Another option: becoming a memorial “reef ball.” A company called Eternal Reefs compresses remains into a sphere that is attached to a reef in the ocean, providing a habitat for sea life. The Green Burial Council has approved 40 environmentally friendly cemeteries in the U.S. This means skipping embalming processes, nixing traditional concrete vaults and getting biodegradable, woven-willow caskets, which decompose into the ground. In the United States, more and more people are opting for environmentally friendly burials. The Drigung Monastery is famous for performing sky burials. It’s a practice that’s been done for thousands of years and, according to a recent report, about 80% of Tibetans still choose it. To return it to the earth, the body is chopped into pieces and placed on a mountaintop, which exposes it to the elements - including vultures. Sky burial in Mongolia and Tibet. Many Vajrayana Buddhists in Mongolia and Tibet believe in the transmigration of spirits after death - that the soul moves on, while the body becomes an empty vessel. Meanwhile, the Apayo, who live in the north, bury their dead under the kitchen. When someone becomes ill, they select the tree where they will eventually be entombed. The Caviteño, who live near Manila, bury their dead in a hollowed-out tree trunk. The Benguet of Northwestern Philippines blindfold their dead and place them next to the main entrance of the house their Tinguian neighbors dress bodies in their best clothes, sit them on a chair and place a lit cigarette in their lips. Many ethnic groups in the Philippines have unique funeral practices. These “death beads” are then displayed in the home. Several companies there compress remains into gem-like beads in turquoise, pink or black. Because of dwindling graveyard space and this resulting law, cremation has become much more popular.
In South Korea, a law passed in 2000 requires anyone burying a loved one to remove the grave after 60 years. A jazz funeral in New Orleans is held for legendary jazz musician Doc Paulin who led many funerals in New Orleans with his trumpet.
Cathartic dancing is generally a part of the event, to commemorate the life of the deceased. The band plays sorrowful dirges at first, but once the body is buried, they shift to an upbeat note. Fusing West African, French and African-American traditions, funerals in New Orleans strike a unique balance between joy and grief as mourners are lead by a marching band. It’s one of the prototypical images of New Orleans, Louisiana: the boisterous, jazz-tinged funeral procession. Here, a look at just a few of funeral traditions that might strike someone outside a culture as odd. During Kelli Swazey’s TED Talk, she shows a slide of a Torajan family with their deceased relative.įuneral practices are deeply ingrained in culture and around the globe hugely varied traditions reflect a wide spread of beliefs and values. Until that moment - which can take place years after physical death - the dead relative is referred to simply as a “person who is sick,” or even one “who is asleep.” They are laid down special rooms in the family home, where they are symbolically fed, cared for and taken out - very much still a part of their relative’s lives. Families save up for long periods of time to raise the resources for a lavish funeral, where sacrificial water buffalo will carry the deceased’s soul to the afterlife. They can last anywhere from days to weeks. In Tana Toraja in eastern Indonesia, funerals are raucous affairs involving the whole village. Then, they proceed to the immediate family’s home, where the doorbell rings with a steady stream of loved ones - casserole dishes in hand - since, in the days ahead, people often forget to eat.Ĭultural anthropologist Kelli Swazey (TED Talk: Life that doesn’t end with death) shares a different approach to memorializing the dead. The attendees walk slowly out to their cars and form a single file line a behind the hearse, arriving at the graveyard where they place roses on the casket just before it’s lowered into the ground. Relatives and friends arrive in all black and take seats in the church or synagogue pews for a somber ceremony where prayers are said, memories are shared and tears are shed. The funerals I’ve attended have all been very much the same.
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