All Soul's Day Myths

Meaning and significance of death in the light of the Christian narrative is addressed including adequate detail.

Many religious traditions and beliefs of the world contain different perspectives on the topic of death and afterlife. In the same way, ideas and dogmas are not only reflected directly in a funeral parlor and epitaphic practices, but

The aim of my report is to explain how the view of the afterlife in Ancient Greece has shaped works of art, books and the mentality of people. In order to do this I am going to explore how ancient Greek people saw the underworld as well as Roman people and the Renaissance period. Because Greeks saw the underworld as a dark, dreadful and gloomy place, many of the works that refer to it, either in Roman times or the Renaissance, are influenced by this view. In particular works like the Odyssey by Homer or The Phaedo by Plato, explained to a certain level the structure of the afterlife in ancient Greece. These two pieces of literature severely influenced works like the book VI of the Aeneid by Virgil where he depicts the underworld referencing to the Greek point of view. But a deeper description of the underworld is given by Dante in his Divine Comedy where he uses Virgil as his guide, from the depths of hell to the Purgatory while Beatrice, Dante’s ideal woman, guides him through heaven. All these time periods shared the idea of the underworld as being a place where souls pay the sins they committed during their lives.

As humans we understand that unfortunately part of life, is indeed death. We have one chance on this Earth to find meaning and to fulfill our wishes and desires. With that being said each and every person chooses to deal with death in different ways. In chapter three one of the most interesting topics we learned and discussed about was how the Chinese culture dealt with the passing of their loved ones in ancient times. The Chinese held the belief that their ancestors went to a place like heaven and once they reached that destination their ancestors became mediators between heaven and Earth. For this reason the Chinese made graves for their loved ones in which they would often bring food and wine as offerings and they even went as far into making sacrifices for their ancestors.

One of the most famous celebrations in Spanish culture is the Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is an annual event that happens from the 31st of October to the 2nd of November. It is a lively, colorful, and festive celebration. Unlike the Western perspective that death is bad, Spanish culture accepts that death is a natural part of life. Mexican essayist Octavio Paz explains this unique concept in The Labyrinth of Solitude: “[The Spanish culture] is familiar with death, jokes about it, caresses it, sleeps with it, celebrates it; it is one of his favorite toys and his most steadfast love…death is not hidden away.” The Day of the Dead is how many Spanish-speakers remember and celebrate their dead loved ones’ lives and achievements. To commemorate the dead, people build and decorate altars for family member who have died, hold vigils in the cemeteries, and honor their loved ones’ legacies through parades, music, and dancing. Traditional beliefs and folklore also say that on the nights during the Day of the Dead, spirits have close contact with the living world. Because family is such a central part of Spanish culture, the Day of the Dead is also dedicated to unifying family. In fact, the presence of loved ones’ souls supposedly brings good luck to the family and helps unify them

Throughout the semester, the lived religion approach has enabled our class to analyze what religion is to many different types of people from all sorts of cultures. This method has allowed the class to view each religion in its own unique form. Essentially, the lived religion approach opens the doors to what each different religion/culture can offer, and how each of those groups embody what they get from the religion in their day to day lives. Unfortunately, conventional approaches do not dive into these different religions deep enough to see what the culture practices contribute to a religion. This paper will attempt to answer the question of why does myth and ritual play such important roles when it comes to an

death transcends continents. Every culture celebrates the passing of mortal kind in their own elaborate way. Beyond the union of marriage, funerary celebrations and wakes are the pinnacle of human customs. The single-most asked question – what is life after death? The answer comes in many forms, none of which have been scientifically proven. Some turn to religion, while others turn to psychics and mediums. In the latter portion of the 19th century an entire movement based around communicating with the deceased brought with it a surge of charlatans whose prime focus were grieving families. The American Civil War is documented as the bloodiest war in American history where

Now, in modern times, our participation in the rituals surrounding the dead is minimal. Among other reasons, increases in average life expectancy, as well as lower mortality rates, have had a tremendous influence on our attitudes and implicit expectations about life and death.

