Death Ritual

    I think I originally signed up for this course (Anth 392) because I wanted to know why people are so fascinated by death.  I personally find it a scary topic, not just because I am afraid of dying (I find living quite pleasant, and would like to continue doing so for another 80 years or so), but because of the unknown.  I also signed up for an anthropology of religion class, which I would highly recommend, especially to take together with this class.  In my anthropology of religion class (310) we examined religion, as well as religious practice, which I feel plays a large role in death ritual and funerary practices.
    I'm not particularly religious, or even remotely religious at all to be honest, but I do wonder why people do the things they do.  Why do people feel the need to bury their dead? Probably just to get them out of the way in the beginning, but that must have evolved into something more, as we see the emergence of early funerary practices at least 130,000 years ago.
    Why do people practice the death practices that they do? What encouraged people to embalm and preserve their dead (Ancient Egyptians)? Or to cremate them today? 
    The always debated topic of displaying the dead, such as in museums and ossuaries is a bit of a touchy subject.  Who gets to decide which dead are displayed? and where? and to whom?  This problem arises often in archaeology in BC, with the remains of First Nations groups discovered during construction or other such work that disturbs the ground.  According to First Nations practice, you cannot disturb the remains of the dead, or their spirits will remain disturbed and come back to "haunt" the living.  So if remains are uncovered at a construction site, what happens to them? If they cant be re-buried, or if it is too late to re-bury them, what can be done? Who should be in charge of deciding these questions?
    On the topic of displacement of remains, I find ossuaries quite fascinating.  Many people know of the enormous one located in Paris; the Catacombs from the 18th Century.  But I found another interesting one; Not quite as large as that of Paris, but definitely more interesting, to me at least.  In Halstatt, Austria, there is a large ossuary, with all the remains proudly displayed.  Now, this is no ordinary ossuary, the remains here have been painted.  

http://blog.hotelclub.com/the-painted-skulls-of-halstatt/

    The remains in this ossuary were painted by, or arranged to be painted for, the relatives of the deceased.  This town had so many people during the 19th Century that they ran out of places to bury them.  To deal with this, they made burial only temporary; after 10-15 years, the remains would be dug up, cleaned, and set in the sun to "bleach" or turn white (as seen above).  Originally, the remains were just to be stored as seen in Paris, but as is the custom, relatives wished to continue to leave flowers and plants at the grave site of their loved one.  In lieu of that (because there no longer was a grave site), the custom became to paint the skull itself, that way there would always be flowers there for the relative.

http://blog.hotelclub.com/the-painted-skulls-of-halstatt/

    The flower-leaving, of course, brings up more questions for me.  Why do we leave flowers?  Is it a similar idea to that of the Egyptians; that those items left with the dead will be taken into the after life or a similar such situation?
    As mentioned above, I am not a religious person.  I don't believe that there is anything after dead; I see it as the natural course of things, we are born, we live, then we die, and that is all - no reincarnation, no heaven.  But even I cant deny that there is something meaningful or symbolic about leaving flowers on grave sites, or revisiting the place that a relatives ashes have been scattered.  I think people do those things for themselves, not for the relatives, even if it is subconsciously.  I don't think most people would like to admit or to accept that there is nothing after death, that once their loved-one has passed on, they will be gone forever.  So, by leaving things on a grave, or visiting grave sites, it gives the feeling of being close to that person again.  If that is your personal inclination, or if that is what you need to do to cope with the loss, then by all means flower-away.  Not to be pessimistic at all, but I would rather people not do so for me.  I believe that everyone has the right to choose their own religion, death practice, and funerary rituals (including flower placing), and as much as I don't understand why they do so, I do respect their right to continue on.    

Unbelievable Famadihana

  I can't imagine being in actual physical contact with a dead body, never mind a previously buried one.  Nonetheless, there exists a tradition in Madagascar, called Famadihana, of digging up previously buried bodies, re-wrapping them in new cloth, and essentially parading them around dancing at their tomb.




    As bizarre and almost eerie as this sounds, this tradition is part of the series of steps that must be taken as part of the death ritual in this culture.  Although a relatively new practice, it is not uncommon, but is declining in use.
    Every 7 years, the ritual is repeated.  It is thought that the spirits of the ancestors cannot rest until the bodies have fully decomposed.  So, the bodies are unwrapped and re-wrapped until their relatives believe they have been released.
    When the bodies are unearthed, they are unwrapped from their previous cloth, and re-wrapped with fresh white cloth.  The old cloth, once removed from the remains, is cut up and placed under the mattresses of newlyweds, to promote fertility.
    Unfortunately, all I can think about when it comes to digging up dead bodies is zombies, but that is just my natural inclination to fear and avoid dead things.

Countdown to Death

I recently stumbled upon (yes! stumbleupon.com!) a site on the internet called the "Death Clock". (http://www.deathclock.com/)

    Apparently, according to this site's calculations, my day of death will be Tuesday, January 27, 2071.  As this window (seen above) pops up, the seconds begin to count down....

http://www.deathclock.com/

    This idea that you can somehow calculate the day you will die, down to the second, got me thinking; unfortunately thinking some morbid thoughts, so warning in advance!  I'm not generally a morbid or pessimistic person, I tend to lean towards the optimistic side of things, a healthy trait in my opinion.  But this site does make me wonder, who got the idea for this site, giving people "the" day that they will die?  why would they want to do this? 

    Clearly, I'm not the only one fascinated by this, as when "death clock" is googled...

I found seven different sites, just on the first page, with more on the following pages!

    I believe that people in our culture, just like me, are inherently fascinated by death; everything from why, how to slow it, how to prevent it, the afterlife, the remains, and anything else related.  We humans are naturally curious, its what got us to where we are today, and so something that still remains unknown today is something that I believe people will always be trying to explain.

   But I did decide to take a little gander at the other sites, and here is what I found...

Most sites just looked at BMI and age, then determined a random (I'm assuming) date within a certain range:

http://www.death-clock.org/

Another site had me fill out a long questionnaire (giving it a more legitimate feel I think), asking about everything from flossing habits to diet to environment:

  My age at death varied quite a bit, again leading me away from lending too much credibility to these sites.  I believe they use a date generator, taking into account my sex and current age, to generate my day of death based on current average life spans.

    I read somewhere that my generation is so unhealthy and so unconcerned with health that we will be the first generation to have shorter life spans than our parents' generation - a terrifying thought.  Humans have come so far, medically and technologically, and it scares me that we could possibly be undoing all the advancements and advantages our ancestors worked so hard to achieve for us.

    I seriously doubt that many, if any, people will take these clocks too seriously, but it does make me, at least, pause and think for a minute.  Not that I believe it can tell me when I'm going to die, because I have decided I'm going to live to be at least 102 (I want my 100th birthday letter from the queen!).