DOCSLIB.ORG

Death and Male-Mort in Benin Voodoo: Perception and Management of This Fatal Death

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Death and Male-Mort in Benin Voodoo: Perception and Management of This Fatal Death Forensic Research & Criminology International Journal Research Article Open Access Death and male-mort in Benin voodoo: perception and management of this fatal death Abstract Volume 8 Issue 4 - 2020 This violent, accidental, brutal death brings about a chain reaction of religious ceremonies. Virginie Tourreil In the voodoo religion, these ritual ceremonies are much more advanced than during a so- Doctor of science, sociology, anthropology, demography, called “natural” death, in order to purify the body and / or soothe the soul. The objective of University of Versailles- Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France this article is to study how a voodoo Beninese perceives, interprets and manages this type of death through consultations of the oracle Fâ, sacrifices and offerings to thevòdũn (deities), Correspondence: Virginie Tourreil, Doctor of science, see, according to certain cases, to awaken the dead. This study follows a field survey of sociology, anthropology, demography. Medical anthropology populations, accompanied by bibliographic research. team, UVSQ / EA4498 DANTE Laboratory, of Versailles- Saint- Quentin-en-Yvelines, 2 avenue de la source de la Bièvre 78180 Montigny-le-Bretonneux – France, Tel 0607401333, Keywords: post-mortem, male-mort, religious, voodoo, Africa Email Received: July 20, 2020 | Published: August 28, 2020 Introduction “special cases” (deaths in the bush, death of a person with a physical deformity, in this case a hunchback, the death of a stranger in voodoo Death is part of the inherent circle of life. In some cultures, land, as well as abortion). this “stage of life” is sometimes perceived as natural, sometimes perceived as a punishment possibly having a divine cause, or even The perception of death and the afterlife in Beninese evil. In many religions, dogmas are based on the principle that we voodoo must “die well”, that is to say that at the time of our death, we must have fulfilled all of the religious obligations which govern the beliefs For a vodouisant, death is seen as a journey to find family ancestors that an individual adheres to for the passage into the afterlife to be and ensure family prosperity. In this religion, each animate or inanimate being has a soul called yê which leaves the body envelope correct. This type of principle creates a certain fear which dictates the 1 behaviour of men on a daily basis. However, it sometimes happens during death to join the Kũtòmɛ which is the “land of the dead”. In the that in certain religiosities, death is the harmful result of a fault event of natural deaths, the funeral takes place according to a defined committed during our lifetime (offense to a superior deity, possession/ principle. However in case of death considered as a malemort the bewitchment, etc.). This fault leads to a death, which takes on an ceremonial cycle changes drastically to ensure the good rest of the unforeseen and abnormal violent nature (e.g. toddler, disease, murder, deceased and the tranquillity of the living. etc.) and is opposed to the good death which is perceived as gentle, Death is therefore a continuity of life with a higher spiritual part of the continuity of life. (ex: old age); these are “malemort”.1 elevation of the soul since it becomes a deity honoured in a sort of These malemortlead to embarrassing deaths from which a whole post- “family pantheon”. Note that not all yê can access vodun status; a mortem ceremony ensues, for which the family and relatives are in ritualized religious ceremony allows the passage from “deceased” to charge. These religious gestures, which follow these embarrassing “ancestor” that is to say to vòdũn.2 deaths, have as their primary objective to bring spiritual peace to the deceased and to avoid vengeful justice beyond the grave. Sometimes The provided dead: human sacrifices stages of this ritual cycle aim to investigate a possible responsible for The origin of these sacrifices remains rather unclear and is no death, especially in case of suspicion of a spell. longer valid. Some put forward the hypothesis of a pre-Alladonou The objective of this article is to present the way in which the origin, others a heritage of the Akan ethnic group. Human sacrifices practitioners of the voodoo worship in Benin face as ritually, could take place for a variety of reasons (raising an altar, building a religiously as psychologically this misfortune. We wish to begin palace, warding off an epidemic, rising of the day, eliminating disease,2 our study by explaining the perception of death and the afterlife etc.). This type of sacrifice counted between one and ten victims and in voodoo to replace the framework of this article in the spiritual is little studied.3 In contrast, much