Hanging on....

This afternoon when I was looking for 'alternative' funerary practices online, I began thinking to myself how strange and foreign many of these ideas seemed to me. And then I realized that to those who engage in these practices, it is just considered a part of life. Perhaps the common Western traditions and burial practices that I have become accustomed to would seem unusual to others around the world.

I have never researched burial practices and customs before and I was awestruck at the different variations that can be found around the world, both in the past and present. Just as every culture has a different way of grieving for a lost loved one, every culture has a different belief on how the body of the deceased should be cared for and what happens to that persons spirit after their time has ended on the earth.

(Example of a cremation urn)                                                                                            Available at:                   http://www.evergreenmemorialchapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/cremation-urns-for-sale.jpg

Before class last week, I had never really given much thought to different burial practices other than the typical cremation (which are sometimes placed in an urn as pictured above) or inhumation practices that are most commonly found in North America.

While browsing different internet sites, I found a practice which involves hanging coffins (with the deceased inside) over and on the sides of cliffs and inside of limestone caves (Jinhui 2003; Travel and Leisure 2011). Two places that were most commonly sited for using or having used this type of burial practice were the Bo people of South West China (who are no longer in existence) and a small group of people in the Sagada Province of the Philippines (that are thought to still persist).

Many have hypothesized how the hanging coffins came to be placed on the sides of cliffs but one common idea is that they are thought to have been placed there by lowering the coffins down with ropes and then fixed in place by wodden stakes (Jinhui 2003). The coffins vary greatly in their distances above ground with some being as close to the ground as ten meters while others almost seem to reach the sky over one hundred meters above the ground. Once again, it can only be hypthesized why certain coffins were placed higher or lower but as with other burial traditions perhaps it has to do with being closer to freedom or closer to some higher spiritual power (Jinhui 2003).

One observation that I made about this type of burial practice which should be quite obvious is that these people must have believed in some type of life after death as they made such efforts to place these coffins on cliffs instead of just quickly disposing of the remains; they took time to place the bodies in coffins and carefully place them coffins on the sides of cliffs which served to protect the bodies.

(Example of hanging coffins found in China and the Phillipines)

Available at:

http://www.blurtit.com/q5523196.html

 As this practice is not a new innovation and has been around for hundreds of years, when looking at these hanging coffins we are looking at archaeological remains. We are looking at the remnants of these different societies traditions. However, with that being said there is no guarantee that a coffin will remain on the cliff side forever and due to climate and the other persistent elements of mother nature they could fall as well. Depending on what is beneath the cliffs (water, land, etc.) preservation could vary quite significantly, from pieces of wood, human bone to nothing at all.

Personally, I know that I would not be able to rest in peace after dying if I knew that my body was going to be placed in a coffin hanging over the edge of a cliff. Along with spiders, I am petrified of heights and the thought of falling. How on earth would my spirit ever be able to remain calm while worrying about my body plummeting off the edge of a cliff. It would be just like having one of those falling dreams (or nightmares) but instead I would not be able to wake up at the last second to catch myself.

Resources Consulted:
Travel and Leisure 2011 http://travelandleisure.cz.cc/hanging-coffins-and-burial-caves 

Jinhui 2003 http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/55407.htm

When daffodils are in bloom, think of me...

Last night, before I climbed into bed, I finally took a moment and carefully read over the questions for the blog prompt. I decided that I would give myself the night to think and dream about what items I might place in my grave before beginning to write all my thoughts down, little did I know the emotional responses that would follow.

Before I tell you what you would find in my grave, I should explain that I have had the fortune or misfortune (depending on how you look at it) of having a few very personal close calls with death, both in 2007 and again in 2009. My mom and I often laugh (maybe more out of discomfort than anything) and say that I must have nine lives just like a cat.

In the fall of 2007, I went in for a routine procedure of having my wisdom teeth removed. My teeth had been giving me some pain for quite sometime and as I was going to be leaving for the South Pacific early in 2008, I did not want to have to put up with the soreness while I was away. I was very insistent that I should have my wisdom teeth removed (all four) in time to heal before getting on the airplane. Over reading break, I went in to the dental office for the procedure and everything appeared to have went well until I came home and had a seizure before going unconscious and stopping breathing. By the time the ambulance arrived, I had started breathing and woken up but my mom and dad both say that those thirty to forty-five seconds (that I was gone) were the longest in their lives. The doctors now believe that I had a delayed reaction to the anaesthetic that was used to put me under during the procedure.

