The Role Of Death In Western American Culture

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 temples, pyramids, tombs, and religious artifacts left behind all tell us that the Ancient Egyptians believed in the resurrection of the dead. Their belief in immortality was the fundamental driving force behind their religion. “The formulae which were declared to have been recited during the performance of ceremonies were written down and copied for scores of generations, and every pious, well-to-do Egyptian made arrangements that what had been done and said on behalf of Osiris should be done and said for him outside and inside his tomb after his death.” (Liturgy of Funeral Offerings, pg.2) This illustrates just how important the ceremony and the process was to the Egyptians. Their belief in the afterlife and the importance of the ceremonial steps taken to get them there caused them great concern with their own funerals. Today, everyone has an idea of what they would like to do for their own funeral as well. We may follow in the same patterns as our family heritage has done for generations with either a traditional funeral or cremation, or we may have a newer alternative in mind for our self. Even though we may not be preparing for an afterlife, we still have an

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

Illnesses, epidemics, and pandemics derive from the living conditions and the social stratification of a society. Poverty tends to increase an individual’s possibility of getting sick due to deficient housing conditions, malnutrition, pressure, etc. Research supports that impoverished individuals experience higher death rates due to the insufficient medical care and nutritious food available to them. “An estimated 25 million Americans do not have enough money to feed themselves adequately and, as a result, suffer from serious nutritional deficiencies that can lead to illness and death” (Tischler 383). In effect, this contributes to the overall high mortality rates among groups of social classes. Those that live in poverty experience high levels

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.

Criticisms of American funeral practices have been made publicly aware since the 1920’s, and actually go back to ancient times in the scope of human’s ceremonies for the dead. Since the first published argument against modern funerals various authors joined the movement publishing their disparagements of customs for the deceased; that in essence contend the grandiosity and lavish displays are merely a social and psychological representation of the monetary opportunity of funerals (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 306-307). Even further, regarding the encompassing funeral industry as exploiting grieving loved ones for their financial gains, while disregarding the actual needs of modern society (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 307).

The dead are within the community, but invisible to the living. Shells and noisemakers were used to wake the dead from their sleep. The Day of the Dead is a celebration where music is important for the joyous atmosphere. Family members cleaned and decorated the graves and ofrendas of loved ones with different items that were related to the person being commemorated. They also kept the skulls as trophies and displayed them during the rituals. The skulls symbolized death and rebirth. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life (a a sad and mournful event), the natives

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.

The only thing in life that is one-hundred percent certain is death. Humans go through life ignoring this ultimate fate until the day they are confronted. What a civilization does with their deceased tells a lot about their culture and beliefs in an afterlife. Whether a person is cremated or the body is preserved, whether they are buried in the ground or placed in a tomb, and how their final place is decorated all show their cultures values and beliefs and what kind of person they were. At the Getty Villa museum one piece called the Sarcophagus with Scenes from the life of Achilles depicts how a Roman sarcophagus can show you their beliefs and customs.

When seeking to compare my own cultural grieving norms to another culture, traditional Japanese culture comes to mind. I have always been fascinated with Japanese culture and history, and it seems to be vastly different from my own, not only my African American culture, but also that of my individualistic, American culture in general. Japanese mourning rituals are much more communal and shared throughout the community, especially in the family, of the deceased. The main focus of the grieving process is on the spiritual journey of the dead through the afterlife, rather than the on the lives of the living (Tsuji, 2011). Japanese rituals are steeped in tradition that is pasted from one generation to the

Throughout the process, the living creates many reminders for themselves about the deceased's life. The wax mask as well as the reenactment of the deceased's life are done in order to ward off a sense of finality. The acting performed allows for everyone to remember and honor the generations that have died previously. Also, in upper class burials, the bodies were frequently placed inside of sarcophaguses with artwork on the outside displaying the accomplishments of the deceased. All of these action immortalize the deceased and his actions and shows how much the Romans respected their ancestors: "Romans' respect for 'the good old days' and the customs of their ancestors"(Shelton

Within the tradition of the Ewe people, music is a representation of worth with this idea reflected within funeral ceremonies. Ghanaian funerals of the Ewe people do not only function to farewell loved ones but also act as an occasion that inspires the creation and performance of music. An Ewe funeral is a three-day event that includes the wake-keeping, burial and grand funeral showcasing a diverse variety of drumming practices. The wake-keeping

The most interesting ways that people honor the dead to me is, eat the dead because they will always have them with them. If you are willing to eat another dead person in memory of them then that’s awesome. I mean sacrificing the three meat pizza is terrible it is all flaky. But if you eat them I’m sure you will remember them as a core moment. But if you lived in an age where people die like flies then you would eat a lot of people.

In Western Society, some aspects of death and dying are visible whilst others remain hidden due to various factors. This essay will briefly discuss the reasons behind this. The word visible relates to things that can be seen, both physically and in a metaphorical way through perception of what is obvious. In western society, great importance is placed on the notion of a “good death” rather than what is viewed to be a “bad death” which has contributed towards socially desirable aspects of death and dying being more visible in society than less favourable features.

Death rituals around the world vary culture to culture, but one of the most influential factors in determining funeral traditions and beliefs is religion. According to a research done in 2010, there are around 3.8 billion people which follow Western Religions. These faiths are monotheistic, and branch off from Abraham, the common patriarch of the three Abrahamic Religions: these include Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. As a result, these philosophies come from similar descent and consist of similar ideologies thus result in worship to the same God. Even though these theologies come from related roots, evolution has influenced religious customs and practices up to this day.