larger sacrifices took place during principles of voodoo. We will discuss the human sacrifices that are the Great Customs where a hundred men were then sacrificed and no longer taking place now, but which create wandering deaths for on special occasions. The sacrificed were generally prisoners of war, lack of ceremony. We will also discuss the sudden deaths following captives of the king. In addition to these commemoration sacrifices, an accident or murder, as well as suicides. We will also be interested each morning two slaves were slaughtered. This type of death also took in deaths following an illness, as well as so-called “abnormal” deaths place during a good commercial transaction, for the establishment of a (pregnant women, young children, etc.). Finally we will end with new market, for the construction of a palace, during the departures of 1The male-mort is a death considered violent, accidental, bad, abnormal (war, 2The sacrifices could have a prophylactic virtue, especially in the event of an assassination, suicide, accident). She opposes a soft and natural death. epidemic (Degbelo, 1992: 242). Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Forensic Res Criminol Int J. 2020;8(4):160‒164. 160 ©2020 Tourreil. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Copyright: Death and male-mort in Benin voodoo: perception and management of this fatal death ©2020 Tourreil 161 war expeditions, during the digging of a well, etc.4 Little information provoke his anger at the culprit. In the village of Lissazoumnè, for the has reached us. victims of accidents, rituals are performed for the deity Gou. These practices having disappeared, we can only base ourselves on Suicides the anthropological and ethnological accounts that have come down to us. The main difficulty is that the Europeans have these sacrifices are The hanged essentially focused on those of the Customs and Great Customs and Individuals who die by hanging are called “mè do jèkô”, which have generally left the “daily sacrifices” aside. Anyway, these human means “people who wear a pearl around their neck”. We justify offerings are reserved exclusively for the king and must honour the their gesture by explaining that they were lost by the vòdũn Da. deceased royals. To honour such a social rank, only human sacrifices They should never be said publicly that they were hanged. The are worthy enough. Some of the sacrificed had their heads exposed announcement of the death is made with a leaf on the tongue, so the in strategic places in the city. The rest of the body was thrown into anger of the vòdũn falls on the leaf and not on the announcer. The the bush. Others had different treatment. Their blood was collected dokpègans place various liturgical sheets at the feet of the corpse, in vessels, which were poured over royal tombs and altars of certain then he unhooks the body, taking care that the feet do not touch the deities. The trunk was thrown into the ditch that surrounded the city, ground first. If not, the deceased can be resurrected in a harmful form. 3 given to crows, vultures or given to flies. Note that the management of suicides is subject to religious practices. Deaths due to illness In this sense, the dokpègans must protect themselves by performing purification rites themselves through a decoction.5 As they descend This category includes accidental deaths and murders the body they pronounce the following words.6 When the sleep of death calls the wife of death, she does not refuse to go to bed; so it’s These two types of death are attributed to vòdũn Gou. First of all, not me (dokpègans) who puts you to bed or does something to you”. ceremonies must be celebrated in honour of this vòdũn; you combine These words allow those who drop it not to be held responsible by the a rooster, palm oil, two kola nuts (one white and the other red) and deceased for his death. To perform funeral ceremonies, parents must two atakouns (chili pepper). The liturgical leaves are macerated in make a sacrificial offering tovòdũn Da (they are said to “buy a pearl”, water, then the body and the burial are sprinkled with this preparation “mi naxòjè”). This sacrificial offering is composed of chickens, corn before burial by the family. After a few days (seven for a woman, nine porridge, bananas and Dāsĕ.6 for a man),3 the priests return accompanied by the family, who bring back a male goat or an adult goat, two roosters, beans, five francs and When we went to the village of Lissazoumnè we learned that for five cowries which are placed in a bag, accompanied by palm oil. suicides and murders there are no particular rituals except for a hanged The priests grab all the sharp weapons in the hut and use white clay man. Those who untie him must protect themselves from retaliation and sokpeksokpekpê (red material) to draw tattoos on these weapons, from the hanged man who might believe that those who untie him are with the blood of a rooster.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Uses of Pathological Testimony and Autopsy Reports at Trial J
