Bukong

Interesting. Among the Dayak people on the large island of Kalimantan, there is a tradition, when a member of the community dies, for a few men to come forth to fill the role of Bukong, or grievers, in the household of the deceased. These are volunteers who feel called or especially suited to this role. For the next three days, from death to burial, they will perform all the household chores, taking care of every detail, gathering wood for the fire, greeting mourners and so on. Before this task, their faces are painted with charcoal and chalk such that they appear grim and grave, and the bukong will maintain frowns of affliction throughout in comradeship with the affliction of the mourning family members--although occasionally they will do something funny or entertaining in order to lift the spirits of the grievers, to lighten their sorrow for a moment. The bukong serve the family for three days, and on the day of the burial, they accompany the deceased as a sort of sentry over the passage from death to heaven. 

It's a rather nice tradition, I think. Grief wants a companion, it desires a face, wants to give itself away somehow. One feels so very alone in anguish, yet has, in the bukong, a living being to personify his own grief.