If that close call was not close enough you probably will not believe what happened in 2009. My best friend and I decided to get away for a while and go for a girls getaway camping trip to Savary island (off the coast of Powell River) at the end of May 2009. We booked time off work, made a list of all the things that we would need and triple checked every list. Before leaving my coworkers teased me and said that the girls getaway weekend was going to be like survival of the fittest and only one of us was going to come home alive (talk about foreshadowing). The five days we spent on Savary Island went from bad to worse, everything that could go wrong did. In the morning when we were going to leave, I woke up with the worst pains in my abdomen. I took Advil to try and relieve the pain but it did not work. I was not even able to eat breakfast, which is very unlike me! We packed up camp and started the long trip back the Victoria. Steph offered to drive but I thought that driving would keep my mind off the pain in my side that was becoming almost unbearable. As I was driving down the highway, going over 120 km/hr, just outside of Ladysmith, I turned to Steph and told her that I was either going to pass out or throw up. She frantically looked ahead and found a place to pull over where we could switch seats. I did not know what was wrong with me, but I knew that something was not right. As the pain continued, I looked at Steph and joked that I was going to die. I started listing off where things were in my room, passwords on my computer, pin codes to my bank accounts and I told her the different people I wanted at my funeral. All of the things that I said were the truth despite the fact that we were trying to laugh and get home as soon as we could. The one thing that I was most certain about was that my funeral would not be a place to cry and mourn but instead a place to celebrate and laugh because that was the way I wanted to be remembered.

I will stop my story here to list a couple of the things that I told Steph (at that moment in the car) that I wanted in my burial, and as well I will add a few items that I have since decided should be included:
1) daffodils - They have always been my favourite flower since I was a little girl. My grandma (who is still alive today) and I used to walk down from her house to this big open field and spend the morning picking daffodils. Sometimes we would pick enough for me to sell at a stand on the edge of my driveway and other times we would just pick a few for her house and mine. I realize that they will not for keep for very long, as they are organic, but I would still love to have some with me.
2) a book called “The Five People you Meet in Heaven” but Mitch Albom - This book was given to me for my birthday in 2006. I have read this book over a half dozen times and is packed in my bag whenever I go travelling. The book teaches about the people who affect our lives each and everyday and whose lives we impact, though we may not realize it at the time. I would hope that after attending my funeral and learning about this burial item, more people would pick up the book and take situations and chance encounters for granted less often.
3) my leopard print blanket - I am the type of person who wants to be comfortable both in life and in death. Normally when I come home for the day and am lounging around the house, I put on my pyjamas and spread this blanket on me to keep warm.
4) pictures of my family and friends - I have a number of different photo albums and pictures but perhaps someone will put together a photo album or scrap book for me and place it in my burial. I have always loved looking at pictures because they can be interpreted so many different ways and tell so many different stories. Pictures help remind us of things that we often forget.
5) a cowboy hat - Although I was born and raised in Victoria, people always think that I must have come from Calgary or Texas because I am a country girl to the core. I love country music, I used to own a pony on my uncles farm, I travel to see rodeos and I even wore white cowboy boots underneath my fancy princess dress at graduation.

Back to my story…
Once Steph and I made it back into town, we first went to the clinic and was then quickly rushed off to the hospital for emergency surgery on my appendix on June 1, 2009. My appendix was very close to rupturing but they were able to take it out before that happened, unfortunately I had a very severe infection in my abdomen surrounding the area of my appendix. Instead of leaving the hospital after one night, I was there for four nights; and instead of being off my feet for two weeks, I was on bed rest for almost eight weeks. The recovery was very slow, and once again my mom and I had to laugh and joke. She took more than a full week off work to look after me, her giant twenty-one year old infant, as I could not do anything on my own (including walk the short distance up the hallway to the bathroom).

