How Do Different Cultures Perceive Death

An important holiday celebrated in a lot of Spanish speaking countries is Day of the Dead. Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of dead relatives. The celebration consists of going to the dead person’s gravestone and decorating it with flowers and some of the dead person’s favorite things. This is done in the hopes of drawing the loved one’s spirit to the gravesite. The thought of a dead person’s spirit being with them doesn’t scare the people who celebrate this holiday, it actually comforts them.

At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.

Many non-Hispanic people tend to think that all Hispanics are Mexican. Mexicans make up almost two thirds of the Hispanic population in the United States, but that does not mean that there is any shortage in diversity among Hispanics. Being Hispanic makes it easy for me to identify the differences in Latin America culture. Hispanics are one of the most racially diverse ethnic groups in the world. Hispanics are light skinned, black with afro textured hair, Indigenous, Asian, Spanish, German, and Italian.

It is usually celebrated at graveyards or in homes. In the graveyards, the families clean the graves of their loved ones. Then they decorate the graves with things like candles, food, drinks, flowers, and photos. They also stay up all night in the graveyards telling stories about their dead ancestors.

With today’s modern culture, death is a private event of mourning and grieving. We no longer as a community gather to celebrate the life of a late neighbor, instead this event is intended for family and close friends. We either bury our loved ones in a local cemetery or have their remains cremated and kept in an urn for viewing. The rituals performed by individuals in the event of a death have become superficial with a lack of meaning. The size of a headstone is only determined by how much money you have. The extravagance of the wake or any type of ceremony performed is determined by how much money you have. And for those who can’t even afford a burial and opt for cremation, the elegance of the urn used to hold the ashes of your loved one is once again determined by how much money you have. Death has become an event of profit, for if you truly love your departed relative you’ll buy the most expensive casket or the biggest

I have seen how is celebrated in the part I come from like the reading I read say each part of Mexico they celebrated differently is so true in the part I live day of the dead is dying, because young is not interested in the tradition they prefer new introduce traditions like Halloween. And I think is really sad because day of the dead is a so important

Every individual experiences the act of death, and most persons experience the death of someone they know of. Whether family, kin, or someone infamous, the living deal with the process of dying. Anthropology seeks to understand the universal process of death ritual and how different cultures deal with death differently. An anthropologist can extract social values of a given culture, past or present, from how death ceremony is practiced. Such values could be regarding political hierarchy or an individual’s status in a society, and about a culture’s spiritual or religious faith. By exploring death ceremony in ancient Egypt, contemporary Hindu death practice in India, and current North American funerary rites, it can be illustrated that

In the funeral world there are a lot of different styles of funerals. For example, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic funerals. Both very different, but at the same time they have several things in common. In funerals there is an abundance of things to compare and contrast. We will be looking at different ways the notification of death is handled in both of these religions, removal, embalming, dressing/casketing, visitation requirements/rituals, and interment or cremation.

Different cultures, countries, religions, and community with various behaviors and rituals that guides their belief and action when a loved one pass away. Religious and spiritual belief, type of life after death, superstitious beliefs after death and beliefs towards the meaning of life are all based on tradition and death ritual.

Passing away has continuously been to a majority of people a prohibited subject in any conversations. Nevertheless, among African American societies death is one of the essential characteristics of culture. It is established that the manner in which death practices are handled among Africa Americans is completely different from other Americans of a different race. Furthermore, death amid the black populations is not viewed to be the moment of sorrow, but the moment to celebrate because the dead will no longer experience the hardships in the world. Although there is mourning at the funeral since the dead will be greatly missed, this moment is similarly time for celebration .Several African Americans might not be informed that a great number

Like mentioned earlier, “customs differ within the various Buddhist sects and from one country to the next.” When it comes to funerals in particular, some can be very simple, while others can be more traditional based. When it comes to preparing for the death and funeral for the deceased, the practices are mentioned to revolve “peace and serenity.” For the funeral event, the ritual is to have an altar with an image of the deceased along with any offerings and the image of the Buddha. There will always be an open casket during the ceremony, along with having either a monk or any one available to perform Buddhist rites and sermons. The body of the deceased will be dressed in casual clothing. It is traditional or the family members to wear all

Dealing with death has changed with each ethnicity or culture. For example, North Americans minimize the process

Many cultures around the world celebrate the death of a person in many different ways. Some cultures believe in reincarnation while others believe in nirvana. In some places the mourning process can last from one day to one year. It's crazy to see how different are perspective of things are. I picked South Africa, Iran, and Mongolia to investigate in depth about their death and burial rituals and their beliefs about death.

Different cultures and societies view death and dying differently based on their individual beliefs. In the Asian culture they do not believe in eternal life as most people in American do. “In Tibetan Buddhism, which is practiced all over Asia, instructions are read to a dying person to help guide him or her to a good death and rebirth. A person buried in this tradition is cremated, and mourners look for evidence of "lotuses," or colored clusters of burned material, among the ashes as evidence of good deeds done by the person during his or her lifetime.” (Huang)

Spiritual connection with the dead is also one of the important elements of Latino culture, which is demonstrated by frequent gravesite visits and praying to spirits. Death is always associated with separation, which leads to sorrow, and grief; however cultural perceptions and beliefs help to look at death from a different perspective and perceive death as a natural state that can be approached with love, respect, dignity, and tremendous family support. Latino culture supports their dying people during the last journey, and believes in afterlife, which gives them hope and helps to overcome unbearable grief of permanent loss.