Death Rituals
The Buddhists believe that death is an opportunity for the strengthening the next life. The entry of death in a positive state of mind surrounded by Monks and family members is perceived as help to the deceased to be reborn in a higher level. The body of the deceased should be handled with respect and worthy way, while family members show grief by wearing of white cloth (Nasp, 2003).
The Hindu community has unique beliefs and religion, as their religion does not emanate from a single founder, sculptures and the sacred place, which display as an incorporation of philosophies, cultures and the way of life. Although, there are differences in culture and the way of life among Hindu community, their approach to death is usually the same due to the beliefs and laws of karma and reincarnation. (Kuchinsky, 2007) This has the suggestion that there is link to each action of birth to the actions that took place in the previous births. There is a belief that death and births as being a cycle of life, by which every person seeks to transcend through the accumulation of good karmas that ultimately leads to the soul’s liberation. The rituals that are performed when a Hindu dies are the bathing of the body, massaging it with oils and dressing it in new clothes. The cremation takes place before the next sun rise in order to facilitate the transformation of the soul to the next world. The soul is said to watch the family for ten days, and its attachment with the former life is disconnected (Kuchinsky, 2007).
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The Chinese cultural belief of death is portrayed in a static manner in order to understand the nature of evolving culture. The dimensions of death, and bereavement in the Chinese culture includes the saving face where crying for the deceased shows that he was loved. Filial Piety which is the duty to one’s family, and Invoking Luck, Blessing, and Fortune, which is a belief in life after-life and the presence of spirit.
Apart from the society’s traditional cultural practices in relation to death, the religious functions do observe death in different ways. Judaism and Christianity religions observed death as a connection to God. Funeral are usually preformed soon after death as there is a belief that, the journey of the soul to heaven starts with the death of an individual (Kuchinsky, 2007). The body is believed to be a repository of the soul and its treatment and care must worthy respect. The religious community cares for the family in addition to friends. The mourners perform minimal grooming while they contemplate on the loss of a loved one. The Jewish religion practice daily recitations of the kiddish, which is a life-affirming mourning prayer by mourners. The regions beliefs have the tendency to change, as mourners become less observant when death occurs.
The Islamic religion also guides the practices of death, as it believes that the soul is exposed to God. They believe in afterlife, and the dictation of the worldly life is the preparations for eternal life. The body of the deceased is placed in a perfumed room facing Mecca with only clean people present. The family members prepare the body after pronouncement of death, and sometimes organ donation is permissible with family permission. The culture of Muslim does not permit wailing but crying is permitted, and only personal prayers are recited over the dead body. In respect to personal funeral imagination, it is possible to see mourner wailing loudly to express grief due to loss of a loved one (Lobar, Youngblut, & Dorothy, 2006). The description of myself as the deceased will be how a wide gap have been created due to my demise, a person who loved people and worked in the way of salvation, may the soul rest in eternal peace.
The funeral service has to differ in some ways in relation to tradition and religious affiliations. There is variance `of death rituals and implication across cultural diversities, in which most of the rituals heavily relies on religion. The different cultures have similarities in relation to death, but with some important differences.