The treatment of death in a society reflects so much of its culture and history. Humans have this attitude towards death; may it be to escape it, to live boldly and face it without fear, or look forward to it and what may come after. To some it is the final act, but to most it is only a passage to something else. It is the bold nothingness that comes after death that sprouts so many beliefs, so many fears and masks. Funerals numb us of the pain. It is a necessary step for the bereaved. If not numb us, force it on us in an explosion of emotion and then tenderly lull us to comfortable melancholy.
We have never experienced the death of someone we have been so very attached to, thank goodness, but the sanctity of these final moments do not escape us. Looking at the various ways that people mourn and how they treat the ones they mourn for, and coming from different backgrounds ourselves, we can’t help but wonder about the difference that seems to just have taken over us. The same emotions exist: sadness from the loss of a loved one, pain, reverence, and also fear, but why this fragmentation? Why does it have to be so different for so many people when we’re only just going through the same things?
This paper will explore only a tiny portion of this problematization. One of the beliefs that has been strongly entangled with another and yet has been at opposition with it for so long, is Christianity, maybe more strongly linked to the issue here is Roman Catholicism, but we will be referring to the church in general, and in its more traditional sense for the sake of argument, for we grant it that there has already been a lot of long existing movements inside the church itself to open up the church’s more rigid practices.
Cremation is strongly frowned upon in Christianity for the reason that it destroys the body. Burning the body upon death is disrespectful and would ruin the chances of the body for resurrection. Earth burial is more firmly recommended by the church, it is also an imitation of Christ’s own burial. With all the traditions that surround a Christian funeral, and how in history it is considered an honor for the body to be displayed for the public before burial, embalming is usually done for the body to make it to its final resting place.
This paper will explore how these issues came to be and along with it, the possibility of cremation being a more accepted form of disposing the dead, as opposed to inhumation involving embalming.
We will be using the historical background of each practice along with each of its processes. Embalming and cremation each have been constituted historically, but this formation covered up now by the naturalization that has happened throughout the years, but with this naturalization also comes the non-philosophy of these practices. Derrida argues that deconstruction is history and in digging through the history of terms, brings it back to the philosophical realm, which is needed to denaturalize the accepted. The cornerstone we are using as leverage in this paper is the strong reservation that Christianity expresses against cremation, remonstrating its disrespect for the human body, whilst on the other hand approving embalming, which is usually used for the traditional Christian funeral. Herein lies the rub, for the history and process of embalming reveals a defection in the cornerstone and this is what this paper will explore. (McQuillan, 2001)
Scholars have generally agreed that cremation started around the early Stone Age, most likely around 3000 B.C.E. and is theorized to have started from the West as there are evidences found in Europe that point out to such hypotheses. Followed by the Mycenaean Age up to the Greeks, cremation became an important part of Grecian custom and was encouraged then due to its health and expedient burial of slain warriors. The Romans also adopted this culture, widely practiced it, and cremated remains were generally stored in elaborate urns, often within columbarium-like buildings. By 400 A.D. however Constantine’s Christianization of the Empire lead to the utter replacement of cremation to earth burial, mostly to differentiate Christianity from Greek and Roman Paganism of which cremation was the common practice. Modern cremation was not to be heard till 1876 after years of experimentation into the making of a dependable chamber.
The process of cremation starts with the body being laid on to an oven-like structure called a retort which is then heated to a temperature of 1800 degrees Celsius or 2500 degrees Fahrenheit. After which it takes 2 to 3 hours for the process to reduce the body to bone fragments. After cooling the retort, the cremains are collected, these bone fragments are then eased into a fine powdery texture, hence the “ashes”. The ashes can now be presented to the bereaved in a decorative urn of their choice. More people want their ashes spread out on their favorite places, somewhere close to home, into the ocean, set in jewelry or even launched into orbit or with a bang through fireworks. Either way, the person’s remnants can now be spread out the way they wanted to, or be kept nearer to the loved ones.
Embalming more famously started with the Ancient Egyptians’ practice of preserving the dead, or mummification, believing that preserving the body gives the soul a better chance to get to the afterlife. It was then practiced in the West in a lesser degree, used for preserving soldiers who died in war who wanted to be buried closer to home, but at the downfall of the Egyptian civilization the practice died down and Christians buried their dead without the process. It was popularized in North America largely due to the embalming of Abraham Lincoln for a public viewing and also the embalming of soldiers in the Civil War to get them home to their families intact.
