Death is inevitable and we will
be buried one way or another. We are familiar with a ceremony when a body is put
into a coffin or ashes placed in an urn are buried under a gravestone. Have you
ever thought how burial ceremonies look like in other cultures and places? Here
are 3, in my opinion, the most extraordinary ways to do so:
Sky Burial:
It’s a ritual practiced in e.g. Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan or Nepal. When a person dies his or her body is dismembered by a monk or rogyapas(“body-breaker”) . In some cases vultures are given the body parts and after consumption, remaining bones are broken up, ground with tsampa(flour, tea and butter) and given to crows and hawks. In other cases body is disassembled into small parts by rogyapas and changed into a pulp by using rocks. Next it is mixed with tsampa and given to vultures.
It’s a ritual practiced in e.g. Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan or Nepal. When a person dies his or her body is dismembered by a monk or rogyapas(“body-breaker”) . In some cases vultures are given the body parts and after consumption, remaining bones are broken up, ground with tsampa(flour, tea and butter) and given to crows and hawks. In other cases body is disassembled into small parts by rogyapas and changed into a pulp by using rocks. Next it is mixed with tsampa and given to vultures.
Skull Burial:
On the island of Kiribati the deceased are laid out in their house for 3 to 12 days depending on their status in community. Friends and relatives make pudding from a root of a local plant as an offering. After that, the body is buried in the ground. After several months the body is exhumed. The skull is removed, oiled and polished. The rest of the body is buried again, but the skull is kept in a home.
On the island of Kiribati the deceased are laid out in their house for 3 to 12 days depending on their status in community. Friends and relatives make pudding from a root of a local plant as an offering. After that, the body is buried in the ground. After several months the body is exhumed. The skull is removed, oiled and polished. The rest of the body is buried again, but the skull is kept in a home.
Space Burial:
Celestis is a company which
offers burial space. The company
purchases launches as a secondary payload on various rockets, and launches
samples of many people's cremated remains on one launch. Celestis launches 1g
or 7g of ashes. The cargo stays in the
orbital satellites. The company also provides path tracking for family and
friends.
Sources:
Comments
Wikipedia Article
Cryonics Clinic
Recently I read an article about a woman who lived there for over a year and her body was all the time at home, treated as if she was still sick but alive. For me it was something unimaginable.
It must have sound weird ;]
Sky and Skull burials seem a little gross to me, I think I won't become a fan of those, but space burial sounds pretty awesome, not because of some deeper meaning or anything, but if it was possible I wouldn't mind such burial - just for kick and giggles, just to depart with a bang.
Other than that, just like people above, I'm in favor of cremation. I don't like the idea of my body rotting in the ground. Although as I said earlier it's not a big deal - I'll be dead anyway, I won't care.
One interesting thing came to my mind just now - I read somewhere that it's possible to turn the ashes of deceased into diamonds that can be worn as rings or pendants. It's mostly a marketing thing I guess, but as a sentimental person I think I wouldn't mind wearing something like this to cherish the memories of a close person. On the other hand it could be too painful to be reminded of their death all the time.
But i'am not so sure about making any kind of jawallery like dimonds from human bodies like Aleksandra had mentioned, moreover law in Poland in this case is still very radical and i dont belive it could work here for next deacade! That will need a lof of time to get ppl to useed to it!
https://www.dawca.pl/jak-zostac-dawca/dawstwo-narzadow
I have never thaught about it and I have never read about it. I don’t know - why I haven’t done it, because it is really interesting. Oh my God! When I’ve read more and more I think that is terrible. Seriously? Vultures and other birds peck body? Uhm, it is so strange and scary…. Our culture and society is so ordinary I think. I can’t imagine to store my family members’s skull at home. Never.The last one way is so modern. Sometimes I think that we are herd of fools :D But of course I respect other culture and their beliefs.
I would rather haven't thought about how I want to be buried, I am willing to cremation.
Space burial is interesting but a little strange and for me it's too modern.
cultural thing. The only alternative I may ever consider is cremation with my ashes
thrown from the pick of some mountain.
I'm disgusted by the Sky Burial and like Marta I find it disrespectful. I've heard of Skull Burial a few times and while it's fairly creepy to keep a skull of your deceased relative at home, it could be tolerated. Space Burial seems is a bit too much - sounds fun, but I think it's an exaggeration.
I used to work at the cemetery, so I had a lot of time to think about, well, absurdity of burial rituals in general. Special black cars adapted to exhibiting a coffin, network of golf cars driving around, lot of cemetery guards checking if you're not stealing someones offerings for the dead consisting of candles and bunches of flowers. Why is this considered normal?
In my opinion burial traditions only creates more opportunities for grief and sadness. So it is a subtle way of self-flagellation.
Some of the most creative ideas of 'what to do with the dead body' in my opinion is the burial pods ( http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/03/18/forget-coffins-organic-burial-pods-will-turn-your-loved-ones-into-trees/ ) , but the pods themselves looks scary.
http://www.capsulamundi.it/en/
'Capsula Mundi is a cultural and broad-based project, which envisions a different approach to the way we think about death. It's an egg-shaped pod, an ancient and perfect form, made of biodegradable material, where our departed loved ones are placed for burial. Ashes will be held in small Capsulas while bodies will be laid down in a fetal position in larger pods. The pod will then be buried as a seed in the earth. A tree, chosen in life by the deceased, will be planted on top of it and serve as a memorial for the departed and as a legacy for posterity and the future of our planet. Family and friends will continue to care for the tree as it grows. Cemeteries will acquire a new look and, instead of the cold grey landscape we see today, they will grow into vibrant woodlands.'