    University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives Faculty Scholarship 1983 When Death is the Issue: Uses of Pathological Testimony and Autopsy Reports at Trial J. Thomas Sullivan University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lawrepository.ualr.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Criminal Procedure Commons Recommended Citation J. Thomas Sullivan, When Death is the Issue: Uses of Pathological Testimony and Autopsy Reports at Trial, 19 Willamette L. Rev. 579 (1983). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHEN DEATH IS THE ISSUE: USES OF PATHOLOGICAL TESTIMONY AND AUTOPSY REPORTS AT TRIALt J. THOMAS SULLIVAN* "Death is at the bottom of everything... Leave death to the professionals. " Calloway, The Third Man Trial lawyers often must present or confront evidence concern- ing the death of a party, victim or witness in the course of litigation. Clearly, the fact of death is a key issue considered in homicide' and wrongful death actions.' It may also prove significant in other pro- ceedings, either as the focal point of litigation-as in contested pro- bate matters-or in respect to some collateral matter, such as the death of a witness who might otherwise testify.' Generally, the party t Copyright, 1982 * B.A., University of Texas at Austin; J.D., Southern Methodist University; LLM Can- didate, University of Texas at Austin; Appellate Defender, New Mexico Public Defender Department.
    [Show full text]
  • Mourning Dove (Zenaida Macroura)
    Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) February 2006 Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management Leaflet Number 31 General information The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is one of the most widely distributed and abundant birds in North America. Fall populations of this game bird in the United States are estimated to be slightly more than 400 million birds. In recent years, the annual harvest by hunting in the United States has been estimated at 18 to 25 million birds, similar to the harvest of all oth- er migratory game birds combined. Mourning doves are highly adaptable, occurring in most ecological types except marshes and heavily forested areas. The mourning dove is a medium-sized member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbidae family. While this family consists of ap- Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) proximately 300 species of doves and pigeons, only 8 species, including the mourning dove, are native tends his wings and begins a long spiraling glide back to the United States. The mourning dove is approxi- down. The perch coo is one of the few vocalizations mately 11 to 13 inches in length, with a 17– to 19–inch that mourning doves make. It consists of one note fol- wingspan, weighing on average 4.4 ounces. Mourning lowed by a higher one, then three to five notes held at doves have delicate bills and long, pointed tails. They great length, and it is used by males to court females. are grayish-brown and buff in color, with black spots A female will respond to the perch coo in one of three on wing coverts and near ears.
    [Show full text]
  • Humans Are Mortal?! I'm Calling My Attorney
    Humans Are Mortal?! I’m Calling My Attorney Marshall B. Kapp, JD, MPH Florida State University Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine & Law [email protected] Excluded from this Discussion • Legal planning to maintain prospective autonomy (control) at the border of life and death during the process of dying (e.g., advance medical directives, “do not” orders) Maintaining Posthumous Control • “Come back to haunt you”—1,340,000 results • “Beyond the grave”—2,890,000 results • “Worth more dead than alive”—1,080, 000 results Using the Law to Create Our Legacies • We all want to be remembered. We are the “future dead of America.” • “The law plays a critical role in enabling people to live on following death. Whenever the law provides a mechanism for enforcing people’s wishes—whether it is with respect to their body, property, or reputation—it gives people a degree of immortality.” Areas of Posthumous Control • Property • Body • Reputation • Creations with commercial value • Limits to posthumous control (e.g., voting) Property • Right to control disposition of property at death (through wills and trusts) to others= power to control the behavior of others – During the property owner’s life – After the property owner’s death • Right to leave property for charitable purposes = – ability to leave a legacy, achieve immortality, perpetuate one’s name (e.g., Marshall’s alma maters). “Naming opportunities” – ability to seek salvation, absolution for past wrongs (e.g., Nobel) • Right to leave property for non-charitable purposes (e.g., care of a pet, build a monument) • Law respects American value of respect for private property.
