Running Head: WHAT ARE DEATH RITUALS LIKE AROUND THE WORLD?

What are Death Rituals Like Around the World?

Neftali Melgar

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Annotated Bibliography

Campbell, G. (2013). Eating the dead in Madagascar. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal,

103(12), 1032-1034. Retrieved April 06, 2019, from

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-

95742013001200049&lng=en&tlng=en.

This article focuses on cannibalistic practices in ancient times in Madagascar.

Cannibalism has always been misunderstood but, in those times, there were two types of

cannibalism. Endocannibalism was when relatives were eaten and exocannibalism was

when enemies were eaten. The article focuses on endocannibalism explaining how it

honors and respects the dead and is was a way to absorb your ancestor’s knowledge and

help them in their passage to the world of ancestors. Based on the beliefs of the Betsileo,

eating the physical remains allowed them to absorb the spirit, therefore they would be

blessed by their ancestors. One researcher claimed that in the 19th century, The New

Year festival, replaced the cannibalistic traditions. In the New Year festival, cattle were

sacrificed and eaten by the kin of the deceased.

The article is good at describing cannibalism and its different types, but it really isn’t

clear when exactly these practices were put to use or even if they were put to use. The

writer describes a controversy between researchers where the idea of cannibalism was

rejected among the Merina and even stated that “All have insisted that Callet's note - on

which he did not elaborate - should not be taken at face value, and was either mistaken or

a metaphor indicating the symbiotic relationship of the living and the ancestors.”. Here

they were referring to researchers not agreeing with claims made by Catholic priest
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Callet. In my opinion, the article can be confusing to understand because so many

theories are included, but what matters most is the idea of endocannibalism being

explained as a ritual that most likely took place in ancient Madagascar.

Chiung-Yin Hsu, Margaret O'Connor & Susan Lee (2009) Understandings of Death and Dying

for People of Chinese Origin, Death Studies, 33:2, 153-174,DOI:

10.1080/07481180802440431

This article discusses Chinese beliefs about death and dying including religion,

ancestor worship, and traditional Chinese Medicine. No matter where Chinese families

live, they value their culture and continue their traditions. Before religions and their

philosophies came around, ancestor worship was being put into practice by Chinese

culture. It is believed that the families need to maintain a bond with the deceased in order

to be successful emotionally, physically and financially. They are guided by their

ancestors’ spirits so if anyone is to get ill or die, it was due to bad luck that came from

their ancestors’ displeasure. Dying at home is important because it symbolizes the dying

individual joining their ancestors through ancestral tablets located in the house.

TCM philosophy believes that health is more than just physical, maintaining a

healthy mind and spirit is also important. For thousands of years natural drugs and herbal

medicines were used before physical treatments such as acupuncture, massages, or

moxibustion were being put into practice. Although TCM has been part of Chinese

culture for thousands of years, it has lost popularity over the last century due to the

advancement of Western medical science.

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Religion has the greatest influence on Chinese culture with the main three being Taoism,

Confucianism, and Buddhism. These religions put an emphasis on family values and filial

piety. Chinese culture is superstitious and believes that failing to please one’s ancestors

may bring bad luck to the family clan. Each of these religions requires families to

maintain a physical, emotional, and mental balance. It is also important to maintain a

strong bond with ancestors because they are the ones who guide families. This

information is crucial in order for health professionals to be able to understand Chinese

beliefs and their culture when it comes to death and dying.

Despelder, L. A., DeSpelder, & Strickland. (2009). Day of the dead. In C. D. Bryant, & D. L.

Peck (Eds.), Encyclopedia of death and the human experience. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications. Retrieved from

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/uncc.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreferen

ce.com%2Fcontent%2Ftopic%2Fd%25C3%25ADa_de_los_muertos%3FinstitutionId%3

D5899

This article discusses Day of the Dead in Mexican culture and its origin. Day of

the Dead is a festival celebrated every year that lasts from October 31st to November

2nd. The festival gives people the chance to honor and pay respects to their ancestors.

The festivities consist of everything being death themed; you may see bread in the shape

of bones, cardboard coffins, and even people dressed up as skeletons. Families usually

prepare an offering in their homes for their ancestors. Those offerings could be items

such as specific dishes, flowers, sacred images such as Jesus or Mary, and candles. The

gravesites of their past family members are cleaned, repainted, and even decorated in
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order to make the spirits feel welcome. During the celebration’s peak, families gather in

the graveyards with their offerings, flowers, music, and food to spend time with the

spirits in a happy and celebrating kind of manner. The tradition dates back to Aztec times

when death was a really important part of their culture.