Debate surrounds the extent to which medieval religious culture was characterised by negative aspects, of fear as opposed to positive aspects, such as mercy and forgiveness. Delumeau’s early scholarship propagates that fear of sin was central to religious culture of the period whereas later scholarship argues that death was regarded as a welcomed release from the sinful temporal world. This essay will argue that responses to Death were largely characterised by fear in the medieval period, evident through doctrine, sermons, literature and cadaver tombs.

In all throughout time, different cultures have approached beliefs surrounding death in a range of manners by honoring the deceased and celebrating life. As explained by Durkheim, these rituals strengthen the social ties and reinforce the social structure of a group by calling forth feelings of togetherness and social solidarity. The dead works as a negotiator or a reaffirmation of the values and ideologies popular in perspective societies. On the other side of the spectrum, the body of the dead doesn`t have much influence at all in Tibet.

Death is often seen by us as something that happens to someone else. Until, suddenly, it is happening to someone we love. Death then becomes a very personal and intimate traveler with us, an often unwelcome guest accompanying us on our journey. One of the main issues which makes death so uninvited is that most people do not know what their choices are during this process; they may not realize that they even have choices. The assumption is that we must die in a hospital setting and that we must then turn our loved ones over to a funeral home service to attend to the body of our dead loved one. But these assumptions are being challenged more and more by people who seek what I call a “better death” and a desire to be fully returned to the Earth.

The overall purpose of The Conference of the Birds and Dante Alighieri’s Inferno was to motivate and inspire the specific demographic within their audiences who already believed in and practiced the texts’ respective denominations to continue on with their spiritual journeys. This is demonstrated by the main protagonists’ spiritual journeys, the consequences of sin they both experience and witness, as well as how they relate to the audience. This topic is significant due to the fact that the two texts analyzed are examples of religious propaganda. The texts might also prove to be important and valuable to those that practice either of the two discussed religions, as the allegories could be used as a reminder of why spiritual journeys exist and how they can impact those who embark on them. One could easily make a case that this is the true reason why these were written through close analyzation of the text.

Its has been demonstrated that the term “poor” can be employed to refer to a wide socioeconomic group in the Middle Ages. What is left to examine is why and how this group aided the souls of the dead in the afterlife. Every good Christian, according to scripture, had a duty to care for the needy. From Matthew’s Parable of the Separation of Sheep and Goats to Daniel’s warning to Nebuchadnezzar to ‘break off his sins by showing mercy to the oppressed,’ Christians were constantly reminded of their civic duty. But the spiritual necessity of acting on this charitable obligation came into sharp focus around the eleventh and twelfth centuries with the introduction and development of Purgatory. Aside from Saints, who were promised direct entry to heaven, every Christian soul was destined to spend time in

Throughout a person's life controversy arises in many forms which does not exclude the unimaginable. Questions regarding afterlife, and the living among the dead have always been prevalent. People write about the impossible to escape from the possible. When the reality of what is occurring in their lives becomes overwhelming one may find peace in fantasy. Latin America has been a region notorious for suffering. People starved and died of disease. A direct result of this pain can be seen in the literature from that region. What the pain causes is the all too real topic of the supernatural. What is not seen becomes impossible to ignore because they were unjustly treated in life, and will not be denied justice in the afterlife. To see such conflict

Unknown to its residents, the bardo houses the souls of the dead who have yet to move on to the afterlife. In this purgatory resides many different men and women waiting for their relatives or friends to come and save them, but this day will never come. Their fight against the angels attempting to bring them out of this purgatory epitomizes the absurdism of their struggle. Whenever the angels visit, the ghosts cling to their existence and refuse to accept that they have lost their humanity. Day after day, when they are called to the afterlife and promised an easier life and peaceful rest, they resist feverishly. Although there exists no exit or way out, they hold on to their meager existence and at least partial hope of returning to their normal life. It is not possible and the whole of the world fights against them, but their souls