    [Show full text]
  • In Respect of People Living in a Permanent Vegetative State - and Allowing Them to Die Lois Shepherd
    Health Matrix: The Journal of Law- Medicine Volume 16 | Issue 2 2006 In Respect of People Living in a Permanent Vegetative State - and Allowing Them to Die Lois Shepherd Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/healthmatrix Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Lois Shepherd, In Respect of People Living in a Permanent Vegetative State - and Allowing Them to Die, 16 Health Matrix 631 (2006) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/healthmatrix/vol16/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Health Matrix: The ourJ nal of Law-Medicine by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. IN RESPECT OF PEOPLE LIVING IN A PERMANENT VEGETATIVE STATE- AND ALLOWING THEM TO DIE Lois Shepherd PROPOSAL 1. Recognize the person in a permanent vegetative state as a liv- ing person with rights to self-determination, bodily integrity, and medical privacy. 2. Recognize that people in a permanent vegetative state are not like other people who are severely disabled in that they have abso- lutely no interest in continued living. 3. Recognize that for people in a permanent vegetative state, the current legal presumption in favor of indefinite tube feeding generally does not allow their preferences or their interests to prevail; change that presumption only for people in a permanent vegetative state to favor discontinuing tube feeding. 4. Require judicial or quasi-judicial review of continued tube feeding after a specified period of time following the onset of the per- son's vegetative state, such as two years, well beyond the period when diagnosis of permanent vegetative state can be determined to a high- degree of medical certainty.
    [Show full text]
  • No Autopsies on COVID-19 Deaths: a Missed Opportunity and the Lockdown of Science
    Journal of Clinical Medicine Review No Autopsies on COVID-19 Deaths: A Missed Opportunity and the Lockdown of Science 1, 2, 3 1 1 Monica Salerno y, Francesco Sessa y , Amalia Piscopo , Angelo Montana , Marco Torrisi , Federico Patanè 1, Paolo Murabito 4, Giovanni Li Volti 5,* and Cristoforo Pomara 1,* 1 Department of Medical, Surgical and Advanced Technologies “G.F. Ingrassia”, University of Catania, 95121 Catania, Italy; [email protected] (M.S.); [email protected] (A.M.); [email protected] (M.T.); [email protected] (F.P.) 2 Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy; [email protected] 3 Department of Law, Forensic Medicine, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; [email protected] 4 Department of General surgery and medical-surgical specialties, University of Catania, 95121 Catania, Italy; [email protected] 5 Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, 95121 Catania, Italy * Correspondence: [email protected] (G.L.V.); [email protected] (C.P.); Tel.: +39-095-478-1357 or +39-339-304-6369 (G.L.V.); +39-095-378-2153 or +39-333-246-6148 (C.P.) These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 12 March 2020; Accepted: 13 May 2020; Published: 14 May 2020 Abstract: Background: The current outbreak of COVID-19 infection, which started in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in December 2019, is an ongoing challenge and a significant threat to public health requiring surveillance, prompt diagnosis, and research efforts to understand a new, emergent, and unknown pathogen and to develop effective therapies.
    [Show full text]
  • Materials for Mourning: Bereavement Literature and the Afterlife of Clothes
    This is a repository copy of Materials for mourning: Bereavement literature and the afterlife of clothes. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/93772/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Simpson, JM (2014) Materials for mourning: Bereavement literature and the afterlife of clothes. Critical Studies in Fashion & Beauty, 5 (2). pp. 253-270. ISSN 2040-4417 https://doi.org/10.1386/csfb.5.2.253_1 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 1 Materials for Mourning: Bereavement Literature and the Afterlife of Clothes Introduction There is a ready assumption in the contemporary West that clothing is a matter of limited significance, of interest only to the shallow and flighty woman. This position has been effectively critiqued by Carter (2003) who points out that this assumption is rooted in dualistic thinking and misogyny.
