• Greeks may avoid telling an ill person that they are dying.
• A priest is called for a person of Orthodox faith who is approaching end of life. The priest will read the person their rites and give them a final communion.
• Following an Orthodox Greek person’s death, there will be an open casket allowing family and friends to pay their last respects. Mourners traditionally wear black.
• Cremation is forbidden in the Orthodox faith.
• During the burial, mourners will throw earth or shredded flowers on the coffin and the priest will break a ceramic pot (to signify the end of life) and pours virgin oil on the coffin.
• Following burial, the family meet for a meal with close family and friends. Traditionally black is worn by close family members
In the Greek polis, the dead can be either cremated or buried. People also put coins on the deceased’s eyes so when traveling to the house of the dead, there is an offering with the body. In the Islamic culture, people bury the dead for people believe that the body is going to be needed later in life for when resurrection is possible. The Islamic people get buried in public cemeteries so family members can go visit and bring them offerings like food for example. The casket shown above is a fusion between Greek and Islamic culture since it holds the buried body and it has the coins placed in the side of the casket. There is also geometric patterns on it, which is shown in both Greek and Islamic culture, and is explained more in the objects of
Now if the dead are buried far away from their homes, graves are decorated with the idea that the dead return their first and then to their how with livens. Mexicans visit graveyards, decorate the graves in their best forms and spend time there, in the presence of their departed friends, family members and lovesome. In some villages, they lay flower petals as paths, candles and offerings along the path leading from the cemetery to their homes. The spirits will be able to find their way. In some communities, it is expected to spend the whole night in the cemetery, and people throw a party of it, having a picnic supper, playing music, talking and drinking through the night. Gatherings are often held during the yearly event, it can involve the
Mankind’s history of burial practices and funeral customs are as old as civilization itself. There is no specific way to planning a funeral. Every civilization and culture has provided for their dead in different ways. Religion and personal beliefs play an important role in the burial practices and funeral customs of a given culture or civilization. Furthermore, each civilization and cultured ever studied have three things in common: some type of funeral rites, rituals, and ceremonies; A sacred place for the dead; and memorialization of the dead. As far back as the time of Christ, burials have been noted to take place. In time burial and funeral customs have become very distinct, interesting and
This knowledge of death is common among many, including both Jewish and Modern Americans. However, even though this idea of inevitable death is noted in both Jewish texts and the Bible, the burial practices are not so similar. Early Jew and Modern American customs differ in terms of preparation of the body, funeral services and burial. Showing respect for the deceased is common among both cultures, however the way respect is shown is key to understanding their customs.
Today the Chinese population still follows these traditions with a few small exceptions of modern times. All elders are given respect in the Chinese society, those living or deceased. There is a question that still remains in this culture on how to prepare a funeral of unmarried adults and children. No respect is given to a person who died as a bachelor or bachelorette, or if they did not have children. They are not considered an elder and do not have children that prepare the funeral for them. Children are also shown no respect because they do not have anyone to prepare their death ritual. They are left at their funeral home and the family members preform these burials in silence. The children in Chinese families prepare funerals for elders. It is considered proper for the children of the deceased to go into debt in order to pay respect for the older people at the funeral. The body of the dead must be washed with care, dusted with talcum powder, and dressed in the nicest clothes from the personal wardrobe before being placed in the casket for burial. All of the other clothing that belongs to the deceased elder must be burned. The deceased is never dressed in red because it is believed that it will turn the corpse into a ghost. The body is placed on a yellow cloth with the face covered, and then the body is covered with a blue cloth. All statues of deities are covered with red paper and all mirrors are removed from site in the home when preparing the home for the death ritual. The mirror is removed so that no one sees the coffin in the mirror. If someone sees the coffin in the mirror, it is believed that you will have a death within your own family soon. A white cloth is hung in the doorway and a gong is placed outside the door of the home of the deceased. If the person who is deceased is a male, it is placed on the left side; if female, it is placed
At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.
