The Japanese cultural holiday Obon is short for Urabon and can be traced etymologically to the Sanskrit word Ullambana, literally meaning to “hang upside down”. It implies that one must withstand unbearable suffering while being hanged upside down. In the Buddhist script Urabon Sutra, a story is told where a son saves his mother from Hell by making offerings to monks. Through the merits of his actions, his mother was saved from Hell, ascended into divinity, and became a Buddha. Thusly, to save people from Hell (being hanged upside down), one’s family and/or friends must make offerings to the deceased.
Obon is held usually in the mid August or July for a week in which the spirits of the deceased are supposed to come back to the land of the living. Being held since the 7th century, it is especially enjoyable to the Japanese people. One of its key features involves offering food items to the deceased. Vegetables, fruits, rice, candy, rice wine, and among others are offered to the deceased. (But not only the deceased receive food; special foods are made to give away to neighbor, friends, and family.) In addition, respect is shown with floral decorations on the altar or gravesite along with incense burning and prayer. Particularly, prayer is said for wayward spirits that have passed away in the recent year, as it’s said they need more guidance to find their way. The Festival of the Dead, as it’s sometimes called, is a celebratory and social event. While this is not a national or public holiday, plenty of people from the city go back to their hometowns to polish up and clean their ancestor’s gravesites.
On the actual day of the celebration, a menagerie of lanterns, in a multitude of colors, are hung all around the town and specifically on houses. The logic is this – since spirits come back, the lanterns will guide them to and from the spirit world. However a more realistic use for these is lighting the area where the bon dances will take place. The bon dances have religious undertones also. In the story above, the dancing signifies the joy and elation the son felt when his mother was offered divinity. Now, in the center of town, a makeshift tower is erected. A Taiko drummer is on top and speakers play special Obon music and dancers below dressed in yukata (summer) kimonos circle below in dance.
In the Voodoo religion, a priestess hosts a number of different ceremonies each year. During these ceremonies, one of the people present (usually the priestess herself) is supposedly possessed by one or more spirit(s) who then communicates with the rest of the people present. A typical example of a Voodoo ceremony is that described in the book Mama Lola by Karin McCarthy Brown. Here, Mama Lola, as this voodoo priestess is known, lives in Brooklyn and does all she can to stay faithful to her Haitian religion. After inviting her voodoo ‘family’ for what will be the birthday celebration of the spirit Azaka, all members, important and close gather to help set up the intricate and festive alter in the basement of Mama...
...ssion of Jizo Ceremony. This is where people confess the guilt they gained over the faults they made during the year in hopes to get rid of bad Dharma. They pray that Jizo will bestow them permanence and continue to protect their children. This is related to confession in the Catholic traditions. “In some vicinities, children believe that tapping their forehead against the beads will bring them luck.” (Schumacher) In many areas, children are allowed to paint the faces of the statues or dress them in new red hats and robes. Red lanterns are hung at Jizo memorials and youths eat red-colored food. This is a fun but also regaining time for many people and children. It gives adults the opportunity to try and make up for what they did and being aware in the present moment. It also allows children to participate in an event of actions of kindness, games, festivities, etc.
When someone dies their bones are burned and crushed into ash and consumed by the relatives. It puts a persons soul at peace to find a resting place within their family, it would be an abomination to bury them in the ground. Once this ceremony is finished the person is gone. Their name or person is never to be mentioned again.
As the sunrises over the crisp fall horizon, followers begin to surround the sacred space in anticipation for what is about to take place. The sacred space is soon surrounded by people who are dressed in the sacred colors, some wearing necklaces of their totem, while others wear headdresses that adorn with their sacred symbol. People begin to drink, play music, and prepare a banquet feast for each other, creating a festival atmosphere in hope that today’s ritual will be a success. As the ritual gets set to begin followers begin to crowd into the sacred space, surrounded with pictures and names of those who have reached greatness. As the ritual begins, music is played in order to bring everyone together and prepare for the events that are about to unfold. It is now that the followers have a very simple focus, to aid in the success of the ritual. Those who celebrate the ritual take there places in the middle of the sacred space, with the followers surrounding them; now that the ritual has begun the celebrants begin to perform and focus on certain actions in order connect themselves with the transcendent sacred. The followers who look on begin to aid by chanting, allowing themselves to also transcend. In hopes that the ritual was a success, everyone does their part until the last second of the ritual is completed, it is only then that it can be decided if the ritual was a success and they can either celebrate or grieve by signing in their most sacred song, bonding them once again with each other.
...sion called the designator, and there would people wearing masks made of wax to represent the deceased and their ancestors. (Gill) At first when they did the funeral processions, they all took place at night. As the traditions slowly changed over time; this tradition was only used for the poorer of the people.
Generalizing broadly, the holiday's activities consist of families (1) welcoming their dead back into their homes, and (2) visiting the graves of their close kin. At the cemetery, family members engage in sprucing up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers, setting out and enjoying a picnic, and interacting socially with other family and community members who gather there. In both cases, celebrants believe that the souls of the dead return and are all around them. Families remember the departed by telling stories about them. The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces, chocolate beverages, cookies, sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull shapes, and a special egg-batter bread ("pan de muerto," or bread of the dead). Gravesites and family altars are profusely decorated with flowers (primarily large, bright flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums), and adorned with religious amulets and with offerings of food, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.
