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The funeral pyre of Chan Kusalo (the Buddhist high monk of Northern Thailand) at Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai, Thailand The tiered funeral pyre of Burmese Buddhist Monk at Pa-Auk Village, Mon State. Traditionally, pyres are used for the cremation of the dead in the Hindu and Sikh religions, a practice which dates back several thousands of years. [3]
Both manual bamboo wood pyres and electric cremation are used for Hindu cremations. [19] For the latter, the body is kept on a bamboo frame on rails near the door of the electric chamber. [ 20 ] After cremation, the mourner will collect the ashes and consecrate it to a water body, such as a river or sea.
Open air funeral pyres were made illegal in Britain by the 1930 issue of the Cremation Act. Prior to this but after the 1902 Act, open air cremations had occurred in limited numbers, including several Hindu and Sikh soldiers cremated in Brighton, having died after fighting for the British Empire in World War I .
From amputating fingertips to making a stew of the deceased’s ashes, here are 16 fascinating funeral traditions from around the world.
Aquatint from the early 19th century purporting to show ritual preparation for the immolation of a Hindu widow—shown in a white sari near the water—on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband. An etching from the early 19th century purporting to show a Hindu widow being led—past the body of her deceased husband—to the funeral pyre.
Sati refers to a funeral practice among some communities of Indian subcontinent in which a recently widowed woman immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre. The first reliable evidence for the practice of sati appears from the time of the Gupta Empire (400 AD), when instances of sati began to be marked by inscribed memorial stones. [153]
Some of the bodies are in the Old City Cemetery, but others were thrown into the sea — only to be washed ashore, then burned on funeral pyres. Ghosts supposedly still haunt the area.
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. [1] Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead, from interment, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour.