Expectation of Death

1. Release of the spirit
   • Ancient Greek: at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind.
   • Others: the soul leaves the body at death.
2. Transition to a new place
   • Scandinavian: buried in a ship with supplies, weapons, and servants for its trip (to Valhalla for great warriors and nobility)
   • India: fire is a sacred gateway to the spiritual world
   • Bali: fire frees the spirit for its journey to its next existence
   • Inca: resurrection
   • Egyptians: the body and soul would be reunited and take a place among the stars

Treatment of the Dead

1. Mummification: China, North and South America, Australia, Tibet, Africa and throughout the Pacific
   • Keep the body intact and recognisable for the afterlife.
   • Establish a memorial to the dead.
   • Prevent the return of the spirit of the dead.
2. Burial: Scandinavia, Australia, Europe, North America
   • Preserve the body
   • Honor ancestors by establishing a memorial to the dead
   • Sometimes buried at a crossroads to confuse the soul about the way back home
3. Cremation: Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan, India, Bali, Europe, North America
   • Purify the person and free the soul from the body.
   • Light the way to "Heaven"
   • Prevent the return of the spirit of the dead.
4. Exposure to the elements
   • Body is no longer needed
   • Let nature dispose of the body
     • Some Indigenous Australian and Native American cultures exposed the body on a platform or in trees.
     • Tibetan Buddhists and the Zoroastrians of India and Iran feed the bodies of their dead to vultures.
     • In areas of the Solomon Islands, bodies were left in canoes to decompose or placed on a reef to be consumed by sharks.
     • The Masai of Kenya relied on hyenas to dispose of the dead.
     • Djurs of Sudan placed the body of the deceased on a termite nest so the flesh could be stripped from the bones.

Practical Considerations

1. Public health issues in disposal of corpses
   • Large cities where numbers become significant
   • Epidemics where deaths overwhealm services