Framing Pros And Cons

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.

Rituals and rites are required in almost all religions because they hold meanings spiritually and emotionally. Reaffirming faith and practicing traditions are important parts of adherents' personal and religious life. Christian sacrament and Jewish rituals are derived from their religious stories and histories that represent symbolic stories of the origin and their sacred destiny (Esposito, 18) yet Judaism hold means of obedience to and gratitude for God, whereas Christianity is accepts "divine grace or aid through the incarnation of God" (Esposito, 23). Christians and Jews have religious expressions that have a beginning and an end (Esposito, 22) which corresponds with their rituals and rites providing the "assistance through every stage of life, from birth to death" (Esposito, 180).

Death rituals, known as funerals, which have been a ritual that has dated back to 60,000 BC. A Catholic funeral is conducted in three different sections, Arnold van Gennep’s theory of rites of passage can be implemented when discussing the three phases in a Catholic funeral. The Pre-liminal stage of a funeral can be seen as a pre vigil, this is where family and friends gather in the home of the deceased, in the funeral home, or in the church to pray and remember the deceased (Everplans, 2015). The liminal stage of the ritual is at the funeral itself and the Post-liminal stage being the wake that is set after the funeral, in an act of celebration to a wonderful life. Throughout the funeral ceremony, symbolism is represented right

It can be argued that Christianity and Judaism hold similar beliefs when it comes to initiation rituals, these rituals are Baptism and Bar Mitzvah. However the rituals from both religions are somewhat dissimilar, as both rituals require different symbols and ceremony. Christians and Jews have the same general view on an initiation ritual, however it can be stated that both rituals with their diverse backgrounds is what distinguishes their rituals from one another. Catholics believe that the Baptism, is a very sacred and honoured ceremony, Baptism in the Catholic Church takes place on Sundays Celine Mar states, “in most cases the priest of the community usually administers the rituals, immersing the subject being Baptised with oils and dropping

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 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

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.

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.

Dead?" AlterNet. In this article, Frankie Colmane looks into how dead bodies are treated in the United State even after Mitford's expose of the funeral industry was published. The article takes both a philosophical and scientific issue with the procedure of embalming sighting proven negative effects to human beings and the environment. Colmane shows that even though people are aware of the malfeasance and misappropriations of the funeral industry following pieces like Mitford's, very little has changed. Therefore problems that have been discussed in earlier works should not be forgotten. Rather they should be continually brought up until the issue is solved. During the 1800s, embalming became common practice because the dead family member would lie in state within the home for a period of days or weeks until it would be buried (Colmane 2010). The article shows the duplicity such as when "funeral directors were arguing forcefully against charges that their mediation between the living and the dead translated into social obstruction that barred the stricken from facing death with maturity, realism, and honest" (page 2). This article will be used to illustrate that things have not changed with funereal practices despite the publication of Mitford's essay.

As we all know death of humans has been one of the utmost mysteries we would all like to solve. Although the ancient Mesopotamia, Egyptian, and Hindu all believed in an afterlife, their understanding and celebration if any, seems to be a little different. Mesopotamians were afraid of death, although they believed in afterlife they also had strong belief about the spirits still being alive. The Egyptians had an understanding and outlook on death, in which they believed in an afterlife, but they also believed in preserving the body. However, the Hindu also had the same perspective on afterlife, they were also very religious, but the way they went about it was much different than those of Mesopotamia and Egyptians.

The purpose of this research paper will be to examine how Judaism rituals have helped the religion remained amongst the most prominent in the world. The use of tradition and rituals has been at the very core of its existence. Birth, adolescent, marriage and death rituals will be used to highlight how the Judaism way of life is not dependent on the written word but rather the actions of those who follow this historic Hebrew religion. The paper will begin with a brief outline of Judaism and its relationship with God and then continue with how the written word of the Torah has laid the basis for the many traditions still practiced in Judaism.

In pursuing this further, there are several aspects to this topic; such as, preplanning, financial planning, cost, and the surviving family members. Funeral planning is something we all will have to do at one point in our lives, but where should we begin? It is a good idea to start with the preplanning of the funeral. Preplanning is crucial; it provides piece of mind, especially for surviving family. As said earlier, discussing one 's mortality is an extremely uncomfortable topic; however, by preplanning a funeral, it will relieve the family of having to make important decisions during a period of immense stress and grief. Furthermore, preplanning gives time to explore the options for a ceremony and allows time to discuss the financial aspects. It also gives a chance to choose a funeral home that best suit ones needs and budget.

The Ancient Romans believed and carried out the sacred traditions of taking care of the dead by disposing those by either burying or cremating the body, it was also ensured that citizens were promised a formal burial. However, the social status of whoever died would also depend on how the body was disposed and treated which helped establish the difference between the Patricians and Plebs. It was widely believed by the Romans that death established the great segregation of body and soul.

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

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