Living in a society where several cultures and religious beliefs are represented, such an event as memorable as death is bound to be celebrated differently. The paper attempts to look at the various ways different culture and religious practices prepare the body of the deceased for burial and the role of health care workers.
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.
A central theme in all ancestor worship is that the lives of the dead may have supernatural powers over those in the living world-the ability to curse, give, or take life (Carteret). In some cultures, worship of the dead is important, and includes making offerings of food, money, clothing, and blessings. For example, in China, there is the annual observance of “sweeping the graves” and as its name suggests, it is a time for people to tend the graves of the departed ones (Carteret). In cultures where ancestor worship is common, the acceptance of organ donation and cremation may be
The Day of the Dead celebrates life past and present and not just death alone. Revelers construct ofrendas, the offerings of food, drinks, cigarettes, toys, and candy, set out for returning souls. Revelers take joy in honoring the dead, usually with music, dancing, crafts and food. The children have many activities also including the decoration of pan de muerto. Kids can also try to throw beanbags into a skeleton's mouth, make cascarones (confetti-filled eggshell wands), or create clay whistles, paper flowers, pinatas or masks. Mexico and other Central American countries to include visits to graveyards, where families decorate the sites of deceased loved ones.
For many tribes of Plains Indians whose bison-hunting culture flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun dance was the major communal religious ceremony . . . the rite celebrates renewal - the spiritual rebirth of participants and their relatives as well as the regeneration of the living earth with all its components . . . The ritual, involving sacrifice and supplication to insure harmony between all living beings, continues to be practiced by many contemporary native Americans. -Elizabeth Atwood LawrenceAs the most important ritual of the nomadic Plains Indians, the Sun Dance in itself presents many ideas, beliefs, and values of these cultures. Through its rich symbolism and complicated rituals we are able to catch a glimpse into these peoples' view of the world. A Sun Dance is held when a man feels the need to be a dancer to fulfill certain wishes, primarily "for his deliverance from his troubles, for supernatural aid, and for beneficent blessings upon all of his people." (Welker) It is this dancer who usually bears the expenses of the Sun Dance (Atwood), including a feast for all that comes to the celebration. (Welker) Motivations behind the Sun Dance varies slightly between tribes. The Crow held the ceremony to seek aid for revenge for family members killed in warfare. The entire event surrounding the Sun Dance generally lasts from four to seven days, though longer events exist. On the first day a tree is selected to serve as the sun-pole, the center pole for the Sun Dance Lodge, or New-Life-Lodge, as called by the Cheyenne. (Atwood) The selection of the tree is usually done by the eldest woman of the camp, who leads a group of elaborately dressed maidens to the tree to strip off its branches. On the next morning, right as the sun is seen over the eastern horizon, armed warriors charge the sun-pole. They attack the tree in effort to symbolically kill it with gunshots and arrows. Once it is dead it is cut down and taken to where the Sun Dance Lodge will be erected. (Schwatka) "Before raising the sun-pole, a fresh buffalo head with a broad centre strip of the back of the hide and tail (is) fastened with strong throngs to the top crotch of the sun-pole. Then the pole (is) raised and set firmly in the ground, with the buffalo head facing ! toward the setting-sun." (Welker) The tree represents the center of the world, connect...
...t, monks will come and recite scriptures while mourners offer gifts. The body if taken to the cremation site on the fourth day while about eight monks carry a long white cord connected to the casket. At the place of cremation, family members take pictures by the casket and walk around the casket three times, symbolizing traveling through the cycle of death and rebirth. Ten “important people” then place a set of yellow robes on the white cord, after, the senior monk collects them. Buddhist tradition calls this symbolically contemplating the dead, which “brings merit to those who provide opportunity for the monks to do so (Cite text pg 366).” After the cremation the remaining ashes and bones are “made into the shape of a human being with the head facing east.” The remains are then put in a reliquary built in the monastery. Grief is not stressed in Buddhist ceremonies.
The Buddhist religion believes in recoronation (life after death) so when a person dies the Buddhists believe that the dearly departed will come back in another life form.
Day of the Dead, however, considered much more important. Special masses are performed for Day of the Dead, and the holiday lasts for a few days. People use this time to honor and remember their loved one’s memories, rather than having a day to simply have fun and practice a tradition. A lot of time and money is spent in preparation for this holiday, and each day is spent with the holiday’s purpose and importance in mind. Rarely do the old traditions of Halloween make an impact on our lives, yet Day of the Dead holds a special place in each person’s
There were six different dances in the performance, each one different in their own cultural way. Dances like “Oshun, Goddess of Love” were based on actual beliefs. Oshun is the goddess of the rivers, fertility, abundance, and love among the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The dance is a creative exploration of the meaning of Oshun as a force