Mortuary Rituals in the Maintenance of a Society Social Structure - Literature review Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2013 Introduction The assurance of death is undoubtedly universal in every society with variations in terms of how different societies cope with it. Whereas death is considered an individual event, it is actually a primary social occasion. In many societies, a lot of importance is attached to death rituals. According to Tilley (2003), even though there is a disparity in terms of how different people conduct mortuary rituals globally, the overall image of a majority of them is that they are comparable. Individuals spend astoundingly a lot of time and money on these rituals with huge public events where families and relatives publicly conform to the norms of solidarity and respect for the dead. This elaborate interest/attention devoted to mortuary rites by individuals has often fascinated anthropologists. Opinions are that mortuary rituals are a focus of anthropology owing to the fact that they tell us a lot concerning the social relationships of the living and the departed. This particular paper therefore intends to provide a discussion regarding the above statement. According to Keswani (2004), mortuary rituals indeed tell us a lot about the social relationships of the living and the dead. They significantly inform us about the social life and the ideology of the various communities in which they are staged. Further than merely providing the departed their due, mortuary rituals are often important perspectives for the confirmation of social alliances, recognition of social hierarchies, as well as the articulation or expression of sanctified propositions regarding relationships between individuals,groups,their ancestors and heavens. As such, mortuary rituals assist in the restoration of order in the day-to-day life disrupted by the occurrence of death, as a result, re-asserting the essential values in which the social bonds are founded. In some Australian communities, for instance, when a man dies the widow of the deceased eventually belongs to her departed husband’s kins consisting of the husband’s blood brothers or the deceased group. Further, in Bloomfield River, Queensland, when a bachelor dies, the lady to whom the man was to be engaged, but did not cohabit with, can be engaged again to another man, or better still married immediately. Even though, the widow may adorn the deceased necklet and head band after re-marrying as required by the custom, has no legal right to her deceased husband’s properties, mainly comprising of fighting weapons generally passed to his brothers (The Australian Museum, 2010). As highlighted by Fitzsimmons & Shimada (2011), it is also true that mortuary rituals are a focus of anthropology as they tell us a lot about the social relationships of the living and the departed. According to Fitzsimmons & Shimada (2011), a number of anthropological studies on funerals are closely associated with life values, sociologically and symbolically. As such, Fitzsimmons & Shimada (2011) argues that the ideas as well as attitudes that individuals have regarding life essentially explain why there are grand, elaborate funerals in many Australian societies. During such celebrations, the primary focus is often directed at the earthly life where the major concern is on the life continuity of the individuals still living rather than continuity of those dead. For instance, in some Australian societies, the death of an individual is not often taken for granted as it is believed if there is human agency involved; the spirit would haunt the living until its claims have been satisfied to the final farthing. In such as case, any death is questioned with regards to the potential human cause where in case an individual is found to have been involved in this death, he/she is speared using a red spear or smeared with mud unknowingly. This is done to spare the rest of the community from torments by the deceased’s spirit (The Australian Museum, 2010).Deceased warriors, on the other hand, are properly propitiated with the main aim of preventing them from returning to perpetuate evil actions on the living ones. In such propitiation, the deceased is spoken to, supplied with various victuals at his graveside, fixed in a proper position to allow him to watch ceremonial dances honouring him as well as decorated to his full satisfaction. Wolfelt (2007) additionally argues that mortuary rituals indeed tell us a lot about the social relationships of the living and the dead. According to Wolfelt (2007), the mortuary rituals are traditional, symbolic as well as public ways of expressing the community’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs concerning their loved one’s death. Rich in terms of history while also rife various symbolisms, Wolfelt (2007) argues that mortuary rituals help communities acknowledge death as a reality, give testimony regarding the deceased’s life, encourage expression of sorrow in a manner consistent with the communities’ cultural values, offer support to the bereaved, enables individuals to embrace conviction and belief regarding life and death, as well as offer continuity and optimism for the ones left after the death of a loved one. For instance, according to Awofeso (2003), a survey carried out within the Blaxland Flat, a burial site, revealed a number of signs showing how mortuary rituals helped the Indigenous Australians value their lives (existence) as well as enhancing social cohesion. According to Awofeso (2003), majority of the indigenous Australians believed in life-death-life cyclical concept of living. As such, they