Comments on: You can tell a lot about a society by the way it treats dead bodies

By: Davita

Davita — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:22:16 +0000

This was a refreshing read and an interesting take on death. Your reflections on Christ are quite interesting.

By: JL Cooper

JL Cooper — Thu, 23 May 2024 20:27:53 +0000

I found this interesting. I come from a society where there are various rituals about how you care for and deal with the dead body. Not all ethnic or religious groups have the same method both around handling, preservation and burials. We also had a brutal civil war, which some suggests may have further distanced us from what I would call honouring the dead. Consequently for many years our main cemetery became a “refuge” for those who were marginalised in our society: those who were addicted, those who were homeless and many who were criminals. If you were wealthy and could bury in a private cemetery that is where you took your loved ones. Some even exhumed remains and put them in new private cemeteries. Your article resonated with me for this reason. It has spurred me to take action!!Thank you for this

By: Christine Mavlian

Christine Mavlian — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 23:06:24 +0000

Our family was present when my brother in law passed away in hospital. Family also visited another recently deceased loved one in hospital just after he died. Just last year we brought my father home from hospital for palliative care. He passed away surrounded by his loved ones. Our neighbours came in shortly after his death to pray with us. Dad’s family doctor also came and shared stories about treating my dad for almost 50 years. Mum wanted to keep Dad’s body at home overnight so that she could spend more time with his body. (They had been married for 64 years). My family is a mixture of Armenian and English. My English mother remembers a time where the body of the deceased was laid out at home and not sent to a funeral home at all. From my experience I think it is helpful to spend time with the body of your loved one and not to shy away from the reality of the death of our earthly body.