Although the tradition of honoring the deceased traces back to the Aztec times,

the modern festivities are different. The article does a good job at describing how Day of

the Dead came to be. The Aztecs believed that the world was created by sacrificial means

from the gods, so they felt they needed to return the favor. The Aztecs would provide

human sacrifices in order to sustain life everywhere, that being the heavens, Earth, and

the underworld. Nowadays human sacrifices aren't offered, but other items are offered

such as food, flowers, music and candles. The main theme that remains in the modern

festivities is honoring the deceased through rituals involving religion due to its

accordance with All Saints day. The article even includes how the Spanish had an impact

on the celebration. The Spanish influences contributed their tradition of the “Feast of

Fools”, which is now an element in the modern celebration. Day of the Dead is an

important part of Mexican culture which isn’t only seen in Mexico, but all over the

United States.

Geographic, National, director. Here, Living with Dead Bodies for Weeks—Or Years—Is

Tradition | National Geographic. YouTube, YouTube, 25 Mar. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCKDsjLt_qU.

This source is a video I found on YouTube about a common practice among the

Toraja people of South Sulawesi in Indonesia. The practice consists of keeping the corpse
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of family members around the house as if they are still alive and treating them with honor

and respect. They believe that as long as the body is at home that the person is not dead,

they like to act as if the person is just sick or just resting. The amount of time that a

family keeps their loved one at home reflects their class. Lower class keeps the corpse for

a couple of weeks, middle class keeps them for a couple of months, and the higher class

can keep the corpse around for several years. After the family has kept the body in the

house for the amount of time they can, they perform the funeral ceremony. As part of the

ceremony, they sacrifice a buffalo because they believe that the buffalo is a vehicle to the

afterlife for the deceased. The funeral is like most death rituals where loved ones gather

to pay their respect, which is a recurring theme between every ceremonial practice for

death. Their rituals do not end there because they have another practice called ma’nene

which consists of returning to their ancestors tombs every couple of years to change the

body’s clothing.

This ritual seems unusual for our culture but is very normal to the Toraja people.

Unlike our own culture, they seem to be very comfortable around dead bodies with their

willingness to keep them around for so long and even going back to change their clothes

every couple of years. Keeping the body around is a good way for any loved ones to get

their final goodbyes. Ma’nene is a very good way for younger generations to show honor

to their ancestors by directly interacting with them, even if it is only the corpse. Religion

even plays a role with sacrificing a buffalo to act as a vehicle to the afterlife. The rituals

are influenced by honor and respect towards ancestors.

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Hoh, E. (2004). Death in the air. Far Eastern Economic Review, 167(30), 54. Retrieved from

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.librarylink.uncc.edu/docview/208238680?accountid=14605

This article describes a personal experience of the writer witnessing a sky burial.

The writer was part of a tourist group visiting a monastery in Tibet to observe a real live

sky burial. A sky burial is a common practice for Tibetan Buddhists to dispose of the

body. The whole environment and process is described starting with the mourners

arriving with the corpses being carried on their backs. Once the bodies are laid out on the

field, some men called dorm dans proceed to dismember the bodies as the vultures

eagerly wait for their meal. Once the bodies are ready, the vultures begin their feast on

human remains only leaving the hands and feet.

This practice may seem gruesome to us, but to the Tibetan Buddhists, it is a

natural part of life. They believe that once the spirit has left the body, the body is just a

piece of flesh, and they use their bodies as offerings to their deity. What is most

interesting about the ritual is the fact that it is still practiced today. It seems like

something that happened in ancient times which even feels like it should be illegal

nowadays. This ritual is influenced by religion and dates many centuries. Personally,

having my body fed to vultures isn’t how I want to be remembered, but no matter how

unusual the practice may seem, it is an act they see as honoring, which has been a part of

their culture for thousands of years.

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JACQUELINE R. "Death and the Rituals that Heal." New York Times (1923-Current file), Mar

16, 1986, pp. 863. ProQuest, https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search-

proquest-com.librarylink.uncc.edu/docview/111073035?accountid=14605.

