Shouldering responsibility
You will have your own feelings about a coffin being carried on shoulders of undertakers. It unsettles me. I don’t like to see those big men in black macs in such a close relationship with the body. It wouldn’t do for any of mine. I don’t want men I’ve never met carrying anyone of mine. […]
Fogey funerals
There are two ways of looking at it – aren’t there always? Either funerals, by loosening up, jettisoning the f-word and calling themselves celebrations of life, are becoming more meaningful, more expressive of what people want to express; or they have become merely conventions of gaudily-clad denialists engaged in an altogether silly and fruitless buck-u-uppo […]
Aghori
The ascetic’s refusal to accept worldly comforts is venerated by Hindus, but the awesome, horrifying renunciation of the AGHORI sadhu seems to defy the norms of civilized life. He will live only in the cremation ground, cook his food on the fires of the funeral pyre, eat and drink from a hollow skull that he […]
Smoothie
I enjoyed this blog post from an American woman living in Paraguay. Her husband is some sort of religious minister. Here’s the custom out there: In the jungle, among the Ye’kwana tribe, burials also had to be done quickly. If the family was christian, the dying person would be allowed to remain in his hammock […]
Burning issue
There was much excitement when Davender Ghai won his case for open-air cremation at the Court of Appeal in February 2010. It established the legality of the principle of open-air cremation but, as Rupert Callender noted at the time: “this is only a battle that has been won, not the war. The next impenetrable ring […]
Newsy morsels
Two really nice stories here. First, a marvellous and extraordinary insight into funerals in Gaza — community, ritual and politics. Here. Second, the ten most loathsome lunacies of the Westboro Baptist Church (the GOD HATES people), who are so biblecrazy they once protested outside a shop selling Swedish vacuum cleaners after a Swedish pastor was prosecuted for being horrible […]
She’s on 29
Have you been following Gail Rubin’s 30 funerals in 30 days? I hope so. If you haven’t, you can easily catch up. Go over to her site as soon as you’ve read this and take up where you left off. The cultural differences are intriguing. The preaching at religious funerals in the US is hotter. […]
The sacred and the propane
It was a deepseated thing, this duty we felt we owed our dead. A sacred duty – literally. It goes back to the beginning of time. Throughout human history the dead body has always been treated in accordance with sacred diktat, its valedictory hullabaloos performed by shaman or sorcerer, soothsayer or priest. For the full […]
Death in the community
This put a spring in my step. It is extracted from a letter to the Irish Times: I never cease to be amazed at how we Irish continue to celebrate and embrace death so excellently. The morgue is now giving way to families’ increasing desire to bring the body home for a wake, not just […]
Different cultures, different customs
Here’s how they do it in Swaziland: EZULWINI – The funeral of Ziggy Carvalho was turned into a ‘mini rally’ as mourners watched his friends showing off with their cars. This happened at KaBhelina yesterday morning during a short prayer held at his home. This was before his body was taken to the burial site […]