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
African-American is a politically correct term used to refer to blacks within the United States. The roots of many African-American rites can be traced back to African cultural rites. However, it is important to note that not all blacks in America identify with African cultural roots. Therefore, some of the rites found within what many in the United States call African-American culture stem from Caribbean and other cultural traditions. For this reason, when making end of life decisions or funeral arrangements the “cultural identification, spirituality and the social class” the individual identifies with must be taken into account. The black majority within the United States identifies with Afrocentric traditions and perspectives. For this
Today the society is looking for ways to ease life and to find solutions for problems which oppress our lives and make it hard to live through. Because of many reasons, the traditional burials in this century are becoming a problem. (Prothero,2001). The fact that they cover a lot of land to build cemeteries and other things that are attached to these traditional burials is enough for us to search for a practical solution. About a century ago the term "cremation" was unknown to many people. It is believed that it began to be practiced during the early Stone Age and still exists today. Since that time cremations have been made all
When you receive the first call for a Roman Catholic, you used to have to notify the clergy, but now you do not have to notify the clergy the family still may prefer too. You also have to abide by the churches rules, the church may require clergy to know. However in Eastern Orthodox depending in the area clergyman does not have to be notified either, but if you are in an area that does require the priest to be notified you would call the clergy when you received the first call. In most cases the notification of the priest is taken care of by the family and they already have had the prayer service before the call to the funeral director.
Funeral ceremonies were extremely elaborate, especially for upper class citizens. Funerals had five parts in Ancient Rome; the procession, the cremation and burial, the eulogy, the feast, and the commemoration. Ceremonies began closely after death, as soon as all necessary preparations were made. At the home, the deceased’s body would be washed with warm water and then anointed. If the deceased person had held office, a wax impression of his features would be taken. Next, the body would be dressed in in a toga with all the regalia of the rank he was allowed to wear. Incense would be burned and pine woul dbe places outside the door to signify death in the house. In early and late times, when burial was more popular than cremation, a coing would be placed in between the teeth of the deceased, as payment for Charon, the ferryman of the underworld. These rites were simplified in poorer funerals, as well as done by a family member. However, for the rich, an undertaker, or designator, would do so().
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.
These events are taken to extreme measure, making sure every step is taken with care. Theorist Terence Lovat’s theory of the five step approach can be delivered in a Islamic death ritual through the series of events in the lead up and post of the funeral. The preparation of the funeral happens before the death of the person. When the Muslim is dying, someone must firmly but gently prompt the person dying to say the holy declaration prayer, this is called the Shahaada. People can then offer their condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased, this in Islam is an important act of kindness. The next important factor is the physical cleansing of the body. The bathing of the corpse is an important part of ‘Sunnah the Prophet’, this is a part of the Islamic Shari’ah. The method, the style and the accessories that are used may vary from time to time and from place to place. After the body has been cleansed, the corpse is then wrapped in a plain simple cloth, this cloth is called ‘Kafan’ and the process called ‘Takfeen’. The main factor while wrapping the body is to respectfully cover the private part, so they aren’t visible to others. Islam traditions state that the cloth must be a material must be a gaudy style as well as the cloth not being too flashy, it is for this reason that most muslims pick a white cotton cloth. Perfume is often used on the cloth (Amjad,
This paper explores the many ways cultures deal with death, both before and after. Most cultures have different practices when it comes to rituals before and after death, but some rituals and beliefs are surprisingly similar. When it comes to health care, nurses need to be aware of any cultural needs of a client in this emotional time. Asking questions about what the patient and family want to happen is very important. For example, Muslims would like the same sex washing their loved one, and they would like the family to do it themselves. The nurse needs to know this to provide culturally competent care.
Passing away has continuously been to a majority of people a prohibited subject in any conversations. Nevertheless, among African American societies death is one of the essential characteristics of culture. It is established that the manner in which death practices are handled among Africa Americans is completely different from other Americans of a different race. Furthermore, death amid the black populations is not viewed to be the moment of sorrow, but the moment to celebrate because the dead will no longer experience the hardships in the world. Although there is mourning at the funeral since the dead will be greatly missed, this moment is similarly time for celebration .Several African Americans might not be informed that a great number