IN some cultures, death is not something to be feared or something unusual. German culture is not one of them.

That’s why Kaala Knuffl makes for a strange figure.

Clutching white balloons, while wearing a red nose, the woman dressed as a clown walks down a row of gravestones and wooden crosses. She hasn’t taken a wrong turn — the cemetery is her workplace.

Kaala Knuffl is a professional funeral clown. She doesn’t only comfort the mourning, but she also plays the violin, juggles, improvises, gives a speech — or simply stands in the background.

Knuffl’s real name is Birgit Sauerschell, a psychologist.

In 2007, she completed basic training as a clown, and since then she has been working in hospitals to make severely ill children smile, or performing at family parties and in nursing homes. “A clown isn’t only funny, she’s also sensitive and emotional,” the 56-year-old said. About two years ago, an idea hit her: What would happen if you link two apparent opposites, grief and humour?

Ilka Kuhlmann and Gabriele Arnoldt were happy to have Knuffl’s support when they organised a “memorial party” after the death of their mother, explicitly avoiding the term “mourning ceremony.”

“Our beloved mum never complained. She was always funny and often covered up sadness and pain with a smile and good spirits. Just like a clown: You expect her to make everyone laugh and be funny all the time — even though things often look different inside,” they explained. Their mother loved balloons, and they let a bunch of them fly during her 70th and 80th birthdays.

Knuffl filled balloons with gas during the “memorial party” and handed them out to the guests. “Since my sister and I wouldn’t have been able to do it, it was clear that Knuffl would take on the task,” Kuhlmann said. “Everyone stepped outside and watched the spectacle, which spoke for itself,” she said.

Dozens of balloons rose into the sky — accompanied by attendees’ personal thoughts about the deceased 81-year-old. “A clown changes the atmosphere,” Sauerschell said.

If someone asked her to dance at their funeral, or run around the grave carrying a football, she would, she said. “Open-minded — and a bit cuckoo — this is how Sauerschell describes her clown identity on her website.”

So far she has been booked for two funerals. The concept isn’t met with approval everywhere, she said. “Many don’t know about the funeral clown yet, and many people don’t believe the concept works. This is a conservative region,” she continued. “There are no statistics on the number of funeral or mourning clowns in Germany — if there are any others besides Knuffl at all.”

“We would like it if more and more people were open to new things in the future,” Kuhlmann and Arnoldt said. The clown attending their mother’s “memorial party” hadn’t been a disturbance at all,” they said.”

(SD-Agencies)