The Current Essay
The current essay reviewed funeral rituals and burial practices observed in at least three societies or communities with the aim of drawing useful insights regarding their values and worldviews. The three cultures selected in the essay were from Africa, Europe, and Asia. The need to focus on the burial rituals and practices was informed by the fact that the rites undertaken during the transition of life illustrated the reverence for the dead and respect for life. Besides, the burial practices portrayed the role of religion in mediating burial practices, including the treatment of dead bodies. For instance, communities subscribing to the Christian and Jewish faith preferred to bathe and groom dead bodies as a sign of respect (Purnell & Selekman, 2008).
Religious Influence on Burial Dates
Religious considerations also influence the choice of the burial date; for example, Jews buried their dead within 24 to 48 hours (Purnell & Selekman, 2008) after their demise while Christians buried the dead seven days later. The need to shorten the period between death and burial was informed by the fact that the living did not want to delay the transition into the afterlife where the dead was expected to provide an account of his or her deeds to the deity. Based on the burial practices, it was deduced that the living were cognizant of the fact that there was an omnipotent being that governed the universe and that the dead would provide an account of their actions during their time on earth. In contrast, Indians perform certain rites to ward off evil spirits while Buddhists prefer to cremate the dead (Bahar, Beser, Ersin, Kissal, & Aydogdu, 2012).
Literature Review
Burial Practices in Turkish Society
A review of burial practices in Turkey was undertaken by (Bahar et al., 2012). The study observed that the Muslim religion significantly influenced burial practices in Turkey. Commonly, the family of the deceased provided direction regarding the treatment of the dead and what they should wear before they were laid to rest. In particular, all religious practices were closely aligned with Islamic tradition and the weather patterns in the country. However, one of the standard practices was that the deceased's eyes were closed because it was considered inappropriate that the diseased should transition into the world of the dead with their eyes open (Bahar et al., 2012).
The burial ceremony was held after the afternoon prayers if the deceased had passed on in the morning (Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2018). During the hot season, Turkish communities hurriedly buried their dead perhaps to reduce the chances of decomposition. Apart from the tropical weather, the second justification was that delaying the burial ceremony would unnecessarily delay the divine judicial process where the dead would provide an account for his or her actions before God. Additional practices observed in the Turkish society included fastening the jaw of the dead and blindfolding – these procedures were undertaken after the dead had been bathed and covered with a shroud (Bahar et al., 2012). Other processes included placing the dead on the grave with the body facing Mecca. In Muslim religious practices, facing Mecca was considered as an essential aspect of reverence given that Prophet Muhammad was born in that city.
According to Muslim tradition, children were prohibited from entering the room where the dead body was preserved; all measures were undertaken to ensure that the room was well lit. In some occasions, Helva was prepared to appease the sensory nerves of the dead. The practices were conducted to prevent the entry of evil spirits into the home of the departed. According to Yildiz (2007), a crucible containing sugar, salt and flour were at times placed on the body or at the side of the body of the deceased to facilitate the acquisition of God's favor. During the burial ceremony, women were prohibited from participating in the service due to menstruation (Bahar et al., 2012).
The review of the burial practices and funeral rites among Turkish citizens indicated that their worldview was informed by a divinely inspired perception of the world of the living and the dead. Besides, the burial practices illustrated that Turkish cultures respected human life considering the respect accorded to the dead who were not in a position to appreciate the favors advanced towards them. Additionally, it was noted that the Muslim worldview was guided by monotheistic views – the belief that there was an all-powerful God. According to Muslim tradition, the divine judicial process would begin as soon as the dead transitioned from the world of the living after burial. The resurrection worldview also informed the measures undertaken by the Turks before and during the funeral.
Burial Practices in African Society
Burial Practices among Africans who did not subscribe to the Christian faith were governed by ancestor worship and traditional beliefs. Besides, burial practices among African communities were significantly impacted by traditions that prohibited the living from contemplating death – in fact, traditional African Society considered it as a taboo (Ekore & Lanre-Abass, 2016). However, given the spread of Islam in Northern African and Christianity in South, East, and Central Africa, most of the traditional practices were confined to West Africa (Manguvo & Mafuvadze, 2015). The worldview regarding burials was governed by the need to appease the ancestral spirits.
