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