Comments on: Cross Cultural Burial Rituals

By: Sina

Sina — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:30:53 +0000

In Samoa, apparently we buried our dead under our homes so that our ancestors stayed with us, but that the spirit travels to a place where the last of the sun sets, called pulotu – the underworld. It was probably the missionaries that discouraged this practice, but these days our relatives aren’t buried beneath us, but right beside our homes. So if you ever go to Samoa, you will see every extended family home has some pretty graves beside the houses. I read somewhere that the Mayans also buried the dead under their homes.

By: Body disposalSpecies media | Species media

Body disposalSpecies media | Species media — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:19:26 +0000

[...] have been varying rituals of body disposal. Burial at sea and cremation are popular. Some people keep the bones of the dead and some are left to be eaten by animals, I guess whatever culture you have grown up [...]

By: mel

mel — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:49:59 +0000

Wow!!!!! this is terrific!It’s quite short but really educational.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

As for leaving your dead up high on a platform to be eaten and dry out these may be some reasons: Imagine that you are living in an area where you are unprotected by today’s modern buildings or walls. In this way, animals that I could go see in a zoo are free to run about your village. Your close friend dies and you bury her in a graveyard not to far from your home. The body begins to rot and maybe the soil you burried her in was kind of rocky so you couldn’t dig too far down and the soil begins to lift with the water. Wild animals race to the stench and consequently to your home, your family, your food and children. Now all of their lives are endanger. Maybe the body rots a while longer and the strench eventually reaches your homes. My solution would be to keep the platforms elevated downwind so predators couldn’t get to it, the stench would be more easily carried off and better yet the vultures would eat up the remains in no time. Plus maybe she had some religious beliefs and wants to be raised up closer to the gods as an offering? Who knows.