    [Show full text]
  • Primary Sources: Herodotus on Making a Mummy Original Document in the Public Domain, Adapted by Newsela Staff
    o Mark your confusion. o Purposefully annotate the article (1-2 mature, thoughtful responses per page to what the author is saying) o Write a response to the article. Primary Sources: Herodotus on Making a Mummy Original document in the public domain, adapted by Newsela staff Editor's Note: Herodotus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century B.C. (about 484 B.C. to 420 B.C.) He authored "The Histories," which is widely considered to be the world's first comprehensive work of written history. The following portions from "The Histories" describe the ancient Egyptian methods of mummification. A mummy is a person or animal whose body has been preserved intentionally by other people, or unintentionally by nature. Ancient Egyptians believed that a person's spirit stayed in his or her body after death. Their process of mummification preserved the body, it was believed, to protect the spirit inside. Modern scientists have found that Herodotus' account of mummification is not entirely accurate. New research dismisses many of the details Herodotus included as over-imaginative descriptions. Mourning A Death After the death in any house of an important man, the women of the family spread mud on their heads and sometimes their faces and walked through the city, hitting their own chests as a part of mourning the dead. All the female relatives joined them and did the same. The men also did this, but separately. When these ceremonies were over, the dead person's body was carried away to be embalmed. This is the process that delays or slows the decomposition of the body, which is the natural breakdown of a living being after it dies.
    [Show full text]
  • Funeral Rites Across Different Cultures
    section nine critical incident FUNERAL RITES ACROSS DIFFERENT CULTURES Responses to death and the rituals and beliefs surrounding it tend to vary widely across the world. In all societies, however, the issue of death brings into focus certain fundamental cultural values. The various rituals and ceremonies that are performed are primarily concerned with the explanation, validation and integration of a peoples’ view of the world. In this section, the significance of various symbolic forms of behaviour and practices associated with death are examined before going on to describe the richness and variety of funeral rituals performed according to the tenets of some of the major religions of the world. THE SYMBOLS OF DEATH Social scientists have noted that of all the rites of passage, death is most strongly associated with symbols that express the core life values sacred to a society. Some of the uniformities underlying funeral practices and the symbolic representations of death and mourning in different cultures are examined below: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLOUR When viewed from a cross-cultural perspective, colour has been used almost universally to symbolise both the grief and trauma related to death as well as the notion of ‘eternal life’ and ‘vitality’. Black, with its traditional association with gloom and darkness, has been the customary colour of mourning for men and women in Britain since the fourteenth century. However, it is important to note that though there is widespread use of black to represent death, it is not the universal colour of mourning; neither has it always provided the funeral hue even in Western societies.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Guidelines for Working with Families Who Have Experienced Sudden and Unexpected Death
    CULTURAL GUIDELINES FOR WORKING WITH FAMILIES WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED DEATH Culture includes the beliefs, customs, and arts of a particular society, group, or place. How people respond to issues of death or dying is directly related to their cultural backgrounds. Anyone who works with families should be sensitive to their culture, ethnic, religious, and language diversity. This tip guide provides practical cultural guidelines for working with families who have experienced sudden and unexpected death. CULTURE GUIDE INTRODUCTION Contents Cultural Beliefs about Family and Loss........ 4 African American.......................... 5 Amish ................................... 6 Arab American............................ 7 Asian American ........................... 8 Bosnian American . 9 European American.......................10 Hispanic or Latino........................11 Micronesian American ....................12 Native American .........................13 Somali American .........................14 Religious Beliefs about Death and Loss ......15 Buddhism ...............................16 Christianity .............................17 Hinduism ...............................18 Islam ...................................19 Jehovah’s Witness ........................20 Judiasm.................................21 Mormonism .............................22 Santeria.................................23 Additional Resources ...................24 This guide was developed by: The Missouri Department of Mental Health dmh.mo.gov Disaster and
