spirituality 18.pdf

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spirituality - lesson 18: death

detail of 'the book of the dead' an ancient egyptian funerary text

life is so valuable that it is at the very core of our moral actions. death is thereforea powerful force in life and like birth is the most significant point in each of ourlives.

for humans the difference between life and death is a concept that goes back40,000 years. back then of course the definition of death was easy; more so than

it is today. the growth of medical knowledge now tells us that if the heart stopsbeating the person is not necessarily dead and someone can be in a coma formonths and yet still be living. but whilst the definitions of death may havechanged the ritualistic attitude towards death and the value of life is one that isuniversal and the metaphysical existence of an afterlife remains beyond theunderstanding of science.

it is also true that each culture needs an idea of the meaning of death. what thepurpose of death is and what happens afterwards provides an understanding thathelps responding to death. how a person feels when approaching death andthose around them will be influenced by social and / or spiritual beliefs.

perspectives on death are so various that we could probably create a wholecourse on the subject (we probably will). in this lesson we shall take a look at justa few customs related to death from cultures across the world and throughhistory...

burialconfucian society places importance on the four cardinal points, believing theyhave mystical powers. koreans are therefore buried standing vertical in coffinsmade of 6 planks of wood. the four sides represent these cardinal points of thecompass, whilst the top and bottom represent the sky and earth.

in dhalwangu, yirrkala and liyagawumirr clans of the nothern territory in australiahave a tradition of coffins made from hollowed out tree trunks. log coffins are


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decoratively painted in pattern that are related to the family of the deceased andrefer to the hazardous journey of the soul. they are mounted upright above theground and left until nature's forces have worn them away.

on a practical level a community must decide what to do with a body after aperson has died. the attitudes to how the body must be treated vary from cultureto culture. from a grand mausoleum such as the taj mahal to the cutting up of the

body for birds to eat in some tibetan tribes, disposal of the body holds importantmeaning culturally. ritual disposal of the body provides a focus of mourning atany scale, from a small funeral to a state affair.

monuments provide an opportunity to perpetuate the dead's identity. whilst thebody decays the name remains and the memory of where their body last lay. thisidea is clearly reflected in the indian taj mahal which was built as a tribute to wifeof the mughal emperor shah jahan. likewise christian gravestones do the sameob.

in italy, there are a many capuchin crypts, in rome, for example, there is one

beneath the capuchin church of the immaculate conception. this crypt containsthe resting bodies of monks and most intriguingly it's walls are decorated withtheir bones. creating patterns of flowers, circles, triangles and more, the bonesare nailed throughout. a large clock made of vertebrae, foot and finger bonesshows only an hour hand, representing the idea that time has no beginning orend. for the capuchin monks it was a huge honor to be buried in this crypt, buteven more so to have their bones used as decoration.

in other cultures the external monument is not as important. the tibetancommunities who fed the body to the birds reflected their belief that the soul hadleft the earth and so the body did not matter any more, and that the birds, being

animals of the sky could transmit the soul to the heavens.

environment contribute to ritual also, the tibetan monks live in mountains and sodigging a grave is not easy. similarly seaside communities will often perform seaburials, returning fishermen's bodies to the elements. interestingly there havebeen 150 space burials until now! that is, there are 150 remains of peoplecurrently orbiting earth.


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illustration from a copy of the bardo thodol, a tibetan funeral text.the text is recited by lamas over a dying or dead person.the name translates literally as 'liberation through hearing in the intermediatestate'


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engraving by master en for the 'ars moriendi' ('the art of dying')15th century european christian books which offer advice on theprotocols and procedures of a good death and on how to 'die well'


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aboriginal log coffins

female mourners in northern papua new guinea


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the terracotta army of emperor qin shi huangdi, china

the crypt at the capuchin church of the immaculate conception,containing the bones of over 4000 monks

preparation for an afterlife


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years of archeology has found the placing of tools, ornaments, bartering goodsand food in burial grounds all over the world; from the placing of stone tools inthe burial pits of prehistoric man to the terracotta army of emperor qin shihuangdi in china. for cultures that believe in the afterlife the burial of artefactsalong with the body hold huge importance. in some cases the person's lifedictates what is buried, for example a warrior might be left with his swords. inmost cases we can be true in believing that grave goods are meant as a kind of

survival kit for an afterlife.

the idea of an afterlife is perhaps one of the most inspiring ideas of mankind.whilst we can not truly know, humans have seen their bodies changed anddevelop through a lifetime whilst individual identity remains largely the same. so itseems it is only natural to wonder if this development continues after death.generally grave goods reflect the idea that the afterlife is a prolongedcontinuation of this life and that the object we need here and now will also beneeded in the next stage. they also reflect the belief that social status survivesnot simply the soul. the idea of the afterlife being a place of reward orpunishment appears much later in human history and since then has became a

moral influence on the world and a way of shaping societies.

