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Dying ritual in the somali culture
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There are many countries with different cultures, religions and community with various behavior and ritual rite that often guide their action and belief when their loved one expired. African culture is often regarded as a tribe with rich culture. Ashanti tribe displayed some of the rich culture in Africa. This project will focus on Ashanti’s death ritual process and involvement of different group during the process. More insight will be given on this tribe belief, mourning and grief process during the funeral period. In Ashanti tribe, family and the mother’s side are most important to this particular group. This tribe believe that child often inherit their father’s soul while flesh and blood is received from the mother. “Instrument such as talking drums are used for learning the Ashanti language and spreading news and used in ceremonies. This instrument is very important to the Ashanti and there are very important rituals involved in them”. (Vollbrecht, Judith A., 1979). The community embraced the burial customs and death rituals as a whole not only family of the deceased. It is a significant event to whole community regardless of the family involved or affected. This tribe regard mourning as a way respecting the position held by the deceased among the family. “The female members of the family are with the individual while he is about to pass, in order to pour water on his throat for the journey that he is about to embark on. The kra, or undying spirit, needs this water to “climb the mountain” into the world of the ancestors”. (Vollbrecht, Judith A., 1979). All elderly person within the community of the deceased begin eight days fasting as soon as the whole community is aware of the death. This eight days fasting is a way the eld... ... middle of paper ... ...ced eight days after death and burial. Mourning and the grief process to the Ashanti are supposed to be emotional. “When someone is upset, they do not obey the rules. If they do, that shows they’re not really upset. If someone who is wailing and crying greets you or smiles when you greet them that shows that they are not really sorry”. (Vollbrecht, Judith A., 1979) As soon as the public funeral end, the community will end their fasting and return to normal life when the gong drum is beaten while the deceased family continue grief for another forty days and continue to wear the funeral cloths during this period. Deceased’s family meet again at the end of forty days to select the best person to inherit the deceased’s material belongings and take over the deceased’s duties, after this selection, then drink is poured by the family as honour to the deceased once again.
The goal of the anthropologist is to come to understand the beliefs and behaviours of the cultures around them, without judgement. When one scrutinizes Western rituals, we often have difficulty seeing the strangeness of our own culture. To understand those around us, we must first be able to understand ourselves. In this paper, I will attempt to critically summarize and analyze Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”.
Zahan, Dominique. The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Traditional Africa. Trans. Kate Ezra Martin and Lawrence M. Martin. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1979.
"Grieving and death rituals vary across culture and are heavily influenced by Religion (Medscape)." Cross cultural beliefs, ceremonies, and rituals allow for the deaths of individuals to be encompassed in a more organized social order (Death and Dying, A sociological perspective). The religious rituals encountered are often influential in funeral arrangements and grieving behaviors. On a sociological level, we can interpret these things in a more objective way. I believe that in order to understand religion and culture: we must first understand the concepts that may be seen as highly influential. These concepts include religion and culture in association with social class, social norms, social reality, and class systems. The two religions I found most interesting were Hinduism and Buddhism.
This idea talks about the different cultures three in particular; Greeks, Callatians, and the Eskimos. These three cultures are completely different from each other, the Greeks are very family oriented and believe that loved ones after
Death is universal, but various cultures have their own unique traditions. The Jewish culture has explicit rules which are steeped in tradition, and have significant meaning. The rituals are based on events from the Hebrew Bible.
Emotionally a person is sad and feels lonely without the loved one. This absence is felt in the anger the bereaved hold against the caring team in case of death due to illness, ironically it can cause relief to close ones as they have witnessed and suffered all way with the patient. Sudden death comes as a numbing shock to the person and very often there are a lot of anger again natural forces or god. In cases of sudden death there is a deep feeling of guilt as there are many unfinished business which could have been resolved, things left unsaid. Moreover, there is a constant need to hear, see and touch that person though dead and the bereaved feels helpless with regards to his own adjustment and self-care.
There are numerous cultures in this planet today; however the Jewish view of death makes this culture unique from the rest. Jewish death and mourning rites have two basic principles: kevod ha-met, respectful treatment of the dead, and kevod he-chai, consideration for the feelings of the living. These two principles are highly regarded by the Jewish community (Kolatch 7-8).
Death is a natural part of life that we all have to face one day. The way in which friends and love ones cope during this time is based on their culture or religious belief and their support system. Different religion or culture has different mourning customs which are unique to their own believes. For this project, three religious practices: Christianity, Muslim and Catholic were examined along with their own unique customs and believes. Despite the wide array of differences between each culture, they all believe in life after death and that there is a heaven and a hell.
