Day of the Dead and other death rituals around the world
October 31, 2024
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt were embalmed, as were several other rulers in later centuries.
This includes France's Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, and the communist leader Lenin, whose preserved body has been on public display since shortly after his death in 1924.
The message is clear: The body's time is over but the spirit lives on.
Such beliefs are anchored in many cultures. Here are some of the most unique ceremonies surrounding death.
Día de Muertos: Day of the Dead in Mexico
Grinning skeletons dance in the streets, bakeries sell "pan de muerto," or "bread of the dead" in the shape of bones as shop windows are decorated with glittery skulls.
On Día de Muertos in Mexico, the celebration of death is omnipresent.
Even if it may seem macabre at first, the Day of the Dead is a cheerful and colorful celebration.
It is believed that the deceased awaken from their eternal sleep on this occasion and visit their loved ones.
This is why the families set up "ofrendas," elaborately decorated altars for the dead featuring all kinds of gifts, a photo of the deceased and yellow-orange marigolds. Their bright color of the flowers is supposed to show the dead the way home from the cemetery.
In many regions of Mexico, colorful parades are held on Día de Muertos with the festival lasting from October 31 to November 2.
On the last day, the living flock to the cemetery and have a picnic on the decorated graves of their ancestors. Tequila and cigars are served, and there's plenty of dancing and singing.
The intense focus on dying and life after death has a long tradition in Mexico and has nothing to do with Halloween.
The advanced civilizations of the Mayas and Aztecs believed that death was only the beginning of a new life in a parallel world.
With the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the festivities in honor of the deceased merged with Catholic customs. In 2008, UNESCO declared the festival to be Intangible Cultural World Heritage.
Sky burial in Tibet
In the middle of the Tibetan highlands, vultures flock hungrily around a dismembered corpse. The "Ragyapas" — the Buddhist morticians — have left the body for them to eat.
They follow the ancient tradition of a sky burial. When a person dies, they are symbolically fed for a few days while a monk reads to them from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This is the holy man's way of persuading the soul to leave the body.
On the day of the funeral, the Lama — a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism — invokes the deceased one last time before the body is taken to the burial site before sunset.
The Ragyapas dismember the body and split the head so that the soul can escape. It is then the task of the vultures to carry the deceased into the "bardo," the intermediate realm between death and rebirth.
India: Cremation and holy water
Hinduism also believes that every person is reborn many times. A dead person must therefore be cremated as soon as possible, because only then can their soul free itself from the body and move on.
In India, the River Ganges plays a special role in this. According to religion, it is sacred, as it is said the river flows from the sacred locks of the god Shiva. Those who bathe here are freed from all sins. This is also the reason why numerous funeral pyres are erected on the riverbank for the dead.
After cremation, relatives collect the ashes and scatter them in the Ganges, accompanied by flowers and garlands. They hope that the deceased will thus escape the eternal cycle of birth, death and rebirth and enter nirvana, a state in which the soul finally comes to rest.
Around 100,000 burials take place on the Ganges every year. Cleansing for the soul, but not for the river, as it is one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
Coffin art from Ghana
Burial may be more of a regular occurence elsewhere but not all coffins are created equal.
In Ghana, for example, coffin art symbolizes what was important to the deceased in life.
If the person was a musician in a band, then the coffin can be ordered in the shape of a guitar.
Were they a bar owner? Why not a final resting place in the shape of a beer bottle?
Indonesia: The long road to the land of the dead
Even more expensive, however, are the burial ceremonies of the Toraja mountain tribe in Indonesia.
In order for the soul of the deceased to find its way to the land of the dead — Puya — it needs the help of the living. The tribe believes this is necessary because if the soul gets lost and wanders between the worlds, it can become a threat to those left behind.
After their death, the deceased are first embalmed and laid out in the family home.
This can happen for a few weeks, sometimes for years, because the relatives save up for a grand funeral feast lasting several days to enable the soul to make its way to the afterlife.
The higher the social status of the deceased, the more extensive the celebrations.
The highlight of the ceremony is the actual burial.
The deceased is hung from a rock face in an elaborately carved wooden coffin or laid out in a cave carved into the rock. There is room for whole families here.
Madagascar: New clothes for the ancestors
In the African island state of Madagascar, the dead are just as much a part of the family as the living. And these "Razana" have a very special gift — they can speak with the gods.
It is therefore a good idea to have them on your side as mediators, as angering the ancestors can cause misfortune and harm the whole family.
However, disgruntled Razana can be appeased at the "Famadihana" festival for the dead.
An "Ombiasy," a Malagasy healer, contacts the dead to determine the right time for the Famadihana, to which the extended family, neighbors and friends are invited.
On the feast day, the deceased are then wrapped in precious silk scarves and the living and the dead are introduced to each other. The hosts serve sumptuous food and home-brewed rum.
When the deceased are then returned to the cleaned and newly painted tomb, they are laid to rest.
As a rule, such a festival only takes place every three to seven years, as it is very elaborate and costly.
The Japanese Obon festival
Many Asian countries also pay homage to their ancestors. Families set up shrines at home and honor the deceased with flowers and incense sticks.
In Japan, there is a three-day ancestor festival called "Obon" every year in mid-August. According to Buddhist belief, the dead return from the afterlife to their homes and families once a year, and they must be given a proper welcome.
To help them find their way, welcome fires or lanterns are lit on the house altar in the gardens. The bereaved make daily food offerings to their ancestors, including "farewell dumplings." The symbolic feeding is intended to alleviate the suffering of the dead, who may be starving.
According to popular belief, the deceased ride back to the afterlife at the end of the Obon placed on the altar or in front of the door. The farewell is once again marked by fire. Flames in the form of characters light up the mountain slopes while floating lanterns sway gently on rivers and lakes.
The Obon is now a popular festival where almost the entire country is on its feet to greet the ancestors in their hometown.
Striptease for the dead in Taiwan
In Taiwan, relatives like to order an "Electric Flower Car" for a funeral. This is a truck trailer decorated with lots of flowers and bright flashing lights, on which scantily clad women dance for the deceased and the mourners.
If necessary, a converted jeep will do. Loud pop music blares from the loudspeakers.
This somewhat strange custom only became established in the 1970s.
The Taiwanese underworld is said to have sensed a good business opportunity at the time. As partners in funeral homes, they simply offered strippers from their nightclubs as part of a cheap "funeral package."
This would attract more mourners, which would in turn please the gods. The dancers are also a gift to the dead who enjoyed themselves while they were alive.
In big cities, the "Electric Flower Cars" are usually frowned upon as immoral, but in the countryside they remain popular.
Germany: Funeral feasts and Sunday of the dead
In Germany, as in most countries around the world, such an event would be unthinkable. Here, the deceased are either buried in a coffin or cremated, moving speeches are made and the mourners throw soil or flower petals into the grave as a farewell.
Afterwards, people gather together for coffee and cake at a funeral reception to symbolize that life goes on.
The dead are then remembered on Christian feast days such as the Catholic All Souls' Day on November 2, or the Protestant Sunday of the Dead, which falls on November 26 this year.
Also known as Eternity Sunday, it usually falls on the last Sunday of the Protestant church's liturgical year.
On both these days, people visit the graves of their loved ones and put up grave lights.
This article was originally written in German. It was updated from a previous article published on November 24, 2023.