Palmgren 1

Abby Palmgren
Mr. Sabot
English II- Period 3
11 December 2015
Funerals Around the World
In all cultures, funerals are a way for the family and friends of someone deceased to
remember them and signify their death. Without them, people wouldnt have a chance to honor
the ones they loved and the life that the person lived. In the United States, a typical funeral
involves either a church service or a gathering in which important figures in the deceased
persons life get together. The deceased will be held in a coffin (unless the person gets cremated)
that sits at the front of the venue while people say prayers and eulogies to honor them.
Afterwards, the coffin is typically buried and people that knew them use this to help them try to
let go of the deceased and move on with their life. Although this seems very normal to
Americans, some funerals in other parts of the world are extremely different (n.p. Death and
Funeral Customs).
One modern practice that occurs in Fiji originated from the ancient ritual of Sati. In this
funeral ceremony, after someone dies, the people close to the deceased are killed as well. This
shows that they believe the dead ones shouldnt be alone in the other world which makes death
much less painful. This shows that this culture treasures family and loved ones because they do
not want to be apart from them. It also shows that they are afraid of being alone and believe in an
afterlife (n.p. Battacharya).
A funeral ceremony that occurs in the Chinese provinces of Tibet, Qinghai, and Inner
Mongolia is often seen as the weirdest one that still happens today. In this practice, the body of

Palmgren 2

the dead is cut into small pieces and placed up high on a mountain, leaving it to be eaten by birds
or decompose. The reason for this is to dispose of the person as generous as possible. This
culture believes in transmigration or the moving of spirits after death so they think that there is
no reason to preserve the body since it is empty. This shows this cultures beliefs of the afterlife,
as the spirit is believed to enter another body, so they do not see a reason to keep it. In a way, it
shows that they do not treasure the deceased, but that is understandable because they believe the
body is entering the world again right away (n.p. Battacharya).
Many groups of people in South Korea practice a similar ritual as cremating, but instead
have the bodies compressed into gem-like beads of differents colors which are then displayed at
the family of the deceaseds house. This shows that these people wish to cherish their loved ones
by keeping them around. But, they do it in a more cheerful way by making the person into beads
instead of cremating or keeping the dead person around. This culture wants to honor their
deceased while also making it less morbid and putting a brighter side to the situation. (n.p.
Salman)
The majority of Americans are used to the typical funeral and burial system, but there are
many other ones practiced around the world. Surprisingly, by looking at funeral ceremonies, we
can learn much more about the culture as a whole and its values than would be expected.
Although most of them are weird and more morbid, they show a lot about what the culture
cherishes and believes in spiritually.

Works Cited

Palmgren 3
Bhattacharya, Rohit. "15 Of The Strangest Funeral Customs From Around The World." ScoopWhoop.
ScoopWhoop Media, 20 June 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

"Death and Funeral Customs." Death and Funeral Customs. Funerals and Flowers, n.d. Web. 10 Dec.
2015.

Salman, Sarah. "10 Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions in the World."WondersList. Wonderslist, 11 Jan. 2014.
Web. 09 Dec. 2015.