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Death: Funeral As a Departure to a New Beginning

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Death: Funeral As a Departure to a New Beginning Windows to ICH ccording to newa , a Buddhist belief system, death is Secondly, this ritual helps bring family members back to their Death: Funeral as a Departure one of the ten major events in one’s lifetime. While normal senses (from a state of shock), and food is served. Adeath is the end of a life, it is also taken as a beginning On the second day of mourning, all relatives and the guthi of another life, a cycle that continues until the state of members visit the mourning family and take care of their to a New Beginning Nirvana is achieved. Hence, death rituals, apart from funerals food and wellbeing. #is culture mainly depicts the social and lamentations, include rituals carried out to prepare the milieu and its role during the di%cult state of the mourning Alina Tamrakar deceased for the journey a!er death. family. #e third, "!h, and seventh days a!er the death are Architect, Working to conserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal Believing "rmly that the ultimate truth of life is death, fam- dedicated to special worship to wish for better placement of ilies associate themselves in a social organization called guthi , the deceased in their next life. A special feast, lwocha baji , is which help carry out the funeral rituals. Guthi members are served to the mourning members on fourth day. #e seventh informed as soon as a person dies, and they are responsible for day is the last time rice is o$ered to the deceased, and symbol- arranging resources like the decorated covering sheet and the izes bidding formal goodbye. Members wash clothes and clean funeral palanquin required for the cremation. #e daughters the house on eighth and ninth days, and on the tenth day, of the deceased are responsible for sharing the word of death each member of the family involved in the mourning process to the neighborhood by taking the name of the deceased goes through a cleansing process by taking a bath and clipping while crying out loudly. #e space around the dead body is the nails. Also, men shave their hair and eyebrows in the disinfected using cow dung. #e sons of the deceased then process. On this day, sons and the spouse of the deceased wear use a needle to prick the body of the deceased as a symbol of white clothes, and continue to wear them for the whole year con"rming the death. Personal belongings of the dead, like as a symbol of lamentation. On the twel!h day, members con- his straw mat, a set of clothes, etc. are disposed in a crossroad, sume meat and other edibles that they avoided until as part called chhwasa , nearest to the house that determines a com- of mourning in a feast called gha su bhwoe . #e thirteenth munity’s boundary, and declares the death to the community. day concludes the mourning period for all relatives, except #e daughters of the dead bid goodbye by o$ering a blanket for the children, spouses and parents of the deceased, with an and stay at home. Guthi members prepare the funeral palan- elaborate worship ritual. quin, and the dead body is carried to the cremation site, which Apart from major worship rituals each month for a year, is usually beside a river, accompanied by musical instruments the forty-"!h day and the hundred and eightieth day are also played in a procession. important, when half-day rituals take place to remember the Once the dead body is prepared for cremation, the sons deceased and wish them a better place of birth in their next perform a ritual of serving water to the deceased to symbolize life. #e death rituals of the year consider the deceased’s jour- a last o$ering to the physical body. Next, a mound of river ney until their new birth in another realm. A!er the second sand, called pinda , is prepared and used to represent the phys- death anniversary, responsibility of the deceased is completely ical body to be cremated, prior to lighting the pyre. handed over to their new destination, and death rituals are #e immediate family members of the deceased come complete. In the following years, the deceased is remembered together for the thirteen-day mourning period, which annually. includes intricate rites and rituals of o$erings for the deceased as well as puri"cation of the relatives. Since Buddhism Note believes life-energy journeying to another entity/ies a!er #e number of mourning days and a few other details vary physical death, the death ritual also includes symbolic activ- according to di$erent clans even within the newa. Only the ities believed to facilitate a new life of the deceased. As the case of the Udaaya clan is taken here. relatives come back from the cremation site, they disinfect themselves with a ritual called chwokabajihwolegu in which Resources the person is circled with a handful of beaten rice that is then Ritesh Bajracharya and Nitesh Bajracharya (practicing priests disposed of in the chhwasa to help relieve negative energy that of the Bajracharya clan based in Kathmandu). may have been attached to the person from the cremation site. Participation in a funeral procession with incense © Alok S. Tuladhar ichcourier.ichcap.org VOLUME 38 ICH COURIER 17.
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