Deathcare rituals vary in each society and religious community. Dr. Rebecca Tortello wrote an interesting article yesterday titled: A Time to Die – Death rituals. Her article on Jamaican and slave death rituals can be viewed at:
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070402/lead/lead5.html
The article identifies several things that I have been speaking about within the Institute. Dr. Tortello states that “some [Jamaican] death traditions remain strong,” despite the fact much of the ritual has been replaced by Western conventions. Often times, the decedent is still “taken from the house feet first;” the family stops clocks, covers mirrors, wears black, white or purple, and rearranges the furniture so that the ghost (duppy) of the dead doesn’t recognize their former home and can’t stick around for too long.
In addition to these old rituals and beliefs, the dead are now embalmed so that family can return to the island. Tortello also points out that the dead are embalmed for reasons other than temporary preservation: “[The funerals] can range from small to extremely large as they are also used to showcase the financial and social status of the deceased and his/her family.” Personally, I can’t help but wonder what the rich, disembody dubby must think when he returns to his home only to find that his home and body have received an exotic make-over (I’m assuming the house is exotic too since Jamaica is a Caribbean Island, after all, and I like to think that everything warm and Caribbean is delightfully—except the whole embalming thing—exotic).
The inherently exotic nature of Jamaica death rituals are a mishmash of African and European tradition these days. The cause of death is focused on, preparing the decedent for the after life with a knife or other weapon in case she has to fight the culprit that killed her. Proper handling of the deceased is important, and it is essential that “rituals were followed in a particular order so as not to offend the dead and ensure the spirit’s safe journey back to God.” I appreciate the notion that the dead can be offended. I’m not sure if Jamaicans are afraid that the duppy is watching or if they simply understand that the personhood of the dead can be irreverently disrespected. I assume, like many ritual protocols, it is more about the formality of the ritual and its proper execution, though.
I recently asked someone from Georgia if slave graves can be easily found or identified. Apparently, Savannah has an impressive cemetery and so does a small island off the coast, which is a slave burial ground. According to Tortello, burials for slaves in Jamaica were seldom conducted by ministers since plantation owners were quick to inter the dead. Of course, slaves did not receive large stone markers to record their lives, much unlike their owners. However, some slaves had crotons and coffee rose bushes planted on their graves to symbolize everlasting life, since these species easily survived droughts. As a result, Tortello reports, no slave cemeteries have ever been found in Jamaica. Today, the poor mark their graves with shells. Many memorial services last for up to a week, perhaps as a mourning time or for the practical purpose of remembering where the dead are buried.
I wonder if impoverished Jamaicans feel inadequate in their deathcare because they can’t afford the headstone, coffin or vault like their rich, fellow countrymen. I wonder how long it will be before the poor stop asking spiritual questions and start sacrificing basic human needs in order for to give their dead a ritzy funeral, if they aren’t already. I wonder how much longer it will be until the bereaved start wearing red to funerals, stop rearranging their furniture, remove their dead from their homes headfirst, and forget if the dead are to be buried east or west. I imagine change in their traditional, death ritual will come when they turn their attention to choosing satin or cotton coffin-lining and two or three hour funeral services, and if they decide to partake in someone else’s so-called tradition.
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