Cultural Approaches to Death

Dying Matters Awareness Week, taking place 5 – 11 May, offers a chance to break down the stigma and taboo of talking about death and dying. With this year’s theme focusing on cultural perspectives and what brings communities together, we put together some useful information about how they approach this topic.

There are many different and fascinating ways that other cultures approach and deal with death. Some cultures see death as a preparation for an afterlife, while others see it as a way of wrapping up a life well lived in this world. Read on to discover more…

Preparing for death

Swedes and Australians share a pragmatism that is reflected in the way they approach death. Marie Kondo – the Japanese organising guru – says to part with anything that doesn’t spark joy when touched.

Swedes to take responsibility for tidying up their lives as they approach middle age, whereas Australians take control of personal planning for their futures.

Acceptance, remembrance, and celebration

Along with the sorrow of death, there is a joy and celebration shared by both that is uplifting.

In practice, grief has led Humanism to develop many of its own rituals and practices in the last 100 years, bringing people together in a non-religious way, to understand the world.

The Jewish way of death could be seen as wrapping up a life and ensuring that there are as few loose ends around as possible – dying people are not left alone, and companions help them to arrange their affairs.

Rituals & Afterlife

In Sikhism, birth and death are closely intertwined because they are both part of the cycle of human life of ‘coming and going’. This cycle is seen as a stage toward complete unity with God – or Liberation.

In the culture of the Ga, dying is a transitional period from this life to life in the next world which continues much as it did on earth. Ancestors are thought to be much more powerful than their living relatives.

Respect & Protection

According to traditional Japanese beliefs, the spirits of the dead are always nearby, and may even visit their loved ones during certain times of year.

Once a year, Mexicans remember their dead with the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Literally, ‘The Day of the Dead.’ Mexicans believe that we die three times.

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Preparing for death

Acceptance, remembrance, and celebration

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