Dancing Pallbearers
You might remember it as Coffin Dance, Astronomia coffin meme, Ghana pallbearers dancing
This spread through many posts rather than one canonical upload.
Most viral ever28 of 32
2017·The platform era·skill
Footage recorded years before it became one of the most recognisable memes on earth, so origin and virality are separated by three years.
At a glanceThe facts
- Spread in
- 2017
- Format
- Phenomenon
- Who or what it shows
- Pallbearers from a service in Prampram, Ghana, led by Benjamin Aidoo
- The song
- Astronomia by Tony Igy, in a remix by Vicetone
- Also known as
- Coffin Dance
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Not held by ViralWorld
What this wasThe story
A phenomenon classified under dance, described as skill.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A Ghanaian funeral service became an internet meme in March 2020, set to a dance track. Police forces and a Brazilian city then borrowed the men for public-health warnings.
TimelineIn order
- Made
Benjamin Aidoo starts his service as an ordinary group of pallbearers.1
- Posted
The oldest clip later reused in the meme is uploaded to YouTube.1 What else happened on 22 January
- Found
BBC News runs a feature on the group.1 What else happened on 25 July
- Remixed
By this date clips of the pallbearers are being paired with Astronomia.1
- Took off
A version posted to TikTok is viewed more than 2.9 million times.1
- Mainstream
The city of Caldas Novas in Brazil puts the men on billboards reading “stay home or dance with us”. The group then releases a video of its own with the same message.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asFootage from 2020.
ActuallyThe oldest clip used was uploaded in 2015, and the BBC had reported on the group in 2017. 2020 is when the footage was set to music.1
More from hereIn this collection
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. The example shown is one surviving copy and is not claimed as the first.
Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
More from 2017You were there
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things