How to Dispose of a Corpse Essay

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 Process of Mummification The earliest ancient Egyptians buried their dead in small pits in the

The body will now be covered and stuffed with natron to dry it out. All of the rags and fluids that were used in the process are buried with the body. After forty more days, the body is then washed again and covered in oils to keep the skin elastic. The organs that are dehydrated are wrapped in linen then returned to

that it be embalmed"(IRN 6). After the body is brought to the funeral home, you

The Egyptians also worried very much about the after life and made many preparations before the afterlife. There graves were very important to them, and they also did much to keep them from decaying after they passed. That is why they had the idea of mummification to allow them to not decay long after they passed. We also pay a lot of money to allow us to keep from decaying on our burials and the coffins.

According to an essay written by Jessica Mitford titled “Embalming in the U.S.A” states that the mass population in the United States have lost interest of embalming over the years. She later proves this by saying “not one in ten thousand has any idea what actually takes place and books on the subject are extremely rare to come by”. She later goes on saying that America has made a complete reversal on how the treated the Embalming. In the old days of America it was mandatory for one of the family members of the deceased to stay with the mortician while he carried on his business. Now in these the majority of people cannot stand the sight of blood. As the essay continues Jessica later states how She under stands

Funerary customs are practises and beliefs that the Ancient Egyptians used to respect their dead, and preserve their bodies in preparation for the afterlife which was a universe that mirrored their life on Earth, where they would live with the Gods in eternal Egypt. The body of the deceased could be mummified, which was where a body is dried, packed with minerals and wrapped in linen cloths, whereas another form would be embalming which is the use of salts and spices to preserve a body and took 70 days in total. However, there were many tests and dangers on the way to the afterlife, including fire-filled lakes, poisonous snakes and executioners. Because of this, there were many ceremonies and tests to see if the deceased person was worthy of the Afterlife. Such as the opening of the mouth ceremony which was when a priest touched parts of the deceased body at a funeral in order for the

After reading Stiff, it was surprising to discover that there are so many different ways that cadavers can be used. For example, cadavers are used to see the different stages of decomposition, as test dummies, as compost, and as art. Until I read this book, I thought that you were simply buried or cremated when you die. Further, I

The history of ceremonies for care of the dead goes back as far as 60,000 BC when the Neanderthals used flowers and animal antlers to decorate the dead. Embalming originated in 4000 BC with the Egyptians but was uncommon there until 3400 BC. Embalming was first introduced in to the US by Dr. Thomas Holmes (1817-1900)

Cremation and burial services are among the most common choices for American post-mortem body disposal (NFDA, 2017). Though the population of the United States is continuing to grow, observing increases in funeral rates, the number of active funeral homes has significantly decreased within the past ten years (NFDA, 2017). This could be due to the extreme shift in American practices, from a traditionally religious population to a more environmentally aware and loosely religious society (Fleming, Farquhar, Brayne, Barclay, 2016; Pew Research Center, 2015). Because of the general shifts in the prioritization of traditional practice, funeral homes should be better equipped -especially in cremation services- to suit the needs of the evolving disposal preferences of all demographics through observation of holistic

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.

The body has to be disposed of in some way, and this is done either through burial or cremation. The power of substitutes is they provide a less expensive alternative.

According to (Goodman, n.d.), If a body is buried in a coffin deep underground, the decomposing process could take up to 50 years compared to bodies that are exposed to elements such as bacteria, water or air, then it will decompose a lot faster and very dramatically. No family member or stakeholder for that matter will donate their decomposed family member to her project for practice.

The living had returned home to their communities and the dead would be buried quickly and efficiently. The windfall of the monetary gain of embalming came to a quick end for the surgeons. It was not until the late 1890’s that embalming returned and this was when the role of an undertaker and embalmer merged into one entity. Companies were beginning to market the embalming fluid used during the procedures and would send their salesmen around the country to demonstrate and train the funeral home undertaker about 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