Imagine your dead relative in the palm of your hands, or taking the dead relative out with your family, as if it was a normal day. It may seem uncommon to hear this, but these are few types’ funerals that are practices from different cultures. Death is a way of life, and everything living will die. Over centuries many cultures have a different way of remembering the dead. Funerals play significant role of allowing people to remember the dead, and letting the dead move on.
Let’s take a journey to 10 different countries; Indonesia, New Orleans, South Korean, Philippines, Mongolia, United States, Balinese, Madagascar, Australia, and Ghana to see how funeral traditions are practice among the cultures. The eastern part of Indonesia is where the Tana Toraja culture is located. There funeral tradition is to be one of the most complex in the world. During a Troajans lifetime, they will work extremely hard to accumulate wealth, and to spend little of the money as possible. The money saved up will go to the ceremony of the deceased.
Funerals are important to the Troaja people and ceremonies can last weeks, months, or even years after the person dies. Why it could take that long is to allow families of the deceased to raise the money for expenses. The whole village will be involved with the funeral ceremonies. The family members of the deceased are required to hold a series of funeral ceremonies over eleven days. Rambu Soloq is the name for the ceremonies, and means until the funeral is done, the person is belief to not be dead.
This means if the family member can’t come up with the money, they will be responsible for taken care of the deceased, by feeding it and taking it out in public with them. In the ceremonies buffalo and pigs are slaughter, because they believe the deceased will herd them in the afterlife. A wooded-carved box is call tau tau, where the deceased will be placed. Then put in a balcony like tomb. The tomb will represent the dead to watch over their remains. New Orleans, adopted jazz bands to perform for funerals in twenty century. Jazz funerals were intended to both help the deceased find their way to heaven and to celebrate the final release from the bounds of earthly life, which had, in the past, included the release from slavery. ” New Orleans jazz funeral was influenced by African ceremonies, which came from captive slaves overseas. Jazz bands was not accepted by Catholic churches, and restricted largely to the black Protestants.
Towards the middle of the 20th century, jazz funerals will become most honored ceremony. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, were the most celebrated jazz band to perform for funerals. Historically, the New Orleans jazz funeral could last up to a week and sometimes even included a parade. ” Since jazz funerals were the most honored, it will mostly perform for fallen police officers, well-known musicians and other high class citizens. The typical music played was traditional hymns, gospel, rock, and R&B music. Funk and hip-hop will eventually makes its way into jazz funerals. The funeral began with a small march from the home of the deceased to the church or funeral home. The coffin may be carried by horse-drawn hearse, during the marches, followed with the brass band playing slow music.
People standing on the sides were allowed to join in the marches. When the coffin was lowered into the grown, the bands will play wilder up-beat music to help celebrate the deceased life on earth. “The jazz funeral highest honor was held on August 29, 2006 in the memory of the 1,700 victims of Hurricane Katrina. South Korean, a law was passed in 2006, requiring the tomb stone of a love one to be remove from the grave after sixty years. Cremation started to become a popular choice, because of the limited space to bury the dead. Families also have the option of allowing the deceased ashes be turn into a gem-like beads.
This is also starting become popular. I could not imaging wearing my love one like a piece of jewelry. Bead making companies are increasing, because of the high demand in cremation. The process of making the beads take roughly around 90 minutes. Beads can also have colors like; blue-green, pink, purple, and black. The average cost of the bead is around $870. There are conservative against death beads, because to show the highest amount of respect for the dead, is to let them be with nature. In the Philippines you won’t find death beads, but a unique funeral practices done by several cultures.
The Benguet culture located in northwestern Philippines. There funeral will last for eight days. The families will place the deceased love one in a chair, and place it next to the house’s main entrance. For the deceased to stay in the chair, arms and legs are tied in a sitting position. The elders will chant the narration of the biography of the deceased, and will hit bamboo sick together to help directed the departed towards heaven. Apayo is another culture in the Philippines that practice bury their dead under the kitchen area of their homes.
Mongolia and Tibet, send their love ones to the sky after they have died. The funeral is called sky burial. Sky burial been practice throughout Tibet history for over a thousand years. “Tibet has 1,075 sky burial sites and about 100 people to conduct the rituals, according to figures from the regional civil affairs department. ”(After Death, 1). Drigung Til Monastery is the largest sky burial site in Tibet. It can receive up to 10 bodies per day according to Celha Qoisang, chief sky burial operator. Buddhism helped influence this ritual, because they believe life recycle.
The process began by chopping the deceased body into pieces, and then placing it on top of the mountain. The pieces of bodies will be expose to vultures for them to eat. This allows the dead person to give charity one last time, by feeding the hungry vultures. Still to this day about 80% of people prefer sky burial over any other burial. “In the United States, more and more people are opting for environmentally friendly burials. ” Green funeral is new to help bury your love ones without hurting the environment. “The Green Burial Council has approved 40 environmentally friendly cemeteries in the U. S. ”
Each 40 environmentally have different requirement for your love one to be buried in there cemetery. Any material like; caskets, shrouds, and urns have to be made out of biodegradable materials that are non-toxic. Many of the Green Council does not want the bodies to be injected with embalming fluid. The reason some embalming fluids has carcinogen chemical formaldehyde, which been linked to several funeral directors having myeloid leukemia. There are several embalming fluids available with no formaldehyde, and some made entirely of non-toxic, and biodegradable essential oils.
In the near future green funeral might be the way we bury are deceased love ones. Royal Balinese Funeral, Is the biggest cremation ceremony in three decades in Bail. Agung Suyasa, head of the royal family, was burned with two other royal figures, and 68 commoners. Majority of the commoners will be cremated in different areas. Bail people believe cremation help release the soul out of the body to be free. Thousands of people will help volunteer to help carried the giant emblems.
The volunteers were called porters, and would be wearing purple shirts. 00 hundred porters at a time will help carry a bamboo platform as tall as three-story building. The bamboo platforms will help carry the Suyasa coffin with, the other two royal members. Porter between the walk will laugh, or break into running with the platforms, to help confuse the sprits. Then towards the end of the walk, a huge dragon beside a huge wooden bull hanging upside down with a gold neckless hanging from it. When the platforms enter in the cremation area, 200 porters will glide Suyasa coffin on their backs. Then carried three times around the bull, while dancing and cheering.
After the three times the body will be put inside of the bull, and the bull will be put on fire. People will stand amazed watching flames shoot out from the; nostrils, eyes, and belly. The Malagasy people of Madagascar has a ritual similar to the Ma ’Nene carried out by the Toraja culture. When burying their love ones. The ritual is called “famadihana”, or “the turning of the bones. ” “Once every five or seven years, a family has a celebration at its ancestral crypt. ” It a two-day process. Family members will gather around the tomb, and help carry the corpses out, and wrap them in fresh silk garments.
The corpses are sprayed with wine and perfume. Malagasy people will throw a big party, with food and music. When the festival ends, the bodies must be returned to the tomb. The bodies are re-buried with gifts of money and alcohol, and placed upside-down to close the cycle of life and death. The reason why the Malagasy people performed this ritual. Based upon the belief that the spirits of the dead does not enter the afterlife until their bodies are decomposed. Allowing the spirits to linger around the tomb, and be able to communicate with the living.