How do people celebrate death around the world?
One thing we all have in common is life and death. There are lots of different traditions to mark the occasion of a person dying.
If you think you might find it uncomfortable to read about some different ways of celebrating life and death, don’t read on.
Each family within a culture, country, or religion might have their own ways of honouring traditions. Below are some examples of a few of the many ways from all over the world to celebrate somebody's life!
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a traditional celebration of life and death combining some ancient Aztec and other Nahua traditions with All Souls’ Day, a celebration that Spanish invaders brought to Mexico centuries ago. Day of the Dead is different to Halloween and falls on November 2nd every year.
Offerings of food and drink are left out for ancestors in family homes, with candlelit altars being the centrepiece. Some families may leave items out for their ancestors that were important to them when they were alive.
Day of the Dead is a mostly uplifting celebration; people will create homemade arts and crafts skeletons or skulls and decorate them in beautifully bright colours. Some people will wear makeup, costumes, and parade through towns while singing and dancing. They even eat sweets in the shape of skulls!
Shiva is the name of the mourning period in Judaism, and ‘Shiva’ means ‘Seven’, so the mourning period lasts for seven days. A funeral usually happens within 24 hours of someone dying, but this can change depending on the family’s decision. The person’s body is usually not left alone during the time between death and burial, and the following Shiva are spent at home, seeing visitors, and reflecting. Some traditions during Shiva include things you are not supposed to do, including getting a haircut, wearing leather shoes, shaving, listening to music, using cosmetics, and many more. Each family might decide which to follow, but those are some of the more traditional rules during the seven days of Shiva.
The only circumstance when Shiva can be completely interrupted is if it clashes with Yom Tov, a Jewish holiday that falls around six times every year. Two of those days are on the first and seventh days of Passover, which is a major Jewish holiday. If a Shiva is during Yom Tov, the mourning period will be interrupted and end early.
Mongolia and Tibet have been known for their “sky burials”. This is closely related to Buddhism, and the reason these burials are referred to as “sky” is because they leave the body of the deceased outdoors in an unprotected, high-up place. Before they place the body in its resting spot, monks (members of a religious community) or lamas (spiritual leaders/teachers) will read scripture to them because they believe it will release the soul, and when the body is laid to rest, the soul will peacefully go to Paradise.
In South Africa, there is a custom that happens if someone has died in a house. The windows are covered in ash, beds are removed from the deceased’s bedroom, and all reflective surfaces are turned around or covered over.
The day before the funeral, the body of the deceased will be taken home and placed in the bedroom. They will then perform a night vigil in memory of the person who has died. The funeral will then take place early the following morning, when they believe sorcerers (evil spirits looking for bodies) are asleep.
In Indonesia's Toraja region, the ritual that happens when someone dies is a big event. If the family can afford to, they will spend a lot of money and make it an elaborate event. They will have a feast, which up to thousands of people can attend over several days. Expect music, dancing, chanting, poems, and crying and wailing as people express their grief.
Perhaps the most unusual part of this celebration of life and death is that in August, there is a ritual called Ma’Nene, during which the bodies of the deceased are exhumed. Yes, you read that correctly! They dig up the buried bodies, and they are washed and dressed in new clothes once a year. This is the Toraja people’s traditional way of paying respects to their ancestors. The practice is believed to have come from a folktale about a hunter who found a body in the Torajan mountains and cared for it, dressed it in new clothes, and it is believed that doing this brought him good fortune.
In China, there is an annual festival called Qingming (pronounced: ching-ming), in English we refer to it as Tomb-Sweeping Day. This festival is observed by several countries including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and ethnic Chinese people of several other countries. It occurs every spring in accordance with the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, typically falling in the first week of April.
Families will visit the grave of their ancestors and clean the tombstone or site. They pray to their ancestors and leave offerings typically consisting of traditional food and burning joss sticks (incense) and/or joss paper.
In some areas, families will gather outside and burn paper replicas of materialistic things like homes, cars, and phones, because it’s believed that people still need and have use for these things in what they believe to be the ‘afterlife’.
In the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, there is the tradition of the Nine Night, also called Dead Yard. It is the belief that the journey from this world into the next isn’t complete until nine nights after the death of the body. Family and friends come together at the home of the deceased to celebrate their life with food, drink and music. Some gather every night for nine nights, while others gather on the ninth night. Tradition has it that the spirit of the deceased passes through the party on the ninth night before moving to its final resting place.
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Typically, in the UK, when someone has died, they are either buried or cremated; sometimes at religious grounds and sometimes at natural locations. Families and friends often make their own decisions as to how they will celebrate the life and honour the death of their person. Whether they’re religious, cultural, traditional, or brand new, you can decide your own ways to do that too. Find some ideas in our Grief Toolkit, or you can chat with someone from our team.
If you need to talk, we’re here to listen. You can speak to the Winston’s Wish bereavement team using one of our confidential on-demand services. You can chat with us anonymously if you wish and share whatever you are feeling. Nothing about your grief is off limits. We promise to listen, not judge and can offer advice and guidance if needed. You can speak to us as little or as often as you want.
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