burial rituals
Death ceremony traditions
Burial rituals are the ceremonies and practices surrounding the disposal of the dead.
These vary enormously across cultures—from simple interment to elaborate multi-day observances involving washing, dressing, viewing, eulogizing, and feasting.
The rituals serve the living as much as honoring the dead, providing structure for grief and affirming community bonds: The burial rituals lasted three days.
- grave goodsItems interred with corpses
- coffinBurial container for remains
- last ritesSacrament for the dying
- requiem massLiturgy for the departed
- funeral processionFormal journey to interment
open casket · shrouding · sacred offerings · headstone · urn · wake · prayer vigil · ancestor worship · interment · six feet under · family plot · final farewell · epitaph · eternal rest · dust to dust · dirge · laying to rest · ashes
- prehistorystone tools, Neolithic, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen
- ancient religiongods, goddesses, pantheon, deity, polytheism
- Aboriginal Prehistorystone tools, boomerangs, didgeridoo, spears, rock shelters
- ancient artsculpture, sculptures, pottery, mosaics, murals
- Alaska NativesAleut, Unangan, Athabaskan, Athabascan, Haida
- Borneo peopleslonghouse, longhouses, adat, Saban, headhunting
burial ritualscremation
Burning the deceased
cremation rites · sky burial · funeral pyre · sea burial · cryonics
burial ritualsbirth rituals
Customs celebrating new life
christening · naming ceremonies · baptism · baby shower · bris