{"id":185071,"date":"2022-05-04T07:01:29","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T11:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=185071"},"modified":"2022-04-28T09:19:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T13:19:14","slug":"how-burying-the-dead-keeps-the-living-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/05\/how-burying-the-dead-keeps-the-living-human\/","title":{"rendered":"How Burying the Dead Keeps the Living Human"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olena Koval found out that her husband was dead via text message. He was shot by Russian soldiers inside their home in Bucha while she was sheltering nearby, their neighbors told\u00a0Human Rights Watch<\/a>. In the days that followed, despite the brutal cold and her spinal disability, she made repeated attempts to recover his body but was turned back each time by the soldiers\u2019 threats.<\/p>\n

As the\u00a0atrocities escalated<\/a>, Olena fled Bucha to save her remaining family. Before their departure, she left a note with a neighbor that marked where her husband\u2019s body was, hoping someone could give him a burial.<\/p>\n

War is synonymous with death, but its emotional toll extends beyond the loss of life. The inability to say farewell to one\u2019s loved ones and lay them to rest can often be just as painful.<\/p>\n

Humans have always cared for their dead \u2013 so much that archaeologists often consider mortuary rites\u00a0among the traits<\/a>\u00a0that distinguish\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0from other species. In other words, it is a fundamental part of being human.<\/p>\n

Paying Respect<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humans\u2019 close relatives also showed concern for the dead. The\u00a0Neanderthals<\/a>\u00a0practiced burials, and\u00a0other extinct hominids<\/a>\u00a0probably did too. Even chimpanzees appear to\u00a0grieve over deceased relatives<\/a>. But no other species goes to such extraordinary lengths to care for its dead.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0an anthropologist<\/a>, I have spent two decades studying\u00a0rituals<\/a>, particularly those that\u00a0can seem \u201cextreme<\/a>.\u201d At first glance, these customs seem puzzling: They appear to have no direct benefits but can feel utterly meaningful. A closer look, however, shows that these seemingly senseless acts express deeper, profoundly human needs.<\/p>\n

Take funerary rites. There is a practical need to dispose of a dead body, but most burial customs go far beyond that requirement. Among the Toraja people of Indonesia, for example, deceased family members\u00a0are kept in their homes<\/a>\u00a0for months or even years. During that time, their relatives treat them as if they were still living: They offer them food, change their clothes, and bring them the latest gossip. Even after their funeral, their mummified bodies\u00a0are exhumed<\/a>, dressed up, and paraded around town on ceremonial occasions.<\/p>\n

The Toraja are not alone. In Madagascar, I have visited communities where people lived in fragile reed huts, at the mercy of frequent deadly cyclones, as the only robust brick-and-mortar buildings in the area were used as tombs. And in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the\u00a0architectural masterpieces<\/a>\u00a0carved into the rock\u00a0by the Nabataeans<\/a>\u00a0two millennia ago were resting places for the dead.<\/p>\n

Those practices may seem like outliers, but they are not. In all cultures, people clean, protect, embellish and carefully deposit their dead. Muslims\u00a0wash and shroud<\/a>\u00a0the body before interring it. Hindus may\u00a0bathe it<\/a>\u00a0with milk, honey and ghee and adorn it with flowers and essential oils before cremation. Jews\u00a0keep watch over the deceased<\/a>\u00a0from the time of death until the burial. And many Christians\u00a0hold wakes<\/a>\u00a0at which family members gather to pay tribute to the deceased.<\/p>\n

Creating Closure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Funerary rites are ostensibly about the dead. But their importance lies in\u00a0the roles they play for the living<\/a>: They allow them to grieve, seek comfort, face the reality of death and find the strength to move on. They are deeply human acts, which is why being deprived of them can feel devastating and dehumanizing.<\/p>\n

This is what is happening in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

In besieged cities, people cannot retrieve the bodies of their loves ones from the streets out of fear of being killed. In other cases, Ukrainian officials have accused the Russian army of burying victims in\u00a0mass graves<\/a>\u00a0to hide war crimes. Even when they are retrieved, many of the corpses have been mutilated, making them\u00a0difficult to identify<\/a>. To people who have lost their loved ones, the lack of a proper send-off can feel like a second loss.<\/p>\n

The need for closure is widely recognized to be indispensable \u2013 not only by anthropologists and psychologists, but also first responders, governments and\u00a0international organizations<\/a>. This is why armies go to great lengths to return the remains of fallen soldiers to their families,\u00a0even if that takes decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The right to a burial is acknowledged even for one\u2019s foes. The\u00a0Geneva Convention<\/a>\u00a0stipulates that belligerents must ensure that the bodies of enemies are \u201chonorably interred\u201d and that their graves are respected and \u201cproperly maintained and marked so that they may always be found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the importance of those rites, it is also striking that the Russian defense ministry has reportedly been\u00a0reluctant<\/a>\u00a0to bring their own dead back home, because they are concerned with\u00a0covering up the scale of the losses<\/a>. This seeming indifference to the suffering of Russia\u2019s own people and their need for closure may be yet another act of dehumanization.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published in The Conversation.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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