Honouring the dead
The practice of paying respect to a deceased person through specific rituals
It is difficult to know the idea of honouring
the dead began. There is some evidence to show that Homo heidelbergensis were
the first proto-humans to bury their dead. Whether they honoured their dead as
ascribed some kind of spiritual aspects to the burial process is unknown, however.
There are human burial sites from about 130,000 years ago that show more convincing
evidence that those performing the burial intended to remember or honour the
deceased, through the position of the body, the inclusion of items such as
tools and animal bones with the body, and addition of decorative elements to
the tomb. This suggestion of ritual in the burial process could indicate that it
was one of the first form of religious practice.
In some culture of traditions, honouring the
dead is an ongoing practice in which deceased relatives or ancestors are viewed
as having a continued presence among, or influence over, the living. In others,
the traditions that honour the dead occur immediately after someone’s death, or
various times throughout the year. Honouring the dead is not necessarily a religious
tradition, though many religions have specific and extensive rituals for the practice.
Honouring the dead is a near-universal practice
that exits across geographical, cultural, and religious boundaries. The shared rituals involved in the custom provided
a social bond in societies, and a way to link the deceased with the living. These
elements are strongly present in many religious rituals, often forming the basis
of individual, and cultural, identities.
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