Japanese Mourning Rituals

Society and culture have created scripts (i.e., social norms) that dictate the ways in which we are to grieve. These scripts also prescribe the unique ways in which men and women are expected to respond to grief. Specifically, men’s grief scripts suggest that men will resolve to grieve in solitude as a demonstration of their self-reliance. Men may also have muted emotional response and expressed emotions are typically in the form of anger or guilt (Martin & Doka, 2011). Comparatively, women’s grief scripts suggest that women are more emotive and seek support from others to help cope with loss (Martin & Doka, 2011).

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.

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.

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.

This paper will look at existing organizations and programs that provide parent home visits for infant and child loss in culturally diverse populated areas in the United States. These programs generally do not encompass grief recovery for the Native American community. As social workers and providers of these services, it is important to understand this cultural group, know their rituals and beliefs surrounding death and the burial of their dead, and to be open to changes that might be needed within their programs to address the needs of the Native American community. This paper will address the Native American beliefs on death, their rituals

Native Americans also had and still have a unique perspective on death. It is doubtful Native Americans relate to any of the phases outlined by Kubler-Ross, save for acceptance. For Native Americans perceive death as merely one facet of what they view as the “Sacred hoop of life,” (Turner-Weeden, 1995, p. 11). This is because of their unique worldview with respect to what happens to the soul after death. Native Americans view life and death as a circular movement, wherein the process

Macrosystem: Our text describes the macrosystem as, “The culture in which the individual lives. Members of a cultural group share a common identity and most importantly values.” The way a community grieves depends on the community’s values and beliefs. We as Mexican/Americans tend to follow our ancestry way of mourning. We have a showing of the body to which is prayed a rosary accompanied by beautiful music and is shown for roughly two days. The ritual is followed by a mass then a priest will join the

Death is one of the only things guaranteed in life and most religions have meaningful and precise customs, traditions, and funerary practices revolving around death. From specific protocols for preparing the body to performing certain duties during the memorial service. The structure that religion provides around dealing with death offers guidance to grief stricken survivors and fulfills religious obligations. The two religions I chose to focus on for this paper is Buddhism more specifically the Mahayana sect of Buddhism and religion I the Mayan civilization. Mahayana Buddhism and Mayan religions have similar aspects in dealing with death and the funerary practices such as cremation.

Death in different cultures Death is often times very different if you compare separate cultures. The Mexicans and Asians both have different ways of celebrating and mourning death. Asian’s views on death are more similar to the U.S because they mourn the dead, but instead of crying and going over memories, they chant and have rituals to help guide the people into their new life. Mexicans have a different way of dealing with death than Americans. Instead of mourning, they celebrate death with big family parties and they even have a holiday that use to visit their family and friends that are deceased.

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

Each culture honored the dead differently. But the ultimate goal is to celebrate the life they

Some ways that Mongolia and American christian funerals are alike is that they both embalm the body before burial. They both have flowers for the funeral. In Mongolia how many flowers they bring is based on whatever class that they are in. Low classes have one flower, middle classes have a few flowers, and high classes have a whole lot of flowers. Another thing that they both believe that there is an afterlife. Also they both have somber occasion. Another thing is that they have respect for the person. Both of them have a will sort of thing. In Mongolia before the person they get to pick a bull to sacrifice when they die. In America you can pick how to do the funeral and where all do your belongings go also you pick where you are buried. In both places they pray during the service. Those are some of the reasons why Mongolia and the United States funeral customs are similar.

How are the customary funeral and mourning rituals of Judaism, Protestant Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and Islam similar and different? Judaism and Islam have similar funeral practices. Both Islam and Judaism appoint the responsibilities of the burial of the deceased within their communities. Both traditions require the dead be buried as promptly as possible. It is for the body to be buried on the same day of the death. Islam and Judaism forbid embalming and routine autopsies as desecration of the dead. However, both religions consider organ donation as permissible. Muslims are strictly forbidden from the process of cremation, while Jewish rules on cremation can vary depending on the denomination. Conservative Jews oppose cremation while the process has become an increasingly more popular and acceptable practice among Reform Jews.

Death and dying is a natural and unavoidable process that all living creatures will experience at some point in life, whether it is one’s own person death or the death of a close friend or family member. Along with the experience of death comes the process of grieving which is the dealing and coping with the loss of the loved one. Any living thing can grieve and relate to a loss, even children (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). “Childhood grief and mourning of family and friends may have immediate and long-lasting consequences including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, behavioral disturbances, and school underachievement” (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006, p. 61). American children today grow up in cultures that attempt to avoid grief and

The general study of humans and their ways of life is called Anthropology. Anthropology have four classic subdivisions: Cultural (or socio-cultural) Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistics Anthropology and Biological (or physical) Anthropology. He or she who typically had some training in each of these four classic subdivisions in fact, have connected them to one another within a large field anthropology study. Moreover, he or she can use the theoretical knowledge and findings of anthropology to solve real-world problems surrounding human beings or human customs. Anthropologist has an idea that the beliefs and practices of a culture should be understood within the context that particular culture’s background, history and current events surrounding it called Cultural relativism. The main objective of this final research paper is examining my own culture from etic (i.e. outsider’s) perspective and another culture from emic (i.e. insider’s) perspective to clearly show my personal understanding of cultural relativism. Specifically, I will examine the rites of passage in African American girls/women lived reality and effects of the intersectional race, class and gender oppression in America coupled with discussing Japanese different rituals comparison to American outlook into death and the afterlife. All in all, rites of passage are done differently and makes a difference in its own society.