Fascinating Funeral Tradition Around the World
When we were young, we were told stories about our creator and the first humans in the world. We believed that we would only have similar traditions with other people. But after years of discovery by people, they started to believe in their own God and some even created their own religion. Well, we wouldn’t like someone dying since some people who were left by their loved one may be left alone and so they should learn how to write eulogy since this is one of the important phases before completely burying the person.
Living in a world with different cultures and traditions, we’d probably the similarity we could have would be burials but no still different. Although some countries practice the same tradition, there places all around the world who has a different way to honor their loved one. Some of them are considered morbid but We can’t blame their religion and beliefs, can we? Here I have 7 different funeral traditions all around the world.
- Burial beads
From ashes to beads, this is a famous tradition in South Korea where they turn the ashes of the dead into beautiful shiny pink, blue-green, or black beads. These beads are not worn but is rather displayed and placed inside a glass container and is considered decorative display in their house. This tradition is to keep the deceased nearby. Some will find it weird but it is pretty creative if you want to have a home décor and your loved one near you.
- Endocannibalism
Endocannibalism is eating the dead’s flesh by their relatives or people with the same community. This is a funeral tradition by some countries with tribes. Melanesians of Papua New Guinea, Wari people from Brazil, Yanomami tribe, and other tribes from all over the world practice this kind of tradition. According to Yanomami, they believed that death is not a natural occurrence. Since tribes usually have a rival, they believed that the rival tribe’s shaman sent an evil spirit to kill their tribe people.
- Memorial Reef under the sea
Some people would fantasize and prefer to be a memorial reef under the sea. The United States has a company which they call Eternal Reefs. What they do is they compress the remains of the dead in a sphere which will be called as reef ball. This is environmentally friendly because the sphere is attached to the reef under the sea to become habitats for fishes and other sea creatures underwater.
- Zoroastrian Vulture Funeral
For some cultures, they want their loved ones to be fully intact inside a casket or have their body cremated for them to keep their ashes. Zoroastrians in Mumbai, India don’t do funerals. They have a culture where they offer the dead body of their loved ones to a place they called “Tower of Silence” or “dakhma” where vultures eat their bodies clean leaving only their bones. They have this belief where the source of corruption and contribution for the pollutant in their sacred elements are the dead bodies. For that reason, they must be eaten by the vultures. Crazy right? But we can’t complain about things they believe.
- Hanging of Coffins
Now, we believe that a regular and traditional funeral that has a coffin will finish after burying the dead person’s coffin. In this place, it’s the opposite. In the Philippines, there is a place in Sagada where for them coffins are supposedly hanged on a cliff. For what reason? So that the soul of their loved ones can reach the place of their God “Kabunian” to attain peace. This practice continues still and these hanging coffins on cliffs are appreciated by people and now became a tourist spot. 6. Fantasy Casket
Ever dreamed about seeing caskets that looked like a shoe well, it is possible since this is a tradition to some. In Europe, specifically Ghana, they want to be buried in a casket that would represent the life they lived. So if you died as a fisherman, your casket would look like a fish, or if you died as a pilot, your casket would look like a plane since that was your profession when you left this world.
Why do they have this kind of tradition? This is related to their religion and belief for the afterlife. They have believed that the life of the dead does not end there and instead, continues in their afterlife. And so their family would be influenced by their ancestors and continue their legacy.7. Green Burials
These days, Americans go for green burials. Green burial is an environmentally friendly burial. This is a burial that skips the embalming process, which uses gallons of chemicals, concrete vaults, and other resources which is not healthy for our environment.
We can’t blame you if you’re shocked by most of them, but these traditions are real and practiced till this day. Even though we practice different funeral traditions, we still give them respect and honor by following their own tradition.
