With relevant examples from East Africa, Explain rituals of death

INTRODUCTION

In all societies, when a person dies, family, friends, and neighbors respond in structured, patterned ways to the death. Cultural guidelines determine the treatment and disposal of the body and prescribe a period of mourning for close relatives. Death ritual, like much of human behavior, is an expression of a cultural blueprint, of attitudes, values and ideals passed down by parents, and their parents, which an individual learns as a member of society.Preparing a home after the death of a loved one is an important funeral rite. 

The windows are smeared with ashes, pictures are turned to face the wall and any reflective object such as a television or mirror is covered. In the deceased person's bedroom, the bed is removed and the women of the family sit on the floor upon a mattress or cushion. For the next week or two, people in the community visit these women to offer their respect and condolences. In Christian homes, the day before a funeral the dead person is brought home and placed in their bedroom. 

Family members then hold a vigil until the next morning. It is common to sacrifice animals as part of the death ritual in Africa. An ox is the popular choice, as it is believed this animal will accompany the deceased person to the land of their ancestors. Oxen also serve another purpose; the beasts provide food for the mourners. Other families may choose to sacrifice an animal month or even several years after a person has died. It is believed that a person has never truly died until there is no one left among the living to remember them, (Milton Cohen, 1971).

Ritual; generally requires a sacred context, says Lessa, although the prime requisite is that it be attended by sentiments, values, and beliefs which transcend the utilitarian. Behavior is ritualistic if it is habitual, socially sanctioned, symbolic and without any practical consideration, (Lessa 1971)

A ritual "is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed according to set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism and performance.

Even though death is universal to all people in every culture, the responses to death and dying vary greatly. Death rituals are based on beliefs that come from religion, history, language, and art. The following is of ideas and beliefs that shape a cultures death ritual practices:

·                   Beliefs toward the meaning of life, Beliefs about whether or not there is life after death.

·                   If you believe there is life after death, what happens to a person's soul and body?

·                   Do dead people come back in spirit to intervene in or watch over the lives of the living?

·                   What type of burial or disposal of the body is necessary for the climate, country, or people?

·                   Is death accepted or feared?

·                   How open is the culture in speaking about death?

·                   How is death depicted in art, poetry, music, and theater?

·                   Is there a connection between the living to the dead by prayer or visiting the grave?

·                   Does the soul go directly to heaven?

·                   Will the body be reunited with the soul at some point in the future?

·                   Does a person need to be forgiven of his sins before his death?

·                   What superstitions about death exist?

Common Death Rituals Still Practiced

Modern day death rituals continue today. The following are a few death rituals that occur in cultures around the world.

Throwing A Handful of Dirt on the Casket

It is common in many cultures for mourners to toss a handful of dirt on the casket before leaving the cemetery. Rarely do mourners stay to watch the entire casket being buried by the cemetery workers. Throwing the dirt on the grave may symbolize that mourners understand that our bodies return to the earth.

Mourning

Mourning is a common ritual when someone dies. The process of mourning and even the amount of crying or wailing differs among cultures. for example, generally cry or wail more emphatically than others. Women cry more than men, possibly due to cultural views that crying might show weakness.

The Wake

The wake is a death ritual practiced in many cultures. During the wake, friends or family of the deceased sit with the corpse for several days and nights to watch and express pain. Part of the wake is usually conducted with prayer and scripture.

Dressing in Black

Dressing in black for an entire year after the death of a spouse or close family member was common practice for hundreds of years. It is still fairly common and acceptable to wear black or darker colors to the funeral.but now days people are dressing white due to changes within our society.

Funeral Procession

Before the advent of vehicles, mourners walked by foot to follow the pallbearers who were carrying the casket. Today the funeral procession is done by vehicle. The hearse carrying the casket is in front, usually following a police escort.

Bagpipes Playing

Bagpipes are often played during Irish and Scottish funerals. They are also part of the death rituals at funerals of firefighters, police officers, military, or others to show honor and respect.

Tearing a Piece of Clothing

The members of the deceased's immediate family tear a piece of their clothing to show the loss they are feeling. In some cases, the Rabbi will pin a piece of torn black ribbon to the families clothing. At the cemetery, there will be a walking procession following the pallbearers. The procession will be halted seven times and the Star of David will be etched in the head stone, although this may be placed later.

Tolling of the Bell

Tolling the bell is done at firefighters and police officers funerals to indicate the bell that signals them to go to an emergency.