This newspaper article is a reflection of the author when she came to realize the

importance of a funeral and end of life rituals. She recounts the time she went to her

friend’s mother's funeral, even though she had never met her personally. The service is

described with all the necessary acts such as the casket being carried in and the eulogy

being read. It wasn’t until a week later when her friend sent her a note thanking her for

attending the funeral that she realized the importance of attending. What helped her see

the importance was recollecting about her own experience from when her own mother

passed away. She began to describe her mother through memories and expressed how

much her mother meant to her. After reminiscing about her own experience, she states

how “These rites allow us to fuse private experiences with public expression and

externalize what might otherwise be a solitary, frightening event.”

Although this article is only a personal experience from a single perspective,

anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one can relate. This only comes to show

that we are all mortals and there is no escaping death. Funerals are such a routine act that

happen every day, but they never lose their meaning. They are necessary for closure and

expressing emotion towards the deceased.

Majmudar, Bhagirath. "Cremation Rites in Hinduism: death, after death, and thereafter."

Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health.: Oxford University Press, September

18, 2014. Oxford Scholarship Online. Date Accessed 20 Apr. 2019

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<http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/97801

99362202.001.0001/acprof-9780199362202-chapter-13>.

This chapter from the book, Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health,

focuses on Hindus cremation rites. Hindu belief understands that death is part of the

sixteen sanskaras of life. Their religion believes that the soul is immortal, and that life

tends to follow soon after death, so there is no need to grief, because the soul continues to

live. Families still tend to grieve but their rituals work as a way to muffle those kinds of

feelings. Their most common type of cremation ritual is done at a river bank followed by

the ashes being spread across the river.

The chapter does a good job at describing the Hindu cremation ritual and even

compares the traditional to the contemporary practice. The writer stated that “While older

practices may have taken up to twelve hours, modern ceremonies take less than half the

time”. Modern practices are quicker, with home visits being short and no food or

beverages being offered, differing from the past where large amounts of money were

spent on a great feast. Location also has its influence. In urban areas, the families will

take the body to a crematorium as opposed to cremation on the bank of a river. Although

the specific practices are being altered, they remain to be the same in honoring the

deceased. The body is still cremated, and the families still collect the ashes. The article

depicts how traditions, this case being death rituals, can change over time in a way to

adapt to current context.

“Performing Lives: Communicating About Death In Funerals And Eulogies.” Talking through

Death: Communicating about Death in Interpersonal, Mediated, and Cultural Contexts,

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by Christine S. Davis and Deborah C. Breede, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2019,

pp. 109–120.

This chapter is from a book by Dr. Davis and her colleague. I chose this as a

source because Dr. Davis is who I interviewed. This specific chapter talks about funerals

in general. Just the act of providing some sort of funeral service comes to show that the

person is deserving of honor and respect. No matter what religion is practiced, a funeral

is necessary not only to honor the deceased, but to comfort those left behind. Funerals are

a social act that give the opportunity to the community to comfort those who have

suffered a loss. Each custom is influenced by culture and religion, but the services tend to

have the same elements such as prayers, hymns, and mourning/ respectful behaviors

towards the deceased. One important component present in all funerals is some kind of

eulogy delivered either by family members or some kind of church figure. Eulogies are

important because they allow the deceased to be praised and give the family closure by

expressing the person’s life and how much that person meant to their loved ones.

This chapter led me to understand that funeral practices don’t necessarily have to

be religious. Funerals can be influenced by either religion or culture, but they always

serve its purpose of honoring the person who died. Funerals seem to be repetitive and all

the same but that is only because everyone dies and there is no escaping that.

Yick, Alice G., and Rashmi Gupta. "Chinese Cultural Dimensions of Death, Dying, and

Bereavement: Focus Group Findings." Journal of Cultural Diversity, vol. 9, no. 2, 2002,

pp. 32-42. ProQuest,

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https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/219361908?a

ccountid=14605.

This article is about a qualitative study that was focused on describing Chinese

immigrant and Chinese Americans attitudes towards practices on death, dying, and

bereavement. The focus groups for this study consisted of Chinese immigrants, Chinese

pastors and Religious leaders, and Chinese social service providers. Based on the studies,

it is shown that Chinese society is influenced by religion, with their religions being made

up of local folklore, superstition, and magical belief systems (Jung, 1998). The three

predominant religions are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Rituals and beliefs

pertaining to death may include elements of each of these religions. Each of these

religions puts an emphasis on philosophy and hierarchy.