considered death as a life condition representing half the rhythm. Mortuary rituals among the indigenous thus reflected various aspects of return process, which is the onset of the rebirth process. The symbolism accompanying the cultural belief within the life cycle is typified by the high significance and sanctity given to the society’s burial ceremonies. Wailing during the burial occasions, especially among the Indigenous Australian women, and confessions of transgression against the dead often signified to the departed that their death they missed him or her, in addition to seeking forgiveness, as a result, setting the living at liberty from the assumed probability of the dead’s spirit returning to haunt them. Similarly, perception of such spirits by the living was usually interpreted to mean that the departed’s burial rites had been incomplete. As such, in view of the above, it can generally be argued that mortuary rituals indeed tell us a lot about the social relationships of the living and the dead (Awofeso ,2003). Chenier (2009) also supports the notion that mortuary rituals indeed tell us a lot about the social relationships of the living and the dead. According to Chenier (2009), mortuary rituals, and especially mourning, act as social events to a larger extent than individual emotional processes. In most cases, secondary burials often acts as the rite of passage marked by various major ceremonies where the society, the deceased’s soul as well as the deceased’s body undergo transformation. These ceremonies are believed to facilitate the deceased’s transition from the usual social life as it is assumed that the soul of the deceased is still somehow attached to his/her body and is still on earth. In most of the cases, it is assumed that the deceased is often displeased as well as dangerous for those still alive and who engage in the mourning period and its taboos such as calling the deceased’s name among the Indigenous Australians (McGrath & Phillips,2008). Finally, the body of the deceased is disposed in the final burial ceremony that ends the phase of transition. This enables the departed’s soul to join the dead’s community, hence freeing those left behind from the mourning taboos.Thus,as highlighted by Chenier (2009),death is not just instantaneous, but rather a process the departed’s soul undergoes, and which is also adopted by the body through the conditions under which the body is subjected. On the other hand, according to Croucher (2012), funerary displays are capable of being actively manipulated, as a result, they might not indeed reflect the real situation of the deceased’s life, but are actually controlled by the individuals directing the deceased’s burial ceremony.Similarly,since funerals may be employed actively in identity negotiations, the perspective of them showing organization and the social status turns out to be flawed; in case of manipulations, as such, they tend not to reflect the real situation.Additionally,when the examination of other motivations in the burial practices is done, it becomes clear that further motivations underlie the deceased’s disposal, with some of them suggesting interpretation avenues that were earlier on considered untenable. On the other hand, Croucher (2012) highlights that studies on mortuary rituals currently takes into consideration the mourner, as well as the relationships existing between the deceased and the living, and not the deceased alone. Conclusion Mortuary rituals serve a number of roles in the maintenance of a society’s social structure. The rituals entail similar elements, such as the way people respond to death itself, and variations including the importance attached to burials, as well as the belief in life-after-death concept. From the analysis, what is evident is that even though there is a massive degree of the variability of mortuary practices in Western societies and the non-Western societies that have been documented, the great importance that people have often attached to mortuary rituals in Australia and globally is without a doubt fascinating, a factor that has also no doubt elicited significant interest among anthropologists. Indeed, from the analysis it can be deduced that mortuary rituals are a focus of anthropology because they tell us a lot concerning the social relationships of the living and the departed. Reference Awofeso,N,2003, Burial rituals as noble lies – an Australian perspective, Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Australia Croucher, K, 2012, Death and Dying in the Neolithic Near East, Oxford University Press Chenier, A, 2009, Bone, People and Communities: Tensions between Individual and Corporate Identities in Secondary Burial Ritual, The Canadian Student Journal of Anthropology, Vol.21, Pp. 27-40 Fitzsimmons, J.L & Shimada, I, 2011, Living With the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica, University of Arizona Press Keswani, P, 2004, Mortuary Ritual and Society in Bronze Age Cyprus, Volume 9 of Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology, Equinox Publishing Ltd McGrath,P & Phillips,E,2008,Australian findings on Aboriginal Cultural Practices associated with Clothing, Hair, Possessions and Use of Name of Deceased Persons, International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol.14,(1),Pp.54-68 Tilley, C, 2003, An Ethnography of the Neolithic: Early Prehistoric Societies in Southern Scandinavia, Cambridge University Press The Australian Museum, 2010, Nature Culture Discover, Australian Museum Scientific Publications, Sydney Wolfet, A, 2007, Why is the Funeral Ritual Important? 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