African burial practices were informed by the understanding that human life was cyclical and that the departed were alive in another world (Ekore & Lanre-Abass, 2016). Before the burial ceremony, the elders performed divination especially in cases of premature or unnatural death – the practice aimed to ascertain the exact cause of death given that most of the African cultures believe that death was caused by human’s transgressions against the ancestors.
After the divination process, the dead person was buried in a burial ceremony that befitted the social status of the departed. All prerequisite rituals were undertaken to ensure that the living did not offend the dead given that the deceased had the power to curse or bless the living owing to their supernatural powers. Most African cultures presumed that failure to accord the dead a proper burial may result in what was referred to as a “wandering ghost” – a deceased person who reincarnated as a ghost to haunt the living. Therefore, all burial practices in African society aimed to illustrate that the dead would be separated forever from the living at least in their earthly form (Ekore & Lanre-Abass, 2016).
Despite the shared beliefs regarding the dead, variations in burial practices were observed in African Society before European colonization. For instance, the Nandi (a tribe in East Africa) had practices that required terminally ill persons to be removed from the family dwelling and be placed in a faraway location; if such persons died, they were devoured by wild animals (Owino, 2017) no appropriate burial was made. In contrast, the Igbo of West Africa took care of the sick up to their point of death. Another unique aspect observed in the African society was the way in which they mourned the dead. The extended family and the entire community came together to mourn; such occasions also served as an opportunity for the living to “transport” the dead into the world of the ancestors after performing certain rituals. For example, the Ashanti of West Africa offered sacrifices for the dead before the burial ceremonies. All masculine men in the society were expected to attend the burial ceremony to avoid provoking the spirits that were believed to be present during the burial ceremony (Owino, 2017). Besides, a feast was prepared in the home of the departed. The primary goal of the mourning procedures was to enable the family of the deceased to accept the loss of their beloved; the rituals also allowed the family to adjust to life without the deceased (Setsiba, 2012). However, colonization and Christianity contributed to the harmonization of burial practices across different African cultures.
In contrast to Muslims who buried their dead in cemeteries, African cultures believed that the dead should be buried on ancestral land (Owino, 2017). Such views were informed by the understanding that burying the dead on ancestral land would mediate the transition into the world of the dead. However, most of the African cultures had given up such practices in place for the standard Christian burial practices.
Based on the burial practices that were prevalent in traditional African societies, it was observed that their worldview was informed by axiology, ontology, and cosmology. In particular, cosmology governed the relationship that Africans had with one another including the dead. The burial practices illustrated that in the African society there was a sense of interdependence, collective responsibility, and the belief that all humans were one with nature given their understanding that life was cyclical (Baloyi, Lesiba, 2013). Besides, the ontological worldview was guided by the knowledge that human life was partly founded in the spiritual realm while the human interactions between an individual and society were governed by axiology (Baloyi, Lesiba, 2013). Additionally, the epistemology views among traditional African cultures were supported by insights drawn from the environment, thoughts, perceptions, and experiences that the living had based on encounters with the dead.
Japanese Burial Practices and Funeral Rituals
Similar to the African cultures, the Japanese believed that the living person was made of two components namely the body and the soul. Therefore, according to Japanese culture death signified the detachment of the human body from the soul (Osamu, 2011). Most of the traditional Japanese cultures conducted basic burial practices before the body was disposed of in an appropriate burial site. Little consideration and reflection were made during the funeral ceremony. Nonetheless, wealthy Japanese performed different rituals compared to the ordinary citizens. For instance, burial practices involved the construction of tombstones and cleansing the spirit of the departed. The purification process was undertaken to ensure that the dead were able to transition into the land of the dead. The burial practices of the Japanese were informed by the understanding that the dead transformed into spirits that roamed the air and they did not have a specific resting place (Osamu, 2011).