grief and mourningis a biological reaction to death. as humans we instinctively feel emotion as aresult of the passing away of a loved one or respected figure in the community /society. in every culture crying (or wanting to cry) is an instinct that follows adeath. other responses are influenced by personality, family, culture and spiritualbeliefs. for example; in judaism the mourning period is one week long and iscalled shiv'ah. participation is only for the seven first degree relatives; father,mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, or spouse (children and grandparents arenot included).

in collingwood bay, northern papua new guinea, female relatives made their griefvisible by plastering their bodies with white clay. they also wear clothing made ofgrey seeds which should be worn for a year. a wife will then symbolically throwthe item away, meaning she may now remarry.

in some cultures mourning is not done. take for example the baha'i who regarddeath as the messenger or joy for the deceased. they have a complicated burialritual that involves the body being buried no further than one hour away fromwhere it last stood. the body is washed and wrapped in a shroud before beingrecited the prayer for the dead. however once this ceremony is perform there isno mourning rituals at all.

name taboosin many tribes in south america, australia, east africa and north india there arecertain beliefs surrounding saying the name of someone who has recently died.(it is interesting to note that these areas are so far spread across the world andyet the rituals are all very similar.) it is believed that by naming the deceasedtheir soul or ghost will return to the community and become an unwantedpresence. each tribe have their own way of overcoming this. for example themasai of east africa change the dead person's name and so if he is referred towith in the community the ghost will not return as he does not recognise his newname. other tribes simply ban the name either for a certain period of time or until

the body is decayed, for others the name is banned forever, including any wordthat reassembles it. so if someone was once called 'tree' the community would


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then have to call a tree by another name. in this case it has an extreme effect onthe language. when words have to be continually changed over time generationsare speaking differently to their predecessors.

masks

in some cultures masks are an important form of decoration and in particularrepresentation in the burial procedure. we are perhaps most aware of this inancient egyptian ritual, the most notable mask being that of tutankhamun. themore elaborate the mask, or the most craftsmanship that went into it's creation isindicative of the person buried. the purpose of the burial mask was to provide the

dead with a face for the afterlife. during the 17th century a different sort ofdeath mask became popular in intellectual circles. a cast would be made of thedead person's face and them used to create a portrait. the replicas werecharacteristic of the subtle distortions of features and the dead flesh losestension. these death masks were used as effigies at funerals or as identification

records. for some more death masks of historical figures.more

aztec death mask C. 1400 AD,

inlaid with turquoise - an offering to the god queztalcoatl or tlaloc
http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/C0770/nameslist.html#namehttp://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/C0770/nameslist.html#namehttp://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/C0770/nameslist.html#namehttp://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/C0770/nameslist.html#name


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a chancay burial mask, peru, circa 1400AD

burial masks from the tome of lorn sican , peru


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personification of death

practically every culture throughout civilization has created a figure for death. in

the most ancient civilizations death was usually a feminine figure, and then fromclassical greek era to the present death is more usualy referred to as masculine.the universal personification of death is attributed to the tendancy of humans totry and understand the world as a humanlike entity. in this case death becomesless frightening and more palpable in the form of a human (although there aresome cultures that use imagery of animals also). in modern western culture theimage of the grim reaper is prevalent and it is a result of the violent plague in themiddle ages of europe. the figure is preserved in art and literature as a 'momentomori' (remider of death), and reflects the fragile and transient nature of human

kind. let us now take a look at a few examples...

yamarajais one of the mahajanas, the twelve persons authorized to properly maintain thehuman civilization. he is a deity of death in the hindu book of vedas. yamarajatakes a living entity who has committed a sinful life to a place of judgment, wherethe life, air, desires and senses are released and yamaraja decides what type ofbody the entity will receive next. usually yamaraja is picutred as very good

looking, yet fearful and often in black.


