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Death Customs
Death is dealt with differently in cultures around the world, and there are ethical issues relating to death, such as martyrdom, suicide and euthanasia. Death refers to the permanent termination of life-sustaining processes in an organism, i.e. when all biological systems of a human being cease to operate. Death and its spiritual ramifications are debated in every manner all over the world. Most civilizations dispose of their dead with rituals developed through spiritual traditions. Disposal of remains In most cultures, after the last offices have been performed and before the onset of significant decay, relations or friends arrange for ritual disposition of the body, either by destruction, or by preservation, or in a secondary use. In the US, this frequently means either cremation or interment in a tomb. There are various methods of destroying human remains, depending on religious or spiritual beliefs, and upon practical necessity. Cremation is a very old and quite common cus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mummy
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not Corpse decomposition, decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalming, embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccation, desiccated bodies goes back to at least the early 17th century. Mummies of humans and animals have been found on every continent, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts. Over one million Animal mummy, animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats. Many of the Egyptian animal mummies are African sacred ibis, sacred ibis, and radiocarbon dating suggests the Egyptian ibis mummies that have been analyzed were from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb, or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. Overview The word ''mausoleum'' (from the ) derives from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Mausolea were historically, and still may be, large and impressive constructions for a deceased leader or other person of importance. However, smaller mausolea soon became popular with the gentry and nobility in many countries. In the Roman Empire, these were often in necropoles or along roadsides: the via Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for kilometres outside Rome. When Christianity became domin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary ("os" is "bone" in Latin). The greatly reduced space taken up by an ossuary means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than possible in coffins. The practice is sometimes known as grave recycling. Persian ossuaries In Persia, the Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrians used a deep well for this function from the earliest times (c. 3,000 years ago) and called it ''Tower of Silence, astudan'' (literally, "the place for the bones"). There are many rituals and regulations in the Zoroastrian faith concerning the ''astudans''. Jewish ossuaries During the Second Temple period, Jewish burial customs were varied, differing based on class and belief. For the wea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crypt
A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a church, such as at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, but were later located beneath chancel, naves and transepts as well. Occasionally churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the ground level, such as St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim, St Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany. Etymology The word "crypt" developed as an alternative form of the Latin "vault" as it was carried over into Late Latin, and came to refer to the ritual rooms found underneath church buildings. It also served as a Bank vault, vault for storing important and/or sacred items. The word "crypta", however, is also the female form of ''crypto'' "hidden". The earliest known origin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grave (burial)
A grave is a location where a cadaver, dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is burial, buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemetery, cemeteries. In some religions, it is believed that the body must be burned or cremated for the soul to survive; in others, the complete decomposition of the body is considered to be important for the rest of the soul (see Grief, bereavement). Description The formal use of a grave involves several steps with associated terminology. ;Grave cut The excavation that forms the grave. Excavations vary from a shallow scraping to removal of topsoil to a depth of or more where a vault or burial chamber is to be constructed. However, most modern graves in the United States are only deep as the Coffin, casket is placed into a concrete box (see Burial vault (enclosure), burial vault) to prevent a sinkhole, to en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burial Society
A burial society is a type of benefit/ friendly society. These groups historically existed in England and elsewhere, and were constituted for the purpose of providing by voluntary subscriptions for the funeral expenses of the husband, wife or child of a member, or of the widow of a deceased member. Some also allowed for insuring money to be paid on the death of a member. Not-for-profit burial societies still exist today. For-profit companies also provide funeral insurance. Jewish communities often include a burial society known as the '' chevra kadisha'', which also covers performing the necessary Jewish funerary rituals and ceremonies. In antiquity Burial societies were precursors to general insurance. Burial societies were first known to exist in ancient Rome, wherein various associations of a fraternal nature, as well as religious groups, political clubs, and trade guilds, functioned as burial societies. Terms for these include '' hetaeria'', '' collegia'', and '' sodalita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Body
A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worship style and, sometimes, a founder. It is a secular and neutral term, generally used to denote any established Christian church. Unlike a cult or sect, a denomination is usually seen as part of the Christian religious mainstream. Most Christian denominations refer to themselves as ''churches'', whereas some newer ones tend to interchangeably use the terms ''churches'', ''assemblies'', ''fellowships'', etc. Divisions between one group and another are defined by authority and doctrine; issues such as the nature of Jesus, the authority of apostolic succession, biblical hermeneutics, theology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and papal primacy may separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations—often sharing broadly similar beli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undertaker
A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician (American English), is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming (or preparation of the deceased) involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as well as the arrangements for the funeral ceremony (although not the directing and conducting of the funeral itself unless clergy are not present). Funeral directors may at times be asked to perform tasks such as dressing (in garments usually suitable for daily wear), casketing (placing the corpse in the coffin), and Desairology: Funeral Cosmetology, cossetting (applying any sort of cosmetic or substance to the best viewable areas of the corpse for the purpose of enhancing its appearance) with the proper licenses. A funeral director may work at a funeral home or be an independent employee. Etymology The term ''mortician'' is derived from the Latin word ('death') with the end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mortuary
A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have customarily been refrigerated to delay decomposition. Etymology and lexicology The term ''mortuary'' dates from the early 14th century, from Anglo-French ''mortuarie'', meaning "gift to a parish priest from a deceased parishioner," from Medieval Latin mortuarium, noun use of neuter of Late Latin adjective mortuarius "pertaining to the dead," from Latin ''mortuus'', pp. of ''mori'' "to die" (see mortal (adj.)). The meaning of "place where the deceased are kept temporarily" was first recorded in 1865, as a euphemism for the earlier English term "deadhouse". The term ''morgue'' comes from the French language, French. First used to describe the inner wicket of a prison, where new prisoners were kept so that jailers and turnkeys could recognize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funeral Home
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary is a business that provides burial, entombment and cremation services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared visitation and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral, memorial service/service of remembrance or celebration of life. Services Funeral homes arrange services in accordance with the wishes of surviving friends and family, whether immediate next of kin or an executor so named in a legal will. The funeral home often takes care of the necessary paperwork, permits, and other details, such as making arrangements with the cemetery, and providing obituaries to the news media. Its pews do not feature racks behind them like in synagogues and churches. The funeral business has a history that dates to the age of the Egyptians who mastered the science of preservation. In recent years many funeral homes have started posting obituaries online and use materials submitted by families to create me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