The advent of the Buddhist religion in Japan significantly changed the worldview and the burial practices undertaken by the Japanese. The Buddhist religion introduced the concept of Jodo – pure land. According to Buddhist traditions, the dead had to be cleansed before joining the realm of the dead. The introduction of new religious practices in Japan had significant consequences especially given the fact that it contributed to the elimination of the simplistic approach that traditional Japanese had over the dead and burial practices (Osamu, 2011). Besides, the Buddhist religious practices were accompanied with a radical shift in the Japanese worldview from one dimension to a medieval worldview that emphasized on the duality of life.
In the years that followed, Japanese who desired to experience that seamless transition into the afterlife began to construct holy buildings; it is in such structures that the remains of the dead were interred. In the course of time, the simple traditional burials were transformed from mere funerals into religious practices of significant import especially given that Japanese Buddhists no longer interred the remains of their beloved in common graves but within the holy buildings (Osamu, 2011). The buildings were christened as the access ways to the pure land. Other changes that were made to the burial practices included cremation, and preserving the ashes of the decreased in the sacred sites. Other burial practices that were associated with Buddhism included prayers after the remains were interred in the burial sites to ensure that the journey to the pure land was not hampered by the dead person’s delay in the land of the living. However, in the course of time, such practices became out of touch with the Japanese traditions (Osamu, 2011).
The subsequent generations adopted new burial practices; the practices included burying the dead in common graves away from all sites of worship. The new burial practices were informed by the fact that there was a need for the dead to remain as guardians of the living and the unborn (Osamu, 2011). The burial practices and rites were also associated with new worldviews that were characterized by diminished belief in the deity and widespread secularization. In the subsequent years, the world of the dead declined so did reverence for dead and respect for burial practices for the dead.
The latter generations adopted new burial practices; for instance, in the 18th century, the dead body was considered as an unclean object that was only fit to be handled by persons from lowly origins. Therefore burial practices that involved cleaning the dead for burial were reserved for persons from humble origins (Osamu, 2011). Similar to the Buddhist practices regarding the dead, the view that the dead were uncleaned gradually dissipated and the Japanese continued to appease the spirits of the dead and helping the family of the decreased through mutual financing.
In contemporary Japan, burial practices were influenced by medical practice and cultural revolutions. For instance, popular Japanese tradition encouraged the performance of the confinement procedure (Mullins, 2010). Besides, in modern Japanese society burial practices were significantly influenced by the social status of the deceased. For instance, Kim (2016) observed that there were widespread cases of unclaimed cremains in modern Japan society.
After highlighting the burial practices that were manifest in Japanese cultures over different generations, it was noted that Japanese worldviews regarding the dead were not static but variable depending on the religious practices of the time. However, it was observed that the Japanese valued life based on their treatment of the dead including the prayers that were made to ease the transition into the afterlife. Additionally, it was noted that the Japanese worldview regarding death and burial was that personal individuality progressed even into the afterlife. The historical variations in Japanese worldviews regarding the dead were consistent with observations made in societies such as the African society where burial practices varied depending on the religious practices.
Conclusion
The current essay reviewed the beliefs and rituals that guided burial practices in three societies namely Japanese, Turkish, and African. A review of literature established that each of the cultures had adopted different funeral rituals and burial practices that were premised on religious and cultural beliefs. The Turkish society had adopted burial practices that were in line with Muslim beliefs regarding life after death; the dead were bathed, wrapped in linen before they were laid to rest at the earliest time possible. The need to hurry the burial was guided by the fact that the dead would give an account of his or her life to God after the funeral. In traditional African society, most cultures treated the dead with reverence and respect primarily out of fear that failure to accord a proper burial would cause the deceased to become a wandering ghost that tormented the living. Besides, traditional African cultures believed that the dead had absolute powers over the living. In Japanese society, it was observed that funeral rituals and burial practices varied over time starting from the adoption of Buddhist practices to secularization and the adoption of modern funeral rituals. The Muslim practices were governed by monotheism and resurrection worldviews while Africans were guided by axiology, ontology, and cosmology worldviews.
References
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