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| Ibaloi Tribes mummies in Benguet Province (credit images to:wmf.org) |
The passing of a loved one is emotional and sometime traumatic, depending on how the individual died. Filipino people believe in the afterlife and feel it is important to pay respect and homage to the dead. The typical amount of time a wake lasts is between three to seven days.
The Ibaloi Tribes of the Northern Philippines have a unique way that they pay homage to their dead. In their unique practice, they perform mummification on the body; then blind fold and tie the arms and legs of the deceased in a sitting position. By utilizing mummification, all of the body is preserved, including organs or body modification that the individual may have had. The spouses and or loved ones of the deceased will dress the body and sometimes put tobacco inside the individuals lip. They then place then carefully place the individual in a chair by the entrance of the home. The individual will stay there for the next eight days. “A bangil rite is performed by the elders on the eve of the funeral, which is a chanted narration of the biography of the deceased”(The Funeral Source n.d.) . As the body being
lowered into the ground during burial, two bamboo sticks are hit together by
member in attendance. By doing so, the living is helping the deceased travel toward
the heavens. Although an individual may have passed into another realm other
than the one we are in, we may never consider the person fully gone. When we
see an object the deceased individual was fond of or even the location where
the individual may have passed away, we will always associate these things as
being part of them. There is a connection with the person although they are not
a solid manifestation, and loved ones will forever continue to pay respect and
show remembrance for the deceased.
The Ibaloi Tribes of the Northern Philippines have a unique way that they pay homage to their dead. In their unique practice, they perform mummification on the body; then blind fold and tie the arms and legs of the deceased in a sitting position. By utilizing mummification, all of the body is preserved, including organs or body modification that the individual may have had. The spouses and or loved ones of the deceased will dress the body and sometimes put tobacco inside the individuals lip. They then place then carefully place the individual in a chair by the entrance of the home. The individual will stay there for the next eight days. “A bangil rite is performed by the elders on the eve of the funeral, which is a chanted narration of the biography of the deceased”
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Another culture
with unique death rituals is the now extinct Beothuk tribe of Newfoundland.
There were many factors that contributed to the demise of the Beothuk Tribe.
Most of the reasons were directly related to colonization and the lack of
alliances with other tribes. For example, “Beothucks were killed by Europeans
or died of European diseases like smallpox. Second, population pressures hurt
the Beothuks. As Europeans forced more Indian tribes westward and northward,
there was no longer enough food for all of them. The Beothucks were pushed into
the barren interior of Newfoundland, and many of them starved to death” It is
believed that the Beothuk believed in animism.
This is the belief that plants, animals, and objects have their own soul and
should be trated with respect. When a Beothuk member did, they would sew their dead into a casket made of Birch bark. The reason the Beothuk
chose Birch bark is because it is a strong
and water-resistant cardboard-like bark; it is an ideal material to craft into other
useful things. Inside of the Birch bark casket with the dead, they also put the
personal belongings of the person. “There were
provisions and articles of daily use, such as packages of food, birch bark cups
and moccasins, equipment related to hunting, including weapons and miniature
canoe replicas, and tokens to ensure protection, such as bone carvings, animal
teeth and bird's feet” (Beothuk Religious Beliefs and Practices n.d.) . Their reasons for
doing this ties back into their belief of animism. They do this because they “believe that after death, their spirits still roam the
Earth” (Redish n.d.) .
When the living places the deceased’s belongings with them, they will then be
able to use them in their next life. That is another example
of how they believe they are respectful to all things.
Both cultures have distinct death
rituals. A similarity between the two is that both pay respect to their
deceased by burying them with some of their belongings. They do this so they
will have clothes and weapons for life in the afterlife. Another similarity is
that both are buried in a coffin like container. This aspect reveals something
about their idea of proxemics. Unlike the modern ideas of space, one can say
that there is no “personal space”. A difference between the two is that the Ibaloi mummify their dead and the Beothuk do not.
The Ibaloi preserve every aspect of their dead and the Beothuk do not.
The process of preserving their dead completely shows that they believe that
their dead should be highly respected and that they will live on past death. Another
difference is that the Ibaloi publically
display their dead at the entrance of their home unlike the Beothuk. They bury
them relatively soon after the individual passes. The Ibaloi also help their
dead find heaven and the Beothuk do not. This shows that even after life, one
can still help another and work together.
Bibliography
"Beothuk
Religious Beliefs and Practices." Beothuk Religious Beliefs and Practices. http://www.mun.ca/rels/native/beothuk/beo_religion.html.
Redish, Laura and Lewis, Orrin.
"Beothuk Indian Fact Sheet." Native Languages of the Americas.
http://www.bigorrin.org/beothuk_kids.htm. (Accessed December 7, 2014).
"The Contrast in the Spiritual
Beliefs of the Beothuk and the European Settlers." The Contrast in the
Spiritual Beliefs of the Beothuk and the European Settlershttp://partner.galileo.org/schools/cody/hum10/riverrun/studentweb2/..
(Accessed December 8, 2014).
