PR - Culture Research

The custom of celestial burial

"Celestial burial", also known as bird burial, phoenix burial, and wild burial, is a method of burial of the dead by some ethnic minorities in ancient China, mainly in some grasslands and remote mountainous areas such as Tibet.

Due to the influence of primitive religion and Buddhism, people think that humans are bestowed by heaven, and their souls will go to heaven after death, but their bodies cannot be assaulted. The best way is to let people's early totems-eagles help. Because in the eyes of the Tibetan people, eagles are divine birds, and they can take human bodies to the sky.

The earliest way of celestial burial is to wrap the body in reed foil, hang it on a tree or throw it into the wilderness. Later, the celestial burial ceremony gradually became more complicated: after a person died, his relatives placed the body of the deceased in a corner of the room, covered it with a white cloth, and made the corpse bed with adobe. The corpse was mortified for three to five days. Then choose Ji Sunrise Funeral.

Before going out for the funeral, the deceased’s clothes were stripped off, the limbs were tied into a ball, and the burial master’s back was put down somewhere on the top of the mountain, and then a group of fireworks was lit near the corpse. The firework attracted a huge vulture. After the vulture comes, it will carve up the corpse within a few minutes, leaving a pile of snow-white skeletons, and their relatives will use rubbish to build up their skeletons.

The custom of tree burial

Tree burial refers to a new way of disposing of ashes by burying the ashes deeply under a designated tree, or spreading the ashes in the soil and planting a tree on it as a memorial. Tree burials do not have tombs, or use special biodegradable columbariums. It is only for marking, such as: just put a stone under the tree, nail a copper plate on the stone, write the name of the deceased, the year and month of birth and death, or hang a commemorative plaque of the deceased on the tree. No grave heads, no tombstones, only a small amount of land.

The funeral customs of the Ewenki, Oroqen and Hezhe nationalities in Northeast of China. The method of burial is to place the corpse of the deceased or the coffin of the corpse on a platform built by piles of several trees in the mountains or in the wild, so that the corpse can decay naturally. It is believed that the deceased can be transformed into stars in the sky by being hit by wind and rain, sun and moon, and bring hope and light to future generations. After the Oroqen people were buried in the trees, they no longer deal with the bones, but after the Hezhe people’s corpses were decomposed for two to three years, the family members took the bones, put them in deerskin bags, and bury them in the ground. After the child died, the corpse was wrapped with birch bark and placed on the fork. They think that the soul of the child is small, and buried in the ground is afraid that the soul will not come out and affect fertility.

In European and American countries, if someone dies, the body is usually parked in the church first, and the priest presides over the memorial service. The priest introduced the life of the deceased and prayed for it, and friends and relatives below prayed together. After the completion, four people and one corner carried the coffin to the cemetery, and the priest, relatives and friends followed behind for the funeral. During the burial, the priest will pray for the dead again. Whether it is on the way to the funeral or during the burial, relatives and friends should not cry loudly. They can only shed tears or weep silently, which means that the soul of the deceased should not be quiet. During the burial, sprinkle some petals with the soil, put a cross in front of the tomb after the burial, and put a bunch of flowers on, so that relatives and friends can leave the tomb in silence.

For Westerners’ funerals, the inscription will not be “mourning” but “Celebration of Life...” As relatives and friends of the deceased, a eulogy must be prepared at the funeral to remember the deceased. The eulogy cannot be flowed. In terms of form, it should not be similar to the eulogy of the previous speaker, nor should it make people feel that what you said is too exaggerated....... It is necessary to polish the words, but also to be emotional. It is necessary to talk about the idea, but also to resonate with the people next to it. For example, remember that this person with personality (the deceased) lived among us, laughed, shed tears, quarreled with us and so on... And at the funeral, everyone was dressed more carefully, all in black, neatly dressed, holding flowers in his left hand, and holding a black umbrella in his right hand (probably because of easy rain at the funeral), silently and solemnly bid farewell to the deceased.

Ifugao's funeral

The primitive tribes of Ifugao in the Philippines have many names. Here we simply call them "Ifugao". If a member of the Ifugao tribe dies, the relatives and friends of the deceased will prepare for the funeral, but the deceased's spouse is expressly stipulated not to participate in it. The male relatives will build a chair to support the dead body during the funeral (eight days). After being washed, the corpse was blindfolded and placed near the front door of the house, accompanied by flames. This is to repel mosquitoes and dry the carcass. Once people start offering sacrifices, spouses are not allowed to see the corpse, nor are they allowed to immerse themselves in the funeral. In other words, during the funeral, the spouse must stay in another room or simply stay in another house. If they only have one room, they can live in the same room if their spouse promises not to look at the corpse. On the fourth day of the funeral, the body was removed from the chair and the skin was stripped. This is one of the local funeral customs, and they believe it is good for productivity and fertile land. Subsequently, the peeled skin was buried under the deceased's house. Usually, the corpse will be buried in the deceased's house on this or eighth day. A few years after the funeral, some relatives and friends of the deceased may experience a serious illness, which is rumored to be disturbed by the soul of the deceased. To avoid such things, they will dig out the bones of the dead so that the souls of the dead can enjoy the holiday banquet with them. Then, another funeral was held for the bones.

Cremation is a funeral ceremony carefully designed in Bali to purify the soul of the dead and lead the dead to the afterlife. Like many cultural customs, cremation is a celebration of life rather than mourning for death. Because they think that death means reincarnation. Before the cremation ceremony officially began, the corpse was wrapped in cloth and laid flat in a bamboo basket, which was equivalent to a small bedroom. During this time, the family of the deceased was running around for a living as usual, as if the deceased was just sleeping. Then, before the family of the deceased saved enough funds for the cremation ceremony, the corpse was temporarily buried in the Pura Dalem. Once enough money is saved, the coffin will be placed in a colorful and finely crafted tower, which can reach a height of 9 meters (30 feet). At the beginning of the ceremony, the tower will be carried by a few young people to the cremation place. There is no rule to follow during the lifting process, sometimes rotating and sometimes walking, so that the souls of the dead will not find their way back. The body was placed in a bull-shaped sarcophagus, which was then set on fire. The collected ashes of the deceased will be scattered into the sea to purify the soul.

There are a group of indigenous people in Indonesia. Their funeral custom is to dig up the bodies of their lost family members from the funeral graves every three years. And took the corpse to the street parade. And also put on makeup and new clothes.