The traditional burial rite of the Jopadhola is becoming increasingly rare as villagers opt instead for DJs spinning modern tunes.
Tag: burial
Funeral undertakers belong to one of the oldest professions in the world. But now, startups want to disrupt old-fashioned funeral homes. Unafraid to tackle taboos, new services offer ways to live on digitally after death.
Former canine athletes forced by war to become rescuers, a squad of dogs searches for survivors in ruined homes destroyed by rockets, and for unmarked graves in liberated Ukrainian territory.
Categories
Requiem For A Stray Cat
At the mental health center where I work, we have always taken care of the area’s stray cats. Birba had been around for a few years. A few minutes ago, a boy walked in — one of those boys you see in the street, like so many in our city’s Sanità neighborhood. He looked upset. […]
We’ve gotten used to too many people dying, and too many dying alone.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/SvrqUfd_El8 expand=1] One year into the coronavirus pandemic, Brazil registered its deadliest month in March. In the 31 days that have just passed, 66,573 people were killed by COVID-19, more than double the previous monthly high. The explosion of cases is largely blamed on the local virus variant, believed to be more contagious, having […]
In Lebanon, the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, a cemetery for Syrian refugees is running out of burial plots.
MUNICH — Grief is demonstrative resistance against loss. Cemeteries and funerals are ways to combat death, preserving the lives of the departed by allowing people to remember them. Death, we are told, is a part of life. But those who went earlier this month to the cemetery on All Hallows, All Souls Day, will have […]
The German state of Bavaria now has to face the question of where and how to bury slain terrorists. Clues could come from post-coup Turkey, or from the Boston Marathon.
CALAIS — Three rows of men gather side-by-side, their heads bent down. A coffin lies on the sand, in front of them. They silently pray and place the coffin down a deep pit. Moussa Houmed was 17; he was Eritrean. He dreamed of setting foot on English soil, but ended up drowned in the retention […]
Another more environmentally friendly option for what to do with the dearly departed has been legalized in a few U.S. states, with several European countries now considering it as well.
Categories
Buffaloes And Burials
Funeral proceedings for the Toraja people, in southern Sulawesi, include the slaughtering of a water buffalo. Four of them were killed in this case — a sign we were told that the deceased must have been from a wealthy family. Weirdly enough, the ritual throat-slitting and skinning of the bovid was followed by a Protestant […]
In a small country like Israel, land is finite and costs continue to rise. Burials are expensive, and the rich and poor are laid to rest depending on their means.
Categories
A Transylvanian Burial
When you’re in Transylvania, you really can’t help but think about vampires. So you can imagine how it felt to suddenly see a funeral procession approach…
HOMS — I still remember April 18, 2011, when it seemed all of Homs turned out for the funeral of 12 people. Tens of thousands of men and youths exited the grand mosque of Homs, the coffins held aloft amid the multitudes. The procession headed to al-Kateeb cemetery, one of the most revered burial grounds for Muslims in the city. Twenty years ago, Homs residents were forbidden from burying their dead in al-Kateeb cemetery; it was running out of space and the final few places were reserved for only the most prominent sheikhs. They would be the lucky few accorded […]
LAMPEDUSA — Yesterday, they buried those remaining of the 385 victims from the Oct. 3 shipwreck off Lampedusa. There were no flowers. No gravestones. None of the ceremony that so many had promised. That first day, as the death toll mounted, various political leaders, including Prime Minister Enrico Letta, had called for some kind of […]
Categories
Embalming 101, With A Polish Master
WARSAW – Plasdopake is produced in Whitchurch, Hampshire, a small town 90 kilometers west of London. Plasdopake is a chemical solution that contains 18% formaldehyde. It is perfect for embalming the bodies of people who have died young – it gives them a fresh and natural look, making them look alive in their coffin. Obviously, […]
AP, XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch ZHENXIONG – Chinese authorities have offered a rare apology after cremating the remains of 46 victims of last Friday’s deadly landslide, before even consulting with their families. The AP reports that Hu Jianpu, deputy dead of Zhenxiong county in China’s Yunnan province, told state broadcaster CCTV “We did that because we […]