Throughout The Ritual Of Death Essay

Meaning and significance of death in the light of the Christian narrative is addressed including adequate detail.

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

Funerals are a dark, gloomy, and sometimes emotional subject for many people. Death rituals like funerals are times where we as a community come together to mourn someone’s loss; it is depressing and often turbulent. But we often overlook the positive aspects of events like these in favor of their negative ones. We can’t ignore the grief that comes with funerals and loss, but we can investigate how funerals are beneficial to those trying to cope with bereavement. In fact, funerals and death rites have many psychological benefits. This is pervasive to grief rituals no matter the culture or the time period: for example, the people of Ancient Greece and the people of modern-day America.

These families believe there is either a good time or a bad time to die. To figure out when a good time to die is, they see a priest that checks a special book. If he says it is a good time to die, they proceed with ceremonies for death. If it is not a good time to die, the book tells the family what they need to do to ward off evil and protect the living. If the book isn’t checked appropriately, they believe many deaths may occur and the priest needs to go back in the book to see if a previous death was at the right time. If that death was actually at a bad time, the priest has to perform rituals to get rid of the evil that causes deaths. This priest may also be used to ease the passage into death or to allow passage into another life, such as with an infant that has died (Brooten,

When it comes to death, although the focus is on the deceased individual, the function of rituals which exists throughout many different cultures is to help the survivors deal with the death by allowing the group a “time out” period after which the group must now deal with a “new normal”; they must adjust to life without that deceased individual. In most cultures (such as in Indonesia and New Guinea), everyone deals with death together. Death is experienced as a group, therefore the survivors mourn together as a group and anthropologists, as a result, focus on that impact which death has as a whole.

The body is then wrapped in a tallit (shawl like garment) and one of its corners is tied in a knot with its tzitzit, a tassel like object as a reminder of the commandments. In Jewish traditions the interior and the exterior of the aron, casket, are not decorated. A poor individual should not receive any less respect and honor in death, then a rich individual (Judaism: Life, Death and

Death in the Catholic religion is thought to be the beginning of a special journey. This special journey starts with the judgement of the truthful-loving God, who has the power to let you continue or not continue on your special journey. A reading in The Holy Bible says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" (John 14:1-2) For those who can’t continue, a different kind of journey begins. It is known that the process of death to burial is a very long and complicated process. Luckily, the deceased do not have to go through this ritual process alone as they have the Catholic community supporting them.

The body of a person who has died is cared for in a culturally sensitive and dignified manner.

Religion and culture teach rituals that families must follow during the burial and funeral service. In some cultures, the wake and time for mourning are quick, in others, they can take several weeks before the burial occurs. Death is the end, some cultures rejoice others mourn, but between all cultures and religions, it is a time to remember the one who died.

The body can also be a tool through which we narrate our pasts. Besides the obvious use of the mouth, throat, and lungs to speak, the body can also be a means to act out narratives of the past or perform the culturally defined narratives of ritual and commemoration. In funerals, we weep, we visit the corpse to say goodbye, the pall bearers carry the casket to the hearse, and we throw a handful of dirt on the coffin before the cemetery staff fills in the grave. This is one of our society’s mourning and funerary rituals. Often enacted in grief-stricken silence, it is the body than moves through the ritual spaces of death. But what, among the many practices

The black dot on the paper can also represent death, or the stones used to kill the chosen one. The three-legged stool can represent the nuclear family, father, mother, and children. Or it can be representative of the holy trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Overall, the fact that Shirley Jackson describes these items in detail indicates there is greater meaning to them.

The Holy Cross: a symbol of sacrifice and salvation. “As for me, the only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Ga 6:14)

During the burial, mourners will throw earth or shredded flowers on the coffin and the priest will break a ceramic pot (to signify the end of life) and pours virgin oil on the coffin.

Funerals and the accompanying ceremonies and rituals are as diverse as the people who perform them. I was raised Roman Catholic and have had first-hand experience with the tradition of receiving the Sacrament of Last Rights before a person dies. When I was seven years old, I had an emergency appendectomy that was done laparoscopically. Ten days after surgery, I became very ill with a high fever, vomiting, and intense abdominal pains. My mother rushed me to the hospital where I was admitted and taken to the operating room for an emergency surgery. While in surgery, they discovered I had a surgical infection in my lower right quadrant. They ran my bowel and found a lump in my mesentery, but they could not biopsy it because it was too close to a major artery. After surgery, I was recovering well and looking forward to going home. On my third day post-operation, I was difficult to rouse and eventually became unresponsive with my heart rate dropping to eight beats per minute. I was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit where I was given Last Rights by the hospital priest because they did not think I was going to make it through the night. I do not remember receiving the sacrament that night, but I do remember the second time. Things got a little better, but then I started hemorrhaging from my nose. That, combined with my blood loss from surgery, resulted in me needing a blood transfusion. I received Last Rights for a second time after the central line was placed. I remember the priest making a cross on my forehead and the palms of my hand. He prayed and blessed my soul so that if I were to die, I could go to Heaven. I remember feeling a sense of calm, but that could have been the narcotics. The idea of blessing someone before death to ensure that they get to heaven is interesting to me. It almost seems as though you can live your life as sinfully as you want to but when the time comes, if you confess and repent, then all is forgiven. That is quite odd to me. It is interesting to have had Last Rights twice and still be alive. It makes me wonder if God decided it was not my time. Despite the priest’s best attempts to bless my soul for the journey to heaven.

Catholics believe that the resurrection and death of Jesus have changed the meaning and the effect of human death. Death is no longer the end of an individual’s human identity, because the soul continues on after death. The Catholic Church teaches that a soul may go to heaven, purgatory or hell, depending on the quality of a person’s life on earth. “That the body dies, death is a normal natural process” (Ecclesiasticus 3:1-2) Based upon the sacred scripture and teachings of the Church, we know what Catholic believes after death and what follows it. When someone dies, their soul is separated from their body and no longer sustains any order within the natural body. As a result of this, the human body begins to corrupt and is left to decompose on its own. The soul however is completely different as it is immortal and will never cease to exist