Air Sacrifice Essay

All Native American cultures have strong beliefs in life after death, although the means of reaching the next life may vary from tribe to tribe. They traditionally believe that death is a part of a natural cycle in which their spirits are transported back and forth between this world and the spirit world so that they can bring renewal and new life when they return. Most consider this transition to be an honor or privilege since it will ensure the survival of their people. In Native American culture, it is believed that neglect of tribal rituals can result in death and sickness, because the spirit returns without blessings, having been unable to enter the other world. According

Mongolians believe in the return of the soul. Therefore the lamas pray and offer food to keep evil spirits away and to protect the remaining family. They also place blue stones in the dead persons bed to prevent evil spirits from entering it.

The body will now be covered and stuffed with natron to dry it out. All of the rags and fluids that were used in the process are buried with the body. After forty more days, the body is then washed again and covered in oils to keep the skin elastic. The organs that are dehydrated are wrapped in linen then returned to

The body is now ready for casketing. Like in any business, there are some special secrets to casketing. According to Mitford, the right shoulder of the body has to be “depressed slightly to turn the body a bit to the right and soften the appearance of lying flat on the back.” Positioning the hands and feet is as important as everything that was done before. There are special rubber blocks that are used for this purpose. Finally, the body is placed in the casket as high as possible, and the mortician gives attention to the last details.

This act reflects the strong ties between birth and death because the same act is done to a newborn baby in Ashanti tradition. After washing the corpse, the body will be dressed and laid in state on a bed with corpse dressed in varies with age, wealth and religion. A corpse from a royal family is covered in kente cloth with a cigarette placed between his lips and another between his fingers, follow by a coin on his forehead. While the corpse of a non-royal family will be buried with the objects or symbols that is very significant to the individual placed with dead person in death. When burying women or men, women are often buried with their pot while men are buried with their bows and quivers.

The temples, pyramids, tombs, and religious artifacts left behind all tell us that the Ancient Egyptians believed in the resurrection of the dead. Their belief in immortality was the fundamental driving force behind their religion. “The formulae which were declared to have been recited during the performance of ceremonies were written down and copied for scores of generations, and every pious, well-to-do Egyptian made arrangements that what had been done and said on behalf of Osiris should be done and said for him outside and inside his tomb after his death.” (Liturgy of Funeral Offerings, pg.2) This illustrates just how important the ceremony and the process was to the Egyptians. Their belief in the afterlife and the importance of the ceremonial steps taken to get them there caused them great concern with their own funerals. Today, everyone has an idea of what they would like to do for their own funeral as well. We may follow in the same patterns as our family heritage has done for generations with either a traditional funeral or cremation, or we may have a newer alternative in mind for our self. Even though we may not be preparing for an afterlife, we still have an

The body should ideally face in the direction of Mecca. It is a religious requirement that the dead be buried as soon as possible and considerable family distress can be avoided by speedy production of the death certificate. The body will be washed and shrouded in simple unsewn pieces of white cloth. A funeral prayer is held in the local mosque, and family and community members follow the funeral procession to the graveyard where a final prayer is said as 138 the deceased is laid to rest. Events occur in rapid succession Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, Imperial College School of Medicine, Norfolk Place, London W2 1 PG, UK JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE Volume 91 March 1998 and often the dead will be buried within 24 hours.

Being a funeral director takes having a strong stomach and skill dealing with grief. There are many different ways people mourn. Religions have different rites as well as celebration of someone’s life. Every culture and civilization has three common threads dealing with death and their final internment. There are three main steps when someone dies. First is the preparation of the body, then some type of ceremony, and finally internment.

“Cave burial was one of the most common ways to put a body to rest. Placement of the bodies were in lava tubes, rock shelters, or hitches that contained several bodies inside. Burying the deceased in sand dunes or in earth was another common but preferred method. Majority of the sand dunes in Hawaii have some kind of history with burial” (Kirch 240). Apart from buried in the earth, surface burials they had also conducted included cremation, which was performed by burning the corpse over a fire until the bones had charred into ash. “When referring to sea burials, bodies of fishermen would be wrapped in red cloth, then put in the ocean to be eaten by sharks. It was believed that the essence of the fisherman would inhabit the shark’s body” (Redmond 4).

The Egyptian during this time used the coffin to house the dead person’s body, as it was believed that only after

Burial has long been considered an important component of death; it is the mourners’ final encounter with the recognizable, substantial body of the deceased. Every culture has to determine how to deal with the physical remains of the dead, to find a way to honour their memory, and to go on living in a society that is now deprived of one of its members. Burial traditions and practices have developed throughout history and around the world to meet this human need. This paper will examine Jewish death and burial practices from the Old Testament, the Gospels, and other New Testament accounts, as well as archaeological evidence from first century Palestine; this evidence, when compared to recent arguments against the burial of

The corpse were lowered from scaffolds, and removed of coverings, and arranged in a row. The families of the dead claimed their own and proceeded to remove the rest of the flesh, they then wrapped the skins and embellishments with robes of fur. It is believed that the soul is still there. The skins were then carried to one of the largest houses where they were hung to cross-poles.

Correspondingly, to the Egyptians the Vikings also valued death and the afterlife. In an article it stated, “A dead person was buried or cremated (burned) with some of their belongings, to take into the next world,” (“Viking: Beliefs and Stories”). The viking traditions were also like the ones of the modern world, where they cremate the dead. Likewise, to the Egyptians they held prize possessions for their after life. They both believe in a world/life after death, so they have special rituals in their cultures. In addition to this vikings also had their funerals on ship. In the article it said, “Some Viking chiefs were given ship-burials, with treasure, weapons, and favourite dogs and horses buried with them,” (“Viking: Beliefs and Stories”).

* What causes a group of people to hold or sponsor this ritual? -most commonly used in Tibet as a rite for turning away demons

There are many burial sites which are associated with the Vikings all over Europe and that of their spheres of influence, the burial practices of the Vikings were varied meaning that they didn’t bury in one universal style but in many other ways, the most famous of those were digging graves in the ground, to their famous tumuli, and sometimes it included ship burials. According to these written sources, most of their funerals usually occurred at sea. Their funerals contained two ways it was either by burial or cremation, this matter depended strongly on the local customs. In the area that is now Sweden, cremations were the universal way of burying their dead; whereas in Denmark burial was more common, by common I mean that they used to bury