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maalik (ezra'eil)or azrael as it is more commonly known, is a name created for the angel ofdeath in muslim and islam theology. although there is reference to the angel inthe qur'an, the name azrael does not appear. he is one of the four archangels of

islam and keeps a book in which he writes names in at birth and erases them atdeath. his job is to sever the connection between soul and body and accompany

the soul to heaven.

izanami

is a godess from japanese shinto mythology and the personification of the earth


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and darkness. she died whilst giving birth to the fire god kagutsuch and was thentaken to the underworld where she then ruled. her husband izanagi tried torescue her but she refused to leave and sealed the entrance of the underworldwith the aim to trap him there also. but izanagi escaped making izanami furious.she then vowed to kill a thousand of izanagi's subjects a day.

thanatosis the name of the classical greek image of death. he is the win broth of hypnosgod of sleep. in this tradition life and death were seen as opposites andcharacturised as feminine and masculine. death, and thanatos, were thereforemale. thanatos accompanies the deceased to hades and hands them over to thecharon who rows them across the sinister river that separates the underworldfrom the rest of the world. compared with judeo-christian religion's conotations ofsin with death, classical greek beliefs of death were fairly upbeat and thanatoswas usually pictures as an ernest, winged youth holding an extinguighed flare, a

wreath or sometimes a butterfly.


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ankou isa skeleton ghost that is recognised in parts of france, but was most popularduring the middle ages. he travels by night with a coach drawn by four hourses.two assistant skeletons walk beside him helping to collect the souls of the

departed.

mictlantecuhtli


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is the god of the dead in ancient aztec mythology, he is ruler of the lowest region

of the inderworld. he is sometimes depicted as a skeleton covered in blood, orwith a toothy smile. his symbolic animals are the spider, the owl, and the bat.imagery of him links both to life as well as death, as bones were seen as a

symbol of fertility.

the grim reaperis a medieval personification of death, created as a reminder of not leading awasteful life and for atonement before the end. his is predominately a europeancontrust that has now become, certainly in the west, a popular figure of death in

culture. he takes on the appearance of a skeleton, usually holding a scythe whichis used to harvest the soul.

national celebration days

qing ming(or cheng beng as it is called in malaysia), is primarily a chinese festivalcelebrating and remembering the dead. money and consumer goods both madefrom paper are burnt at funerals and at the qingming festival on april 5th every

year. this day, also know as tomb sweeping day, is one in which the ancestorsare remembered and offered gifts so that the spirit ancestor stays happy and


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looks after the living relatives (rather than haunting them). the paper objectsinclude clothes, footwear, cars, refrigerators, spectacles for reading and sunprotection, cameras, video games, karaoke sets, hi-tech phones with digitalcamera and internet, whole roast pigs and homes complete with swimming pool,gardens, guard and maid! also it is traditional for family members to create 'yuanbao', which are folded paper gold ingots. this ritual stems from the daoist ritual atfunerals that the burning of the favourite goods in a 'soul house' will release their

spirit to join the spirit ancestor.

paper consumer goods

paper beer cans for burning


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paper money being burnt at a cemetary

stick with coloured paper are left in the ground next to a grave to tellpassersby that the persons relatives are remembering them

da de los muertos 'the day of the dead'is a mexican festival that dates back to the aztec goddess of deathmictecacihuatl (lady of death). customs include welcoming the dead back into thehomes of relatives, remembering the dead and celebrating their souls. today theday still consists of these rituals, with lots of eating food together and streetparades. cakes and sugar sweets are made in the form of skulls and people painttheir faces and wear flowers. in the home and at graveyards offerings are left toancestors, things such as alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, snacks, flowers and soon. despite the open fatalism the day is a joyful one that recognises the cycle oflife, birth and death, that is human existence. throughout the mexicancommunities the day of the dead is practiced to varying degrees, from thecelebrative to the wholly religious.


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an alter in a family home, with offerings of food

a girl paints her face and wears flowers on day of the dead


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sugar sweets in the form of skulls

memento mori

below is a memento mori, a form of image that urged a european person of thelate middle ages to remember thy death. to do this, a memento mori might

represent death as a human skeleton - perhaps as the grim reaper gathering hisharvest- or it might depict human bodies in an advanced state of decay. its

purpose is to remind the viewer that death is an unavoidable part of life,something to be prepared for at all times. memento mori images are graphicdemonstrations of the fact that death was not only a more frequent, but a farmore familiar occurrence in medieval europe than it is today.


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memorial jewellery accessories were very popular over the course of the 17th to19th centuries, and guided the memorial industry to produce a wide variety ofmemorial and sentimental items, ranging from snuffboxes to household items.watches and clocks with the memento mori motifs were not uncommon,examples exist from switzerland, france, germany and england. the skull andwatch are part of the standard subject matter of vanitas still lifes. vanitas is fromthe latin for emptiness or untruth, fromwhich comes the english word vanity.

exercisedesign memento mori accessories!skull symbols seedesignbooms history page
http://www.designboom.com/history/death.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/history/death.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/history/death.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/history/death.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/history/death.html

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spirituality 18.pdf

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