The Māori Cultural Death System Analysis Essay examples

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.

Death is inevitable part of human experience, which is often associated with fear of unknown, separation, and spiritual connection. Death is an individual experience, which is based on unique perceptions and beliefs. Fear of death and dying seems to be a universal phenomenon, which is closely associated with apprehension and uneasiness. Death is allied with permanent loss, thus personal experiences of grief are similar in many different cultures. There are different mourning ceremonies, traditions, and behaviors to express grief, but the concept of permanent loss remains unchanged in cross cultural setting. With this paper I will identify cross-cultural perspectives on death and dying, and will analyze

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

Burying individuals have impacted the people of ancient Hawaiians greatly. As in other cultures, recognizing a deceased person played a key role in the ancient society, whether it was a strong leader or a stranger. This was no different for the Hawaiians, as death was a matter not taken lightly. Even though emotion is common while observing burial, native Hawaiian had taken it to another level. “Relatives or close ones to the deceased person would tear away hair, knock out teeth with a stone, scar their skin, or even cut off an ear, especially if the high chief had passed” (Fullard-Leo). However, Hawaiians also saw a significance when a relative had been

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.

The, “Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers”, is a ethnography written by anthropologist Edward Schieffelin, derived from his fieldwork with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. The main focus of the book of the book is how many of the fundamental notions that are implicit in Kaluli culture are found in the Gisaro ceremony, which Schieffelin uses as, “a lens through which to view some of the fundamental issues of Kaluli life and society” (p1).

In the Pashupatinath valley region, there is a cremation temple which is a part of the landscape of the dead in Nepal. A landscape of the dead is a place where burial rituals are carried out, which may vary by religion. In Pashupatinath, when a woman’s husband or family dies, she wears white. The attendees of the funeral offer the soul of the deceased body incense, food, and water so that it doesn’t feel troubled on its journey towards a new form. The deceased’s mouth is then lit on fire by the eldest brother, which is said to purify his/her soul. In the landscape, there are also many river cleaners who pan for gold fillings that come from the teeth of the deceased.

The spirit travels to another world where it influences the lives of the Native American people. Although all Native Americans believe that the deceased should be cared for, burial practices differ based on the tribe and the location. A Native American funeral is typically held in a church or a spiritual place. In “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” by Leslie Marmon Silko of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, also known as Kawaik, states, “Why didn’t you tell me he was dead? I could have brought the Last Rites anyway,” which was said by the priest. He believed in this Roman Catholic way of preparing the dying person’s soul for death. The Last Rites is a sacrament where the priest rubs a dying person with holy oil and prays for that person’s salvation. Leon, who found Teofilo’s body, doesn’t believe in the Last Rites ritual and is the reason why he didn’t tell the priest that Teofilo had already died. Leon believes that the deceased body goes back to nature while the priest believes that it is the necessary Christian act of performing the ritual. Deceased loved ones, along with the food supply, allowed Native Americans to stay in the same location to care for the body and soul of their loved

This article is to broaden the perspective of Hmong Americans. Gerontological nurses working in the Hmong community's to have a cross-cultural understanding to understand the cultural meaning and rituals process of Hmong Americans to build their practice. Viewing an isolated aspect of this process prevents an understanding of the complex belief system related to end-of-life rituals and their meaning of transcendence beyond the physical world. This lack of knowledge provides greater opportunity for violation of cultural protocols, potentially leading to detrimental spiritual consequences.

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

People die everyday all over the world. In United States, people use hundreds of different words to describe death. Generally, people that grow up in the United States tend to view death as a taboo subject and are seen as a topic that should be kept behind closed doors and contracted with an individual or family. A belief system that so many individuals hold to be true has been shaped over the past century. In this culture, death has become something that is enormously feared and as a result, some people stop living their lives to his or her highest potential because of their fear of dying. The effect that death has pertains to individuals of all ages, gender and ethnicities. But unfortunately, how death is viewed it has become more and

  Cultures all over the world have different convictions surrounding the final, inevitable end for all humans - death. In the United States, and in most Westernized cultures we tend to view death as something that can be avoided through the use of medicine, artificial respiration machines, and the like. To us, death is not a simple passing, and usually, we do not accept it as a normal part of life. Death, to Westernized folk, is not celebrated, but is rather something to be feared, something that haunts us all in the back of our minds. However, this mentality is not held through all cultures -- in Mishima's The Sailor, a Japanese novel steeped

By investigating the piacular rites of the Australian aborigines, Durkheim suggests that social rituals create both a sense of grief and group duty. Primitive forms of mourning consist of “beating, bruising, lacerating, and burning oneself…sometimes [to the extent that] they do not survive their wounds” (402). Through these acts of self-inflicted pain and torment, members of society partake in a form of re-presenting the dichotomy of life and death. The emotional rites seem to stem from society itself, for the rites embody the rites of

The following paper examines the history and religion of the ancient Maori people. It is my belief that exploration of traditional belief systems and ritualistic practices will lead to a greater understanding of the Maori culture in present-day New Zealand. The objective of the paper is to illustrate the Maoris’ unique perception and spiritual connection with their natural environment.