In the Jewish faith, death is seen as a natural process. Jewish rituals surrounding death focus on showing respect for the deceased and consolation for the living. After death, the body is never left alone. The body is laid on the floor, covered, and candles are lit with the “shomerim” meaning “guards” watching over the body. Many Jewish communities have a burial society, called the chevra kaddisha (holy society), that clean the body and wrap the body in a plain linen shroud. The body can not be cremated or embalmed and autopsies are discouraged. Coffins are not required according to Jewish customs, but if one is used, there must be holes drilled into them, so they come in contact with the ground. The dead are placed in a plain casket and buried within 24 hours, before sunset, on the day of death. Jewish mourning traditions begin grief with the tearing of one’s clothing (Rich, 1996). Mourners “cut their clothing with a razor- on the left for a parent; on the right for a spouse, child, or sibling- to symbolize the tear in life that death has produced (cite textbook, pg 358).” After burial of the deceased, a healing meal is made for the family, which is followed by the next phase of mourning, known as shiva. Shiva is a seven day ritual in where mourners sit on low stools or on the floor, do not wear shoes, do not shave, do not work, do not bathe, have sex, or eat meat, and remain in the same clothes they tore at the time of death. Following shiva, mourners do not attend social gathering for 30 days, this is known as shloshim. If someone is mourning a parents death, the “shloshim” is expanded to one year (Rich, 1996).
Music played a very important role in the lives of people is diaspora communities. It served as a reminder for the immigrants of their homeland, which allowed them to proudly express their national and cultural identities. Diaspora refers to an international network of communities linked together by the identification of a common ancestral homeland and culture. People in these communities are no longer living in their homelands, with no guarantee of a return either. (Bakan, 19). Music played a large role in African diaspora communities. This was first started by the slave trades many years ago when slave traders traveled to the coast of West Africa to capture Africans and brought them back to the United States to be slaves on plantations. Slaves were more prone to loose a sense of their own culture because every new aspect of their lives was forced upon them, therefore they were undoubtedly forced to abandon their n...
The subject of death and dying is a common occurrence in the health care field. There are many factors involved in the care of a dying patient and various phases the patient, loved ones and even the healthcare professional may go through. There are many controversies in health care related to death, however much of it roots from peoples’ attitudes towards it. Everyone handles death differently; each person has a right to their own opinions and coping mechanisms. Health care professionals are very important during death related situations; as they are a great source of support for a patient and their loved ones. It is essential that health care professionals give ethical, legal and honest care to their patients, regardless of the situation.
Many steps are taken when a family member dies. The first step is called the wake. The wake is where the coffin is placed on its own stand. If the family member dies away from home he or she is placed in the courtyard. If he or she dies at home they are placed inside the house. The deceased's coffin rests a foot high off the ground and is covered in gifts from the family. A self portrait or photograph of the deceased family member is also placed by the coffin. During the wake, the coffin is not sealed. After the wake is the funeral ceremony, which lasts over 49 days. If the family is wealthy, prayers ceremonies are held every 7 days for 49 days. The head of the family should be present for the first prayer ceremony and should also be present for the burial. After all of the ceremonies, the coffin is nailed shut. The family then makes their way to the burial site. It is tradition that the eldest son stays by the coffin. Next is the burial. At the gravesite, the coffin is taken down from the carrier and all family members must look away. Once the coffin is lowered, family members throw a handful of earth onto the coffin before the grave is filled. Then the 100 day mourning period begins. During this time, the family wears different colored pieces of cloth to signify their mourning.
Over time, there have been several aspects that have influenced these cultures and made them unique in their own ways. I believe the traditions and values that each culture holds is important when trying to learn and understand each. The cultures in Kenya and India share similarities and differences among families in context, marital relationships, and families and aging. These are all equally important to understand because this is the underlying beliefs and values these cultures have toward these life events the families may
...ured for many that their loved ones survived the perilous journey through the Duat and reached paradise. The preparation of the body for this quest was vital because the physical body was the glue the held together all of the other important pieces of the human—shadow, name, Ka (spirit), Ba (personality), and Akh (immortality). Understanding the process of mummification also gives us further insight as to the importance of the afterlife in the culture of these people.
Music has played a role in society since the dawn of man. Said to be the beginning of communication in early civilization, music and dance have influenced how we think, act and treat members of our own society. Song and dance is used in rites of passage ceremonies such as births, weddings and funerals throughout the world. Jamaican and Yoruba cultures have made many contributions to our society. The uses of this music as a vehicle for political issues, values, and beliefs have been used by many musicians from different cultures. I intend to discuss the Contribution of these two contemporary cultures music and their effect on society.