Death in culture
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Death is seen and handled in various ways in different cultures and beliefs.
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[edit] Settlement of dead bodies
In most cultures, before the onset of significant decay, the body undergoes some type of ritual disposal, usually either cremation or deposition in a tomb. This is often a grave, but may also be a sarcophagus, crypt, sepulchre, or ossuary, a mound or barrow, or a monumental surface structure such as a mausoleum (exemplified by the Taj Mahal) or a pyramid (as exemplified by the Great Pyramid of Giza).
In Tibet, one method of corpse disposal is sky burial, which involves placing the body of the deceased on high ground (a mountain) and leaving it for birds of prey to dispose of. Sometimes this is because in some religious views, birds of prey are carriers of the soul to the heavens, but at other times this simply reflects the fact that when terrain (as in Tibet) makes the ground too hard to dig, there are few trees around to burn and the local religion (Buddhism) believes that the body after death is only an empty shell, there are more practical ways of disposing of a body, such as leaving it for animals to consume.
In certain cultures, efforts are made to retard the decay processes before burial (resulting even in the retardation of decay processes after the burial), as in mummification or embalming. This happens during or after a funeral ceremony. Many funeral customs exist in different cultures. In some fishing or navy communities, the body is sent into the water, in what is known as burial at sea. Several mountain villages have a tradition of hanging the coffin in woods.
A new alternative is ecological burial. This is a sequence of deep-freezing, pulverisation by vibration, freeze-drying, removing metals, and burying the resulting powder, which has 30% of the body mass.
Cryonics is the process of cryopreservating a body to liquid nitrogen temperature to halt the natural decay processes that occur after death. Those practicing cryonics hope that future technology will allow the legally deceased person to be restored to life when and if science is able to cure all disease, rejuvenate people to a youthful condition and repair damage from the cryopreservation process itself. As of 2006, there were nearly 150 people in some form of cryopreservation at one of the two largest cryonics organizations, Alcor Life Extension Foundation and the Cryonics Institute.
Space burial uses a rocket to launch the cremated remains of a body into orbit. This has been done at least 150 times.
Graves are usually grouped together in a plot of land called a cemetery or graveyard, and burials can be arranged by a funeral home, mortuary, undertaker or by a religious body such as a church or (for some Jews) the community's burial society, a charitable or voluntary body charged with these duties.
[edit] Settlement of legal entity
Aside from the physical disposition of the corpse, the legal entity of a person must be settled. This includes attributes such as assets and debts. Depending on the jurisdiction, laws or a will may determine the final disposition of the estate. A legal process, or probate will guide these proceedings.
[edit] Customs and superstitions
[edit] The number 4 in southeastern Asia
In China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan the number 4 is often associated with death because the sound of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean words for four and death are similar (for example, 사 in Korean is the Sino-Korean number 4 and the word for death, as in 뇌사 (brain death)). For this reason, hospitals and hotels often omit the 4th, 14th, etc. floors, or substitute the number '4' with the letter 'F'. Koreans are buried under a mound standing vertical in coffins made from 6 planks of wood. 4 of the planks represent the respective 4 cardinal points of the compass, while a fifth represents sky and the sixth represents earth. This relates back to the importance that the Confucian society placed upon the four cardinal points having mystical powers.
For a study of death, burial, and beliefs in the afterlife in 4th century BC China, see book by C. Cook, Death in Ancient China: The Tale of One Man's Journey (Leiden: Brill, 2006) ISBN 90-04-15312
[edit] Consciousness after death
Belief in consciousness continuing after death is common and has endured throughout history. Almost every civilization in history has had some belief system relating to life after death. This point of view holds that consciousness is more than simply a function of the brain, which differs with the premise of evolutionary psychology.
[edit] Personification of death
Death is also a mythological figure who has existed in popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling.[citation needed] The traditional Western image of Death, known as the Grim Reaper—usually resembling a skeleton, wearing black robes and carrying a scythe—is employed on a tarot card and in various television shows and films.
[edit] In articulo mortis
In articulo mortis, or at the point of death is a phrase used in Catholicism to refer to anything done, usually a blessing, for someone who is about to die[1]. The Sacrament of Last Rites is a notable example of a Catholic ceremony performed in articulo mortis.