Modern embalming methods have now been developed through trial and error. They usually last about 2 – 4 hours depending on how skilled the embalmer is. It is more advisable for embalming to start as soon as possible so the dead hasn’t decayed as much yet. There are two common types: hypodermic and arterial. The process starts with stripping the corpse naked, with possibly a modesty cloth for the sensitive areas, washing of the body all over with disinfectant and the flexing of limbs and the head if rigor mortis has set in. Any wounds found in the body are disinfected. The throat, nasal passage, anus, and vagina are filled with cotton saturated with a solution. Next, body is drained of blood usually through the armpits or neck. Usually cold embalmer tables have canals on their sides to conveniently dispose of the blood from the cadavers. The blood is replaced by injecting formaldehyde or some mixture of it. For hypodermic, this is done also through the armpits or neck, but for arterial, the heart is opened and the preservatives pumped through there. Embalmers usually have pumps to get the job done faster, although careful notice should be observed of the pressure of the pump because too high would mean that the body would get blisters on the skin, or have veins erupt. The preservative is circulated through the body using hand held roller-massagers over the skin. Formaldehyde turns the skin grey, which is why they mix it with other solutions to match the skin tone of the deceased if there is going to be an open casket viewing.
However the internal organs are of an entirely different matter. A trocar is a long hollow metal tube with a removable sharp point and attached to a suction device. The trocar is then inserted just above the navel which then sucks out the person’s digestive system, including the rectum, stomach, etc. The trocar is then pushed to the diaphragm and into the chest for further removal of the internal organs. After getting rid of the internal organs concentrated preserving fluids are then put into the corpse, still using the trocar. And incisions on the skin will be stitched again and the body is washed thoroughly again.
The last part of the embalming process is focused on the face. To keep the mouth closed, the embalmer stitches the lips together by using a needle that is passed from the inner surface of the lower lip, up in front of the gums, through into one nostril, across to the other nostril and back again into the mouth behind the upper lip. Afterwards cotton is placed on the gums and lips. To show a more “au naturel” look. The chemicals to preserve the body tend to shrink the eyes and to cope with this, cotton or plastic is placed on the underneath the person’s eyelids. The eyes are then closed by using eye cement on the edges. Makeup can cover up the rest.
It can be seen that through each of the processes that there is quite a considerable difference between the two of handling the dead. Though the masses would commonly choose, or rather the bereaved would commonly choose, for embalming in preparation for the earth burial practice in the Christian tradition.
The various customs surrounding burial depends on the beliefs and environment and other externalities. There are various advantages to cremation rather than earth burial and embalming. One of them being that an earth burial would be expensive taken from different views. “Death and Taxes” the family of the bereaved would be spending more for an earth burial. Aside beautifying the corpse and embalming, they must also pay for the land or area to be used as the resting place of the dead. It is also expensive in terms of land area. Acres upon acres of land are being used for the resting place of the dead which the living could utilize.
Though the dominant Christian tradition would not necessarily prohibit cremation but would not encourage the practice due the reason that it would be the desecration of the body which they would refer to as a “Temple of God”. What most fail to see, is that embalming would be a greater desecration of the body. The process of cremation would be simple and thorough. Embalming on the other hand would practically “rape” the body and leave nothing but artificiality. What is left of the body is nothing of the former self. The components left would be nothing but chemicals, cotton, and what other material to simulate life. And through this we can see that the practice of embalming the dead would just be for the sake of vanity. The beautification of the dead which the dead would most certainly not use and it anesthetizes the ugliness of death for the bereaved. Aside from this the blood which the dominant religion views as sacred would be taken from the dead. This would be a problematic set-up of the divinity of the blood of people.
Embalming and cremation would both, to a certain degree, desecrate the body of the departed. However, politics and the forgetfulness of history has marginalized one in favor of another when in digging through their past, we have found that they are in some way level in their “crimes”. People have been so protective of their beliefs and the walls have been built and rebuilt up so high between us that we forget to see that we are actually standing on the same ground. What is true became different from what is essential. If these defective cornerstones crumble, what would be left of us? Is there still more to fight for, to fight with?
Some beliefs stand strong because it is not another. It is what’s right only because it is not what’s wrong. The individual, wherever it is, has a way of expressing itself, in some way or another. We don’t know who invented these fragments in the first place but the human does not stop being human just because one does not exercise the same rites as another. There is more to that. In all these bursts of emotions, there is a lull in the heart that all of us seek.
References:
• http://www.religioustolerance.org/crematio.htm
• http://www.morbidoutlook.com/nonfiction/articles/2004_02_modfuneral.html
• http://www.cremationassociation.org/html/history.html
• http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/may21/27.66.html?start=2
(Note: References accessed on 7 September 2009.)
• McQuillan, M. (2001) Introduction: Five Strategies for Deconstruction.
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