#or cave burial. idk i'm not done the chapter | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

naomiknight-17 · 4 months

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I thought I was very open to different cultures' ways of dealing with death and funerary rituals and that the book I'm reading, From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty, would be enlightening but certainly not shocking

Certainly, I would not be appalled or gasp aloud by anything any culture practiced! I've heard it all - funerary cannibalism, sacrifices, mummification - what could possibly shock me?

Welp

I got as far as page 56 before I was absolutely repulsed by a culture's death ritual, and I am now working through my feelings on that and trying to further expand my cultural understanding. I admit it though, I am not so enlightened as I thought. I got the heebie jeebies

There's like 200 pages left of this book. Who knows what else I'll encounter

#spoilers ahead #it's an indonesian area called Toraja so. look up their death practices if you want to know more #but the part that shocked me was that it is normal to keep a corpse in the family's home for weeks months or even years #before having a funeral and cliff burial #or cave burial. idk i'm not done the chapter #but the shocking part was that children not only helped care for the corpse (that's fine) but also slept in the same bed with it #which is just!! beyond what i could have imagined!!!!#seems horrific to my western sensibilities #but to them it's normal. the corpse isn't 'dead' until the funeral. the person is considered present but unresponsive #so it shouldn't be weird to share a bed with a sleeping relative #sorry i'm just. working through this in the tags here #it's shocking yet fascinating!!#death #funerary practices #toraja #ask to tag #caitlin doughty #ask a mortician #from here to eternity #traveling the world to find the good death

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