When i think about care of the dead in my family, i automatically think about religion. This is because my mom grew up in a jewish family while my dad grew up in a christian one. I know they both experienced multiple deaths in the families growing up, so for my interviews i decided to ask two important questions. 1-How were the dead taken care of from a religious view in your family? & 2-When you pass away, how would you want to be taken care of from a religious view?
For the first question my mom told me that traditionally the Jewish are taken immediately to a funeral home and buried within 24 hours of death. She told me that Jewish funerals are always closed casket and are performed in a synagogue (which is a Jewish house of prayer). For the second question, my mom told me she would like to have a jewish funeral just like her past relatives in her family. Although she isn't an orthodox jew (this means she isn't very religious), she enjoys the cultural aspects of her religion.
When i interviewed my father, he told me that the funerals weren't celebrated very much from a religious standpoint because his parents didn't practice the religion in his family very much. He told me that they more or less claimed to be christian, without ever really paying attention to it. Although his dad had a memorial which is when a bunch of people that knew the deceased or were related go up to talk about the person. When my dad passes he would like to have a regular, closed casket funeral just like his past relatives. He doesn't care much for funerals, but he definitely wants to be remembered in some way.
After interviewing my parents, i realized that care of the dead from a religious view isn't exactly unimportant to them but they don't seem to care very much about the subject. The typical funerals in America (that we see on tv and in movies) are always in some cemetery in a suburban setting, it's fair to believe this is the most widely accepted belief of being taken care of when a relative/loved one passes. As a dominant social practice, we never look to really see what other options there are. We usually let religion decide how we are taken care of when we die, but i want to know other practices. There cant just be one decision to the remembering of your existence.
Harry,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your blog was very detailed and informative because you gave a lot of background knowledge on traditional Jewish and Christian burials before the interviews. Your parent's views on burial were very unique because we normally read about burials for people who are extremely religious. It was interesting to read what they had to say because they do not seem to be extremely religious although your mother seems to be compelled to have a religious burial while your father does not seem to as compelled her. This made me question why their decisions were made and how they differ from other religious people's wishes for their burials.
Dean
Harry,
ReplyDeletewhat i liked most about your blogs is that you gave me and the audience different religious perspectives on caring for the dead. a christian and Jewish one. i thought i was very interesting how you pointed out that religion gives individuals some sort of agenda or objective when there dealt with death of a loved one. people usually do not go against there typical and dominant practices. this makes me wonder how different cultures and country's handle death?