A 21-gun salute and full honor guard escorted the coffin of Nelson Mandela as his state funeral got underway Sunday in the rolling hills of his rural boyhood home.

A 21-gun salute and full honor guard escorted the coffin of Nelson Mandela as his state funeral got underway Sunday in the rolling hills of his rural boyhood home.

A Xhosa hymn, "Fulfill Your Promise", sounded the start of the ceremony, organized to reflect the traditions of his tribe and the pride of the country he transformed as dissident and president.

The specially constructed marquee venue held 4,500 people, with pride of place going to Mandela's family, including his widow Graca Machel and ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who sat on either side of President Jacob Zuma.

Mandela's flag-draped casket was placed on cow skins and surrounded by 95 candles -- each signifying a year of his extraordinary life, which saw him make the journey from prisoner to president.

"The person who lies here is South Africa's greatest son," said ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Top government officials and foreign dignitaries and celebrities, ranging from Britain's Prince Charles to US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, were also in attendance.

The funeral closes the final chapter on a towering public figure whose courage and moral fortitude turned him into a global symbol of freedom and hope.

And it ends 10 days of national mourning during which hundreds of thousands of South Africans turned out in torrential rain and searing sunshine to grieve, remember and celebrate the life of their first elected black leader.
The formal section of the state funeral was to last two hours and was broadcast around the world.

The public was shut out of the interment itself, which the family insisted would be a private affair with close friends.

The graveyard sits on the sprawling family estate Mandela built in Qunu after his release from prison in 1990.

"It was in that village that I spent some of the happiest years of my boyhood and whence I trace my earliest memories," he wrote in his autobiography.

Overseen by male members of his clan, the burial will include the slaughter of an ox -- a ritual performed through various milestones of a person's life under the clan's traditions.

During the ceremony, Mandela will be referred to as Dalibhunga -- the name given to him at the age of 16 after undergoing the initiation to adulthood

Mourners will wear traditional Xhosa regalia, with blue and white beaded headgear and necklaces.

Xhosa speakers are divided into several groups, including the Thembu people, of which Mandela is a member.

Although Mandela never publicly declared his religious denomination, his family comes from a Methodist background.