How the authentic funeral helps meet the six reconciliation needs of mourning:

Acknowledge the reality of the death

 When someone loved dies, we must openly acknowledge the reality and the finality of the death if we are to move forward with our grief. Typically, we embrace this reality in two phases. First we acknowledge the death with our minds; we are told that someone we loved has died and, intellectually at least, we understand the fact of the death. Over the course of the following days and weeks, and with the gentle understanding of those around us, we begin to acknowledge the reality of the death in our hearts.

Move toward the pain of the loss

As our acknowledgment of the death progresses from what I call "head understanding" to "heart understanding," we begin to embrace the pain of the loss-another need the bereaved must have met if they are to heal. Healthy grief means expressing our painful thoughts and feelings, and healthy funeral ceremonies allow us to do just that.

Remember the person who died

To repair in sorrow, we must shift our relationship with the person who died from one of physical presence to one of memory. The authentic funeral encourages us to begin this shift, for it provides a natural time and place for us to think about the moments we shared-good and bad-with the person who died. Like no other time before or after the death, the funeral invites us to focus on our past relationship with that one, single person and to share those memories with others.

Develop a new self-identity

The development of a new self-identity. We are all social beings whose lives are given meaning in relation to the lives of those around us The funeral helps us begin this difficult process of developing a new self-identity because it provides a social venue for public acknowledgment of our new roles. If you are a parent of a child and that child dies, the funeral marks the beginning of your life as a former parent (in the physical sense  you will always have that relationship through memory). Others attending the funeral are in effect saying, "We acknowledge your changed identity and we want you to know we still care about you." This self-identity issue is illustrated by a comment the bereaved often make: "When he died, I felt like a part of me died, too."

Search for meaning 

When someone loved dies, we naturally question the meaning of life and death. Why did this person die? Why now? Why this way? Why does it have to hurt so much? What happens after death? To heal in grief, we must explore these types of questions if we are to become reconciled to our grief. In fact, we must first ask these "why" questions to decide why we should go on living before we can ask ourselves how we will go on living. This does not mean we must find definitive answers, only that we need the opportunity to think and feel things through.

On a more fundamental level, the funeral reinforces one central fact of our existence: we will die. Like living, Thus the funeral helps us search for meaning in the life and death of the person who died as well as in our own lives and future deaths. Each funeral we attend serves as a sort of dress rehearsal for our own. Funerals are a way in which we as individuals and as a community convey our beliefs and values about life and death. The very fact of a funeral demonstrates that death is important to us. For the living to go on living as fully and as healthily as possible, this is as it should be.

Receive ongoing support from others

As we have said, funerals are a public means of expressing our beliefs and feelings about the death of someone loved. In fact, funerals are the public venue for offering support to others and being supported in grief, both at the time of the funeral and into the future. Funerals make a social statement that says, "Come support me." Whether they realize it or not, those who choose not to have a funeral are saying, "Don't come support me."Funerals let us physically demonstrate our support, too. Sadly, ours is not a demonstrative society, but at funerals we are allowed to embrace, to touch, to comfort.  This physical show of support is one of the most important healing aspects of meaningful funeral ceremonies.

Reccomandation

Finally, and most simply, funerals serve as the central gathering place for mourners. When we care about someone who died or his family members, we attend the funeral if at all possible. Our physical presence is our most important show of support for the living. By attending the funeral we let everyone else there know that they are not alone in their grief Sometimes therapeutic intervention is necessary. The Society for the Advancement of Bereavement Management has created programs in which a funeral director stays in contact with the family doctor to help families recover from their grief.

 Conclusion

 Life does not end with death, but continues in another realm. The concepts of "life" and "death" are not mutually exclusive concepts, and there are no clear dividing lines between them. Human existence is a dynamic process involving the increase or decrease of "power" or "life force," of "living" and "last," and there are different levels of life and death. Many African languages express the fact that things are not going well, such as when there is sickness, in the words "we are living a little," meaning that the level of life is very low. 

The African religions scholar Placide Tempels describes every misfortune that Africans encounter as "a diminution of vital force." Illness and death result from some outside agent, a person, thing, or circumstance that weakens people because the agent contains a greater life force. Death does not alter or end the life or the personality of an individual, but only causes a change in its conditions. This is expressed in the concept of "ancestors," people who have died but who continue to "live" in the community and communicate with their families.

Reference

 Milton Cohen,(1971, “Death Ritual” Anthropological Perspectives

http://www.newingtonmemorial.com/support/grief-words/why-is-the-funeral-ritual-important

http://ethnomed.org/clinical/end-of-life/death-in-viet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_culture

Written By AUSI CHIWAMBO (2014)-Teofilo Kisanji University