Cross cultural funeral rites?

Question

what is the meaning behind different funeral rites

Answer 1

Anthropology looks for "patterns."

There's one theory going around that says the reason humans are sociable, is because there is safety in numbers. lets say that safety did arise from grouping together and  the dangers of larger predators would stop haunting the minds of the sociable humans.even then the dread of death still haunted them. humans had to develop their ways of thinking into extremely complicated concepts about death, there is the most interesting aspect of these different behaviors the development of advance "complex thinking patterns."

An even more interesting aspect is that the problem the humans were trying to solve, was not a physical but an esoteric  one. Humans are still dealing with this issue today.

it is not easy...right?

good luck.

Answer 2

To say goodbye to the dead and celebrate their lives as part of the healing/greiving process, and also to try and understand/explain death as part of a natural cycle of things.

Answer 3

Funerals are essentially rite of passage rituals. Like other rites of passage, their main purpose is to guide an individual into a change in a change of state: from a child to an adult, from a single person to a married person, from a non-parent to a parent, etc. Funerals also involve a transition, not only for the deceased individual, but for the community. Victor Turner, an anthropologist who studied religion and ritual, called the period between two states "liminality"; it is a state that is considered ritually and/or spiritually dangerous, for all parties involved. Funeral rites, no matter what they are, serve to eliminate the dangers caused by this liminal state.

Answer 4

A funeral generally serves 2  purposes.

The 1st to give good passage and will the deceased on to whatever is considered the next stage.

The 2nd as a open form of grief and expression to those who survive the deceased.

Answer 5

It symbolizes one's devotion to Jesus in death.  Once the rights are performed by a worthy priest the body is layed to rest in a coffin with the cross in hand.  Then after a night of chanting around the grave the men pound their chests and rededicate themselves to God by marking their foreheads with the dirt around the grave.  then the ritual cleansing ends that rite.  It is a truly amazing thing to see.