These two experiences (from 2007 and 2009) absolutely changed my life. Following my surgery in 2009, I wrote a “bucket list” of one hundred and one things that I want to do before I die and since then I have completed almost twenty of them. I no longer take the little moments in life and hiccups along the way for granted, I have learned to appreciate and take in each moment as it comes.

Betty White's thoughts on death...

Over the Christmas break I watched "Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010". My favourite portion of the program was when Barbara Walters was interviewing Betty White, who is almost 90, and asked her about her thoughts on death (Miller 2010). Betty White remarked that her mom had always told her that death was somewhat of a mystery, one whose secret was only revealed when it’s your turn to go (Miller 2010).

(Betty White in the movie "Lake Placid")

Available at:

http://deskofbrian.com/wp-content/uploads/Betty-White-Lake-Placid.jpg

This upbeat philosophy brought a smile to my face and made me think that perhaps this is why many people are so fascinated with studying burials; perhaps those who study death (just as our class currently is) are just trying to figure out the secret before our time comes, because not all of us like surprises.

Despite all of the medicinal and technological advances that have been made in the Western world and have assisted in the longevity of the population, society still appears to in need of more time. We always seem to wish for more after we've wished it away. I know I have been guilty of this in the past, "I wish it was the weekend" or "I cann't wait for summer" etc. and then it happens and I've found myself wondering where the time has gone.

Due to the increased life expectancy of the population within the Western world, these societies are less familiar with death and seem to have a harder time coping individuals that die at a younger age than the norm (Sayer 2010:483). By studying death within the archaeological record and using the different methods and theories, modern societies are better able to expose themselves to death, thus creating a better understanding of death and dying (Sayer 2010:488).

I think that looking at death within the archaeological record could serve to provide more objective insights into the process of death which can be quite terrifying to some; although death is the final destination for all (Sayer 2010:482). Perhaps, the general population is continually driven to partake in mortuary analysis of past societies so that they can find comfort and are able to better understand their own contemporary societies inevitable mortality (Sayer 2010:481).

Although death may be met in a variety of ways depending on an individual’s beliefs and cultural background, there is comfort in knowing that death, as shown through the archaeological record, is a universal event in the human life cycle which many before have proceeded (Parker Pearson 1999:197).

I think that we could all benefit from listening to Betty White's philosophy about death. Instead of being concerned with what happens next, we should really focus on what is happening in the here and now. We need to be able to enjoy life and stop worrying about death because it will come soon enough.

Resources Consulted:
- Miller 2010 http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/12/10/barbara-walters-talks-to-betty-white-about-sex-and-death-video/
- Parker Pearson, M. 1999. The Archaeology of Death and Burial. Texas: Texas A&M
University Press.
- Sayer, D. Who’s afraid of the dead? Archaeology, modernity and the death taboo. World
Archaeology

My First Blog

Hi Everyone!

My name is Vanessa and I am a third year Anthropology major. My goal is to graduate in November 2012, hopefully after participating in one of the summer field school programs that are offered though UVic.

I look forward to hearing feedback about the new field school through the department of anthropology which (for the first time) is being held in Drimolen, South Africa. I think that being able to take the skills and knowledge that I have acquired during my undergraduate degree and then applying them in the field would be a rewarding experience.

Originally I had thought about registering for the field school this year, but then decided that I would be better off to wait and take part in one for my last undergraduate semester because then I could continue on travelling and learning about the culture of the chosen country.

In 2008, I went travelling to the South Pacific (Fiji, New Zealand and Australia) with my best friend and it was an invaluable experience. Being able to submerse yourself within a culture can allow you to learn so much more about it than simply reading a textbook or watching documentaries.

After graduating with a BA in Anthropology, I am not yet sure what I am going to do. I have thought about going on to complete a Graduate program or applying to join the police force but I haven‘t quite made up my mind. I am not sure what the future holds for me but I look forward to finding out!

Originally I registered for this class to finish fulfilling my Archaeology requirements, however, after taking Erin’s class last semester on Viking Archaeology, I became interested in burials, grave goods and the events and practices surrounding death. I enjoy looking at what archaeologists have found in the present and then using them to reconstruct the past.

I look forward to the rest of the semester! See you all in class Tuesday!

Vanessa

(Me)