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Death as experienced in other cultures

Death and Bereavement - The psychological, religious and cultural interfaces by Dewi Rees, published by Whurr Publishers Ltd (19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN, tel 0171 359 5979; 1997, ISBN 1 86156 012 5, 258 pages, £19.50). Reviewed by Nicholas Albery.

This book by Dr Dewi Rees is one of the most enlightening book in the Natural Death Centre's library for explaining how the different religions and ethnic groups understand death and mourning and for discussing the significance that people have ascribed to death and dying down through the ages. The author, formerly the medical director at St Mary's Hospice in Birmingham, has done his research thoroughly and revels in the fascinating details. I am entranced by the diversity of human societies, cultures and beliefs that the book highlights. Here are some examples that particularly struck me:

  • The Ancient Egyptians considered that a person had nine constituent parts: the physical body, the soul, the spiritual body, the shadow, the double, the name, the heart, the heart soul and the power.

  • In the Hindu Hymn of the Primeval Man, in the last book of the Rig Veda c. 900 BC), it is told how at the beginning of time a great primeval power was killed as a sacrifice by lesser gods, and that, having survived his dismemberment, from the various parts of his body he created the universe's features - including the caste system.

    'The skull broken by a blow with a cudgel to free the soul from entrapment'

  • According to Hindu belief, it is necessary for the skull to be broken by a blow with a cudgel at the cremation ground, to free the soul from entrapment within the skull.

  • The Dalai Lama is concerned that the presence of many people around a death bed may endanger the equanimity of the dying person through irritation or, conversely, through arousing a desire to remain with the grieving relatives.

  • Many Chinese believe that an individual has more than one soul and that at death the female soul sinks into the earth as a ghost and disintegrates whereas the masculine soul rises and becomes a spirit.

  • One possible explanation for the rapid spread of AIDS in Uganda could be the 'cleansing ceremony' custom of the woman having sexual intercourse with a close relative of the husband in order to drive away his ghost.

  • A Muslim's body must be washed at least three times after death with soap and water. Perfume may be used, or camphor placed, in the orifices and armpits, whilst prayers are said and passages read from the Qur'an.

  • A Roman Catholic priest will offer the terminally ill person Viaticum, food for a journey; and the Prayer of Commendation, "May the Lord Jesus Christ protect you and lead you into eternal life".

  • Any citizen living in England (but not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) has the right to a funeral in the parish church, however tenuous his or her association with the church may have been.

  • A yearlong study in a rural community showed that only 12 per cent of people were fully alert 24 hours before death occurred and that 40 per cent were comatose.

  • The number of United States veterans who committed suicide after the Vietnam War (60,000) was greater than the number of their comrades who died during the campaign.

  • In a study of Holocaust survivors (published in the Cambridge University Press 1993 Handbook of Bereavement) . Kaminer and P. Lavie found that those who were well-adjusted had a clear, repressive tendency towards the past - in some cases their close relatives did not even know that they had lived through the Holocaust. Repression can be a coping mechanism.

    'Holocaust survivors who were well-adjusted had a clear, repressive tendency towards the past'

  • A long-established Jewish tradition for easing despair at the death of a child is to undertake some charitable act in memory of the deceased, such as establishing a new self-help group or organising a concert for charity.

  • According to late 19th century sources, between an estimated 500,000 and 800,000 Chinese committed suicide each year, the favourite method being to jump into a well.

  • In 1868, 13 French sailors were injured in a brawl with Japanese samurai. The French government demanded that 13 samurai should be punished for the offence, whereupon 13 volunteers met a French delegation and one by one began to cut open their own abdomens (harakiri). By the time the third man began doing so, the French delegation was so distressed that they left the scene and the ceremony was stopped.

  • The author's survey of 293 widows and widowers living near Llandiloes in mid-Wales found that 46.7 per cent had had a vivid sense of the presence of their dead spouse which they considered to be significant and real - 13 per cent of these reported auditory hallucinations and 14 per cent had had visual hallucinations.

    For the author, subjective experiences such as these and Near-Death Experiences, point to the reality of an afterlife. He believes that the concept of a hereafter helps young people to fashion their lives within a wider perspective than that offered by a purely materialist outlook.

    But whatever one's beliefs or lack of them, the reader will find wisdom and comfort in this volume and will experience a broadening of mental horizons.

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