Conception of death in different cultures and funeral rites in Bolivia, China, Indonesia, Madagascar and USA

Abstract

In some cultures, death is associated with different rituals and customs to help people grieving. Rituals offer people ways to process and express their grief. They also provide ways for the community to help people who are grieving. Death can cause chaos, anger, and confusion. That is where the community comes in to support and help cope with grief. Funeral rites are symbolic systems that represent specific socio-cultural practices of the human species; they are a means to facilitate the arrival of the soul to its place of destination through religious or pagan acts, methods to ward off and scare away evil spirits or to prevent the dead from appearing and disturbing the living. After analyzing the concept of death in the proposed cultures, differences and similarities were observed in their conceptions and meanings; they all share the feeling of honoring, loving, caring, and commemorating their deceased. Each celebration is a tribute to the loved one on a particular date, depending on the culture and geographical region, such as Bolivia, China, Indonesia, Madagascar, New Orleans, and Parsis (Persians). In the different funeral rites, we could appreciate death's diverse manifestations and beliefs and its connotations, such as honoring, entertaining, feeding, grooming, decorating the deceased, and respecting and venerating nature.