Funeral Traditions

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Recommended: 3 different types of funeral rituals of 3 cultures

Everyday people are dying. Some people die from old age, some from car crashes, suicide, medical issues, murder, and many more causes of death. Approximately 151,600 people die each day around the globe, which is 55.3 million people that die each year. (World Birth and Death Rates) That is a lot of deceased people and each person is buried based on the country he or she is from and its traditions and customs. Three countries with very interesting traditions and customs for the burial and funeral of a deceased person are China, Africa, and Australia.
China has a very interesting tradition for the burial and funeral of a deceased person. Since cremation is uncommon throughout China, the burial of the dead is taken very seriously. It is taken
A normal funeral in Africa starts with the removal of the body from the house. The body of the deceased is taken out of the house feet first through a hole instead of the door. This is done to make it harder for the spirit of the deceased to find its way back into the home. After the removal of the body, the body is transported to the burial site. On the way to the burial site, sticks and thorns are placed in a zigzag pattern on the path in order to make it even harder for the spirit to find 0its way back to the home and bother the living people in the community. The African burial customs also includes the sacrificing of an ox. The ox is believed to accompany the deceased after being sacrificed and it offers food to the mourners. The African people believe a person is never truly dead until there is no one left to remember the deceased person. (Death Rituals in Africa) Even though the African people have very different burial and funeral custom compared to the United States, their customs are still very fascinating and intriguing to learn
Australia’s burial and funeral ceremony traditions are a lot like the United States’ traditions, but because Australia is in fear of running out of room to bury the dead, Australia is turning towards a new and pro-environmental way to bury the deceased. Many funeral homes throughout Australia have been promoting green burials. Green burials make it easier for a body to naturally recycle itself in a biodegradable coffin with nothing else inside the coffin besides the body. The parks where the green burials take place do not have headstones or any other marker of where each body is located. Instead, each coffin has a GPS locator inside of it that families can use to find the exact location of their deceased loved one. One popular green burial park in Australia is in Sydney. It is only a few hundred square meters, but can hold around three hundred bodies. Its plots cost around two thousand dollars, which is one thousand dollars cheaper than a regular burial plot. (Australian Funeral Traditions) Australia’s new way of burying the deceased in a way that takes up less space and is good for the environment is becoming more and more popular and could eventually make its way to the United States and become a popular way for a

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