积，修建更多火葬场。自4月份以来，古巴国务委员会主席米格尔•迪亚斯•卡内尔(Miguel Diaz-Canel)迫切希望提升个人声望。更好地对待逝者才能在生者中赢得更好的声望。（张小译）

https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21745268-bidding-loved-one-farewell-more-painful-it-should-be-socialist-state-cubas

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