Death in Cross Cultural Perspectives

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

Different cultures, countries, religions, and community with various behaviors and rituals that guides their belief and action when a loved one pass away. Religious and spiritual belief, type of life after death, superstitious beliefs after death and beliefs towards the meaning of life are all based on tradition and death ritual.

The life transition of death and dying is inevitably one with which we will all be faced; we will all experience the death of people we hold close throughout our lifetime. This paper will explore the different processes of grief including the bereavement, mourning, and sorrow individuals go through after losing someone to death. Bereavement is a period of adaptation following a life changing loss. This period encompasses mourning, which includes behaviors and rituals following a death, and the wide range of emotions that go with it. Sorrow is the state of ongoing sadness not overcome in the grieving process; though not pathological, persistent

Every individual experiences the act of death, and most persons experience the death of someone they know of. Whether family, kin, or someone infamous, the living deal with the process of dying. Anthropology seeks to understand the universal process of death ritual and how different cultures deal with death differently. An anthropologist can extract social values of a given culture, past or present, from how death ceremony is practiced. Such values could be regarding political hierarchy or an individual’s status in a society, and about a culture’s spiritual or religious faith. By exploring death ceremony in ancient Egypt, contemporary Hindu death practice in India, and current North American funerary rites, it can be illustrated that

In this paper, we will discuss the different death rituals performed in different cultures. We view death rituals from Native Americans, Africans, those of the Chinese decent, and endocannibalism from the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea. Death is universal to all people in every culture. Responses to how one deals with death and dying differ greatly. Death rituals are usually based on beliefs. This can come from religion, history, language, and art.

There are countless beliefs concerning this issue, depending on the faith one subscribes to as well as personal views. According to Hispanic culture, a person undergoes three separate deaths: the first is when the physical body ceases to function, the second when the physical body is lowered into the ground, and the third occurs when there is no person left behind to remember the deceased. Spirits between the second and third deaths of this belief reside in the land of Mictlan, ruled over by Mictecacuhuatl, the goddess of death. Dwellers of Mictlan linger there until the Day of the Dead each year, when it is believed they can come back to the mortal realm for a day to be with their relatives once more. This set of beliefs does not exactly resemble my own position on death, but there are similarities. Specifically, I do believe in an afterlife in which the departed inhabit, but I also believe that they are free to visit the earth whenever they like to, and that they are not limited by a specific day of the year. In addition, I believe that an individual only endures one death, and that is the death of the body. From there, the spirit goes directly to the afterlife, and remains there eternally. Furthermore, while the Hispanic culture does not define a place for the virtuous to go and a place for the wicked, I have my own belief in a heaven and a hell, meant to incentivize the living of a life of making the world better for having had you in it while you lived. At least, these are the ideas that I have been raised with as I’ve

The hispanic culture has many diverse, interesting, and unique views when it comes to the topic of death, dying, ghosts, and funeral arrangements. Because hispanic culture has many influences from not only modern day religious beliefs like the dominant religion of Roman Catholicism but also from ancient religions and culture such as the Maya and Aztec there is often times a mixed view on death. Similarly, because of the diversity in the history of hispanic culture there are many different cultural influences such as holidays like El dia de los muertos and long held folklore that makes the topic of death and dying in the hispanic culture very interesting.

In order to better understand traditional Mexican-American viewpoints on end of life care and death practices, I conducted an interview with Jaime, a forty year old, Mexican-American male living in the United States. He has lived in the United States for almost twenty years. From my discussion with him, he said that the overwhelming emotion that surrounds how death is perceived in his cultural and religion was sadness; he acknowledged that death is a part of life, but that there should be a sad, outward emotional response (Jaime Zuniga, personal communication, April 17, 2016). He is Catholic and believes that after a person dies, he or she goes to Heaven. The order of events after someone dies is

According to Corr, Corr, and Bordere (2013), death is a term that is used to indicate one’s end of life, while dying is the process that one undergoes before he or she loses his or her life. The author talks the reader the numerous aspects of death and dying, as well as bereavement. This book incorporates classical and modern material, contemporary task-based methods for a person or family coping with death. The article is divided into sub-sections including introduction chapters and conclusion chapters, which revolve around the subject of death and how people, including relatives of the deceased, survive. There are four chapters in this book which explain how children, teenagers, young, and middle-aged adults cope with death. From this point of view, it is clear that this book discusses various aspects of religious and cultural perspective that affects one’s understanding as well as the practices associated with death.

When an individual dies, their death can greatly impact the loved ones they leave behind. Each mourner may feel and perceive the death differently from one another, but one common factor that can influence the mourner’s beliefs, values, and views about a person’s death is their culture. Their culture can regulate the way the mourner copes with the death of a loved one, what they do with the physical deceased body, and how they may honor the dead afterwards (Cartaret, 2011). For me, my culture is relatively related to the Catholic, Hispanic American culture, which is a broad and subjective category, but it is what I believe that guides my views towards life and death. I have additionally chosen to learn about the cultural practices of Hinduism of Indians on death

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

For this week’s personal journal, I have decided to discuss Sonia Duffy’s article, Cultural Concepts at the End of Life. I thought that this article was very interesting, in addition to being imperative. I had not considered cultural considerations in relation to end of life, which I’m sure many others have not done. Of course, we understand that different cultures have different viewpoints on medical practices and interventions. However, I have not truly considered these influences – in terms of end of life care. I was intrigued to read what my own culture reflected when asked about end of life care.

A study of American undergraduates indicated that the beliefs about the nature of life after death were quite complicated. A 41-item questionnaire produced 12 independent groups of beliefs. Belief in an internal locus of control and that one’s life is owned by God were associated with a more positive view of the afterlife, as was being Roman Catholic rather than Protestant. The most common beliefs were that one is reunited with family and friends, that the afterlife is comforting, that there is Heaven and that the transition is peaceful, all believed by more than 90 percent of the students.

Relationships are very important in the Hispanic culture. The majority of the Hispanic culture are Roman Catholics which means they believe that the soul is eternal and continues on after the physical body has died. Roman Catholics consider human life sacred. The Hispanic culture takes family very seriously. Most people resist of the idea of putting a loved one in the nursing home because they want a family member to be there for their last breath. Many times, religious values keep an ill person from feeling comfortable because their religion does not allow pain medication. When a person is on their death bed, last rites are given by a priest, ill person gives their last confession, and the priest offers absolution. When a loved one has passed away the family will hold a wake. A wake in the Hispanic culture is a time for family members to share memories of the deceased. A funeral is held in a church and the casket is carried to the final location. A burial is followed by the church service. According to the