Chinese death rituals put an emphasis on the importance of filial piety and values

the family system. The practices for commemoration are not only for commemorating,

but they serve more as a way to honor the deceased. Most funerals include an open casket

and many wreaths decorating around the casket and inside the funeral hall. There are

many symbolic acts done such as burning paper money and layering the body with

blanket or cloth to make sure the deceased is taken care of in their next life. Another

ritual that is done is driving the body around the home of the deceased, then proceeding

to the front door and unlocking the door. This meaning behind this ritual is to give evil

spirits the opportunity to leave the home and to make sure the deceased can find their

way back home. Because of their belief that the deceased still live on after death, they do

not believe in organ donation because of their concept of wholeness; they believe the

body should leave intact, as a whole. Death is a taboo subject for the Chinese, so they
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tend to not speak directly about it. It is believed that if the deceased is not properly sent

off into the next world, bad luck will fall upon the entire family clan, therefore they are

very careful with their death rituals. They tend to not look at the dead body and are

careful with certain gifts. Certain color or gifts have a meaning such as: handkerchiefs are

not given as gifts because they are associated with tears, grief and death. The color white

represents death while red represents luck and good fortune.

Based on the findings in this article, it is learned that Chinese practices on death

are heavily religion and family oriented.

Interview:

For my interview I chose to ask Dr. Davis. The reason I chose her was because I took her class

for LBST 2101 and the main focus of the class was talking about death. Listed below are my

questions and her answers to those questions:

Question: What is most interesting to you about death? Why is it so interesting?

Answer: “I am interested in studying end-of-life for two reasons: 1) it is a socially taboo subject;

people are uncomfortable talking about it. That makes me want to study it -- what about death

and dying makes it so taboo and what can we do to be more open about it; 2) death makes

everything, including everyday communication, much more significant.”

Question: Why do you think that death is so controversial or even taboo to talk about?

Answer: “As Becker said in his key book, Denial of Death, humans are afraid of their own

mortality, and avoiding us lets us pretend it won't happen to us, and (temporarily and

ineffectively) forget about it”

Question: What do you think has the biggest impact on how people view death?
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Answer: “Media's depiction of death has a big impact. Our personal experiences have a big

impact (that death is hidden away in hospitals contributes to our fear of it).”

Question: What is the most intriguing death ritual you have ever heard about?

Answer: “My favorite death ritual is the burial pod, in which the body is placed in a large pod

with a tree seed and planted in a forest. As the body decomposes, it feeds the tree and literally

turns into a tree. Rather than having a cemetery, there is a forest.”

Question: Have you ever witnessed any death ritual different from the common funeral

customs? If so, what was that ritual. If not, is there any ritual you would like to witness?

Answer: “I have personally never witnessed any ritual other than what you would call traditional

ones (and traditionally Judeo-Christian), and I do think some of the traditional rituals are very

beautiful. The Moravian Church graveside ritual, for instance, is very beautiful and comforting

for the family. The practice of eulogizing loved ones in a traditional funeral is frequently

cleansing and touching.

I would love to witness any type of death ritual; I am very open to non-traditional ways of

celebrating a person's life and respecting their death.”

I really like how she answered the questions because the response was enough to answer the

question, but also left room to think about and make your own meaning out of what she said. I

like how she studies death because it such an uncomfortable topic. No one likes to talk about it,

but it is very important to acknowledge death because it is inevitable. She also states that

“death makes everything, including everyday communication, much more significant.” What I get

from that is that we should cherish life and any little everyday interaction with others because it

will all come to an end someday. She likes any kind of death ritual because she knows that they

are a way to honor the person, but when I asked her what her favorite was she told me she likes

the idea of burial pods. I had heard about this ritual before where the body is basically planted

and grows into a tree. Looking back, I should’ve included that ritual in my research but because
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this interview was the last part I completed, once she reminded me of the ritual it was too late. I

also really like how she used the word “celebrating a person's life” when describing death

rituals. Losing someone is sad but we shouldn't just grieve about the loss, we should be happy

about what that person accomplished while they were alive, because at the end of the day, up

until their point of death, they did spend most of their life interacting with others and contributing

somehow to society. Her answers led me to realize that death is an important part of our lives

so we should enjoy our lives while we can while also respecting those who have passed with

the use of death rituals.

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