Jon Stojan
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Death is a shared commonality of the human condition, yet the rituals that attend it vary significantly across cultures and religions. The one commonality is that while the nature of death itself does not change from one culture to another, with regard to the treatment of the deceased, mourning, and ideas about life after death, the ritual practices are widely varied across the globe. Moreover, such variations that exist are due to the influence of religious beliefs, cultural customs, and historical traditions, and ritual practices themselves are subject to great alteration.
Death Rites Across the Globe
These rights serve a primary function in the cultures’ common responses to bodily loss, thus providing closure and consolation to its members. One of the most important aspects of such rights is related to the cadaver and how the dead were treated after death: burial or cremation. ‘That Good Night’ is a book written by Henry Vinson during the COVID-19 pandemic. The book thoroughly explores death rituals across different parts of the world and also sheds light upon the death rituals that existed in the past, especially in the time of early Puritans. It sheds light upon the impact of COVID-19 on death rituals.
Traditionally, in most Western societies, burial was accepted as the disposal method for the deceased. In America, burial rituals have had a long tradition of observances; in many intricate forms, funerals are solemnized, and the body is buried in cemeteries. It was actually a practice widely held by early European settlers, imprinted with doctrines concerning Christianity and life after death, which dictated that the body be buried to await resurrection. Over the ages, new burial forms that took root, like “green funerals,” have emerged, which embrace environmentally friendly natural burial practices, signalling a change in society’s views about death and the environment.
In many Eastern cultures, cremation is traditional, with a growing acceptance around the world. The burning of the body gives Hindu priests an opportunity to free the soul from the trap of reincarnation. In countries of Buddhism, such as Japan and Thailand, cremation fits in well with their belief in the transience of all life forms and, therefore, offers a means of releasing the soul from the material premises. Cremation is also a common practice in several civilizations: in Scandinavia, for example, this method is often chosen because of its simple and environmentally friendly disposition.
Death is a relatively involved affair in some cultures. In Mexico, this involves celebrations and rituals of great accord during the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) in honour of departed souls. Family members construct altars, consecrate food and offerings, and celebrate the memories of departed souls. An equivalent practice in Tibet is ‘sky burial’, where the body is ritually exposed for the vultures to consume, symbolically returning the body to nature and nourishing other beings. Hence, it also aligns with the Buddhist perspective on life being transient.
Death rituals among the nations of Africa can vary greatly from one ethnicity to another, but common to many among them are the gatherings that celebrate the deceased’s life through song, dance, and storytelling. Ancestral worship in some traditions is depicted as a fundamental belief, for it is believed that the departed interfere with the affairs of the living, who are required to offer them due respect through rituals.
Beliefs About Life After Death
Beliefs about what happens after death affect the way in which the dead are treated and, consequently, provide comfort to the bereaved. In Christian faiths, ideas of heaven and hell shape burial customs and mourning rituals, with emphasis on giving the deceased faithful who die the hope of eternal life. In Islam, the soul of the dead individual is to begin its journey to the afterlife as soon as the body is afforded the rites for its burial. In some Islamic interpretations, the significance of the afterlife is paramount. The deceased undergo questioning by angels, and their actions in life determine their grade.
Hinduism and Buddhism offer a different way of viewing the afterlife, reincarnation being the central process in their death rituals. The Hindus believe the soul is reborn into a new body, which perhaps is why cremation is administered to release the soul from attachment to anything earthly. The Buddhism viewpoint of death stands as one more rebirth in the cycle of samsara, where the positioning of the soul for the rebirth is based on karma. Both religions stress the impermanence of life and promote spiritual practices that will bring enlightenment and liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.
In many Indigenous cultures, death is viewed as a continuation of the journey to the spiritual realm. Ancestor worship is a common theme, often claiming that the spirit of the deceased carries on in such a way as to impact the living and has to be honoured in religious rituals.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Death Rituals
Death and all its rites have been subject to constant change. Such a change is looked at in meticulous detail in Henry Vinson’s That Good Night, which attempts to take readers through various death rituals and death care practices worldwide. Written amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the book uniquely studies how death rites have changed in response to global crises. Vinson not only studies modern death practices but also takes a look at funeral practices historically and how they help us track how those rituals evolved.
In That Good Night, Vinson looks at a variety of perspectives on death care, with emphasis on the corridor where culture, religion, and social norms mingle. Specifically, he maps a complete evolution of funerary rites in the U.S., beginning with the early Puritans and concluding with the emergence of green funerals, in so doing showing the changing attitudes toward death. Additional contexts addressed by the book are the impact of COVID-19 on death care, especially with the imposition of distancing and limits on gatherings, which saw the wholesale alteration or abandonment of many traditional funeral practices.
The book stresses that death care cannot be divorced from the culture and religious outlooks of a society. By looking at intracultural as well as intercultural funerals, Vinson illustrates how funerals are fashioned in part by the mores, sacred beliefs, and cultural values of those societies.
That Good Night has gained an immense following and is ranked number one in religious studies- history and evolution and number two in social and cultural history. It provides its readers with insight into death rituals.