Death In Hispanic American Culture

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 two cultures that I decided to compare and contrast is the Mexican culture and ancient Egyptians. Mexicans have embraced death as a part of life. The Mayan and Aztecs practiced human sacrifices which gave and example of acceptance of death. In Mexico when a loved one passed on to a better life the viewing traditional takes place at the family’s home. A catholic priest comes to the family’s home and leads a mass in honor of the recently departed. The coffin in placed on a table along with candles on the side. After the funeral the family members get together and pray for nine days to guide the deceased into haven and ask forgiveness for their sins.On the other hand Egyptians were buried in pyramids directly in the ground. Often bodies were

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

The grief responses within a culture vary from person to person. It is true that societies made up of people from many cultural backgrounds. A family with members from two or more cultural backgrounds may develop its own set of rituals and customs. Furthermore, different culture may have different perspective toward death and dying. They may use different strategies to cope with their losses. By interviewed Amira, I learned many things regarding to her cultural aspect of death and dying and it was interesting topic to learn about.

Death is a mystery to the living. It is an inevitable truth, but it is viewed differently depending on your location and religious beliefs. The answer to what happens after we die is one that has been debated since the beginning of time. This debate has brought to attention how this perception of death, especially in religions, has influenced cultures worldwide. However, to focus on all the religions and their perspectives in the world is absurd. The Pew Research Center reports that the world’s largest religion is currently Christianity, with an estimated 2.2 billion followers. Meanwhile, the world’s oldest religion is Hinduism, which dates back to approximately 5500 BCE. This sparks a question between the oldest religion and the largest - How does the perception of death in Christianity and Hinduism influence their respective cultures? It’s interesting to see the differences that arise from viewing the same concept. Joe Hill is a three dimensional street artist that can see these differences in perspective and use it to his advantage when he creates his illusions. Death is something that everyone can see, much like Hill’s illusions, but because different individuals are standing from different viewpoints, they each appraise the subject in a different

Every culture has their own way to deal with the dying and dead. Some like to bury their dead, some will cremate, and others will just leave the body in the open. Every culture has their own special and specific way to do things. Some might mourn and others will celebrate.

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.

Nevertheless, death is a significant milestone in a person’s life, it should not be encouraged nor discouraged as it is an inevitable natural process. “Conversely, health systems in Eastern countries have been reluctant to introduce new legislation regarding brain death and to incorporate these practices into their medical guidelines” (Kaplan 2016). As such, it is relevant to assume that those associated with Eastern culture do not acknowledge brain death. Although they display opposing views towards brain death, this may be an effect of their cultural beliefs and presumptions regarding the afterlife. Provided that, death can be observed diversely with many viewpoints based on the significance of the body, status, and religion. In North American culture, it is evident that death should be honored and cherished by those who service it and endure its loss. Death is a notion that is conceived to be real or non-real. As such, for death to be real we will cease to exist, and for it to be non-real, signifies there is life after

Cultural effluence on grieving process has an interesting similarities and differences between western and eastern societies. The feeling of sadness naturally associates with several human reactions and behaviors, like crying, screaming, and feeling sad most the time. For example, in eastern culture when somebody dies, most of the family members and their friends have to wear black colored clothes. In addition, the close family member of the dead, especially wives, sisters, and mothers have to wear black clothes at least forty day period. In some cases the eastern women keep wearing black clothes for several years.

Along with providing culturally competent healthcare, we must also consider the cultural practices associated with death. Throughout history, rites and rituals at the end of life have been important components of all societies, cultures, and religions. In many ways, modern medicine has replaced the personal rites and rituals, the songs, chants, and music associated with many end of life rituals. These forgotten rituals were often what was remembered and referred to during the after-death “celebration” of the person’s life and last days. We, as healthcare professionals must become more aware by participating in advance care planning and discussion of our clients’ cultural practices. Culturally sensitive planning can, for the family of the dying

As mentioned before, it is unlawful in the Islamic faith to prepare the processes for an impending death before a “complete death”. A Muslim has not reached death until his or her last heart beat (Bedir & Aksoy, 2011). Muslim practice is to bury rather than cremate the deceased. Preparations of the body for burial take place within twenty-four hours. Funerary rituals involve final washing and shrouding the body in white cloth. Before the burial, the body is taken for recitation of prayers. The body is to be laid facing Mecca, an Islamic holy city in Saudi Arabia. It is customary for the women to stay at home or at a mosque and pray, while the men escort the body to the burial ground (Shaw, 2014). In Muslim countries, the body is buried without the casket while this is not the case in the United States (Salman, 2010). Following the burial, visitors attend the home of the deceased to offer condolences to the surviving family. Funerary rituals are usually performed collectively in the sense that people travel from near and far to acknowledge the deceased. The Islamic faith does not include placing flowers, burning candles, playing music, or singing.

Health and social care professional’s care for the body of a person who has died in a culturally sensitive and dignified manner.

The Hindu structure provides a socially acceptable framework for grieving and religious meaning in death.

There are distinct and meaningful rites and traditions in virtually every religion when it comes to death. Specific rituals and rites- whether preparing and casketing the deceased or the components of the funeral service or memorial services- can connect people together and encourage them to share their grief. The framework that religion provides around dealing with a death both fulfills doctrinal obligations and offers direction to mourning survivors. The Buddhist religion is particularly unique in its belief system as well as funeral customs they practice.

From this standpoint it has focused on the ways that these cultural practices and expressions of grief are informed by the social construction of feeling rules which are based on underlying religious beliefs or ideological framing rules. We have explored the links in these quite separate cultural ways of grieving and also shown where they differ to understand whether or, preferably, how humans are alike and yet so diverse. It is clear from this analysis and research that based on the range of cultures we have explored here grief is most likely to be experienced universally. Though this comes in a raft of different forms, by various names (Wierzbicka, 2003, p. 580), in any number of various expressions as determined by the feeling rules considered most appropriate in any given cultural setting, it does not negate the hypothesis that at some stage or another in any person’s life they will experience death and thus grieving in whatever form it takes (Hochschild, 1979, p. 552).