    [Show full text]
  • Overview of Access to Autopsy Records and Documentation Within the United States: Federal and State Law Survey
    Overview of Access to Autopsy Records and Documentation Within the United States: Federal and State Law Survey. Drew Canavan Research Assistant, Juris Doctor Candidate Stetson Law October 2016 Purpose and Scope: Autopsies are used by governmental actors, insurance companies and the court system to determine the causes of death. In order to facilitate the training of legal professionals there is a desire to use records generated during an autopsy to understand the process of the autopsy and provide a basic medical understanding as to how bodily systems relate and interact to current and future lawyers. Such understanding can facilitate the proper application of criminal and tort law. This survey sought to examine the ability of an educator to be able to obtain the documentation created from a crime scene, as well as during and subsequent autopsies, to provide an evaluation of the ability to access and in some cases use the material in professional and post-secondary education and instruction. The document is a collection of legal information, not legal advice. The document is intended to be a starting point for legal research to be conducted. For the user’s convenience links to LexisAdvance have been included. 2 Table of Contents Federal..........................................................................................................................................................5 Alabama......................................................................................................................................................11
    [Show full text]
  • Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in Korea Hawai‘I Studies on Korea
    Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in Korea Hawai‘i Studies on Korea Wayne Patterson The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawai‘i, 1903‒1973 Linda S. Lewis Laying Claim to the Memory of May: A Look Back at the 1980 Kwangju Uprising Michael Finch Min Yŏng-hwan: A Political Biography Michael J. Seth Education Fever: Society, Politics, and the Pursuit of Schooling in South Korea Chan E. Park Voices from the Straw Mat: Toward an Ethnography of Korean Story Singing Andrei N. Lankov Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956 Hahn Moon-Suk And So Flows History Timothy R. Tangherlini and Sallie Yea, editors Sitings: Critical Approaches to Korean Geography Alexander Vovin Koreo-Japonica: A Re-evaluation of a Common Genetic Origin Yung-hee Kim Questioning Minds: Short Stories by Modern Korean Women Writers Tatiana Gabroussenko Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy Kyung-Ae Park, editor Non-Traditional Security Issues in North Korea Charlotte Horlyck and Michael J. Pettid, editors Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in Korea: From Ancient to Contemporary Times Hawai‘i Studies on Korea Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in Korea From Ancient to Contemporary Times edited by Charlotte Horlyck and Michael J. Pettid University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu and Center for Korean Studies, University of Hawai‘i © 2014 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 19 18 17 16 15 14 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Death, mourning, and the afterlife in Korea : from ancient to contemporary times / edited by Charlotte Horlyck and Michael J.
    [Show full text]
  • Safe Body Handling and Mourning
    Safe body handling and mourning ceremonies for COVID-19 affected communities: Implementation guidance for National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies © International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, 2019 Copies of all or part of this guideline may be made for non-commercial use, providing the source is acknowledged. The IFRC would appreciate receiving details of its use. Requests for commercial reproduction should be directed to the IFRC at [email protected]. The opinions and recommendations expressed in this study do not necessarily represent the official policy of the IFRC or of individual National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies. The designations used do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the International Federation or National Societies concerning the legal status of a territory or of its authorities. P.O. Box 303 CH-1211 Geneva 19 Switzerland Telephone: +41 22 730 4222 Telefax: +41 22 730 4200 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.ifrc.org Table of contents Introduction 4 General principles 5 National Society involvement in the safe body handling and mourning ceremonies in COVID-19 related deaths 6 Scenarios for National Society involvement in the management of the dead 7 1. Handling of the dead by healthcare and deathcare professionals 7 2. COVID-19 mass fatality management 7 3. Supporting community-led safe body handling and mourning ceremonies 8 4. Maintaining regular MotD activities and capacities 9 5. Illustrated guide to protective measures during handling dead bodies
    [Show full text]