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Nelson Mandela was buried in his childhood village Qunu on Sunday. The ceremony was conducted with military pomp and traditional rituals.

Mandela was buried at the site he chose himself  in the rolling hills of the East Cape province.

About 4500 people attended the burial including Mandela`s widow Graca and ex wife Winnie.

Bishop Siwa gave a short graveside  sermon before Nelson Mandela was laid to rest.

South African television showed Mandela’s casket at the family grave site, but stopped broadcasting the event before the casket was lowered at the request of the Mandela family.

Pallbearers walked toward the site after a funeral ceremony and helicopters whizzed past dangling the South African flag. Cannons fired a 21-gun salute, its echoes ringing over the quiet village.

As the national anthem “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” or “God Bless Africa” drifted over the village, a giant picture of Mandela looked down with a smile. Mourners placed their fists on their chests, some with tears streaming down their faces.

“Today marks the end of an extraordinary journey that began 95 years ago,” Zuma said during the ceremony. “It is the end of 95 glorious years of a freedom fighter … a beacon of hope to all those fighting for a just and equitable world order.”

The South African  President Jacob Zuma thanked Mandela’s family for sharing him with the world and said his memory would live on.

“We shall not say goodbye, for you are not gone,” Zuma said. “You’ll live forever in our hearts and minds.”

People watched proceedings of the funeral in major cities from giant screens in stadiums.

People from all walks of life and all age groups paid their respects to Mandela.

Britain’s Prince Charles and US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson and  US TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey and British businessman Richard Branson also attended.

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