Disaster Means Burial Without Ritual

Jan. 2, 2005 — -- As authorities across 12 stricken nations grapple with the overwhelming number of dead from last week's earthquake and tsunamis, people from a wide range of religions are being forced to forgo their usual rituals in parting with lost loved ones.

"People are so completely devastated that normal rituals cannot be held," Gonanath Obeyesekere, a Princeton University anthropology professor emeritus, told ABC News Now's Hari Sreenivasan by phone from Sri Lanka. "Bodies are being buried en mass and in many instances you simply don't have a corpse."

In Indonesia, where some 88 percent of the population is Muslim, authorities uneasy about the spread of disease began burying bodies, sometimes in mass graves, as soon as they were recovered.

Across the Indian Ocean, Hindus in India have been resorting to the same measure, while reports from predominantly Buddhist Thailand said bodies were simply being wrapped in cloth and buried quickly.

This makes the tragedy even crueler for those who lost loved ones and who now can't even provide their lost friends and relatives with a proper farewell.

"In virtually every society, mourning rituals are important for the living so they can accept the loss as well as for the dead so they can pass on to some happier existence," said Obeyesekere.

Lost Rituals

While the different religions have varying views on death and its significance, each has carefully prescribed ceremonies to part with the dead.

Among Hindus, funerals are an important way of marking the passage between this life and the next. After death, the person is wrapped in cloth and funeral processions are held as quickly as possible to hasten the person's passage into his or her next life. The body is usually sprinkled with holy water and a fire is lighted beneath it by the eldest son if the person is a parent, or by the father if a child dies. Ashes are then commonly spread in a holy place, such as a river.

Buddhists in Thailand usually wash and place the corpse of lost loved ones in caskets. With a Buddhist monk presiding, the body is placed on a funeral pyre and cremated. The ceremony is believed to ease the deceased's transition into a new, happy existence.

When a Muslim dies, the body is washed, usually by a family member, wrapped in a clean, white cloth and buried with a simple prayer from the Koran, preferably the same day. The deceased's head must face Mecca in the grave and an official three-day mourning period follows as family and friends visit the grave to pray for a happy afterlife.

Christians commonly hold a wake for lost loved ones where family and friends can sometimes view the body for the final time. Then a funeral is held in a church and the remains are buried. The ceremony is meant to help those pray for the lost one and his or her entry into heaven.

Jewish people do not hold a wake since Judaism holds that the body should be brought to its resting place as soon as possible. Usually only wooden coffins are used in Jewish funerals because the belief is as the body decays, the soul should not be contained but ascend to Heaven. The service starts with the Kaddish, a special prayer that is also traditionally recited by the eldest son for 11 months and by other family members for 30 days.

While the victims of last week's tragedy represent every religion, it appears that many, if not most, of their families and friends may be forced to do without their usual parting ceremonies. That may or may not affect the dead, but Obeyesekere points out, it's sure to have an impact on those left behind.

"The dead person is dead," he said. "It's the living who have to reconcile themselves to the loss."