Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
How a grave can be made less grave, or putting the fun back in the funeral
This is a very timely article since plenty of Slovaks will have spent lots of money on flowers and candles over the holiday. Is buying a personalized coffin wasting money on something that will just end up disintegrating in the ground? Should death be made less somber and scary, and more familiar, like the Ghanaians managed to do with this custom? What is the effect of Slovak customs around death and dying? Finally, what shape would you choose for a coffin? Or would cremation be your preference? (The article is a bit longer than some, so make sure you go through all three pages, but feel free to skim some parts.)
I've heard about personalized caskets before, and I definitely consider them for being a big waste of money and extremely cool in the same time. Spending money to leave the world in a casket that perfectly suits your personality is surely better than spending money on flower decorations that will decay in three days, mainly when the person is allergic to them. Moreover the shapes and colors of the caskets might make you happy, unlike the white and green of a flower decoration (which is, you have to admit, the usual color of flowers on funerals), and happy is something the deceased would surely like you to feel if they weren't complete and utter bastards.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't understand why are people in our cultures so obsessed with graves and with taking care of them. As a Christian majority we should believe that the immortal soul was sent either to Heaven or to Hell and that we can't change it's destination by making the place the ashes or dust of the mortal remainings rest pretty. Would flowers or candles make God change his mind? I understand that it is more for the living relatives and to keep the memory of the dead ones, but you can do that in the warmness of your home. Don't get me wrong, I love the long walks around a cemetery in this time of year, when the candles glow and there are colorful islands of flowers in the middle of fallen leaves, but I don't understand why it's customary to make your grave look fancy. In small villages, if you wouldn't spend enough money to decorate your grave, your neighbors will judge you until you'll rest in the grave too which is likely to be soon if you're an old lady that would spend her pension on flowers, not on her medicine.
So, in conclusion, if I would have to choose between sad flowers and funny casket, I would definitely choose the casket, preferably in the shape of a blue Police Box from the sixties. And then get cremated in it, it would have a hidden meaning for me, although I wouldn't really care then, would I.
I have never though about the caskets, because I always though, that cremation would be much easier and cheaper. I would not care much, since I would be dead, but it would feel kind of awkward, if somebody was crying over my dead body. On the other hand, if they just scatter my remains away, it would actually feel rather nice. If I could feel, which I would not, because I would be dead.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand people, such as the author of this article who feel such strong emotions, as she felt, when she was lying in her casket, I mean, it is not like you are going to lie there when you can enjoy the moment.
As Kika , I also enjoy a walk around a cemetery, mainly because the relatives, who decorate the graves of their deceased. But, unlike Kika, I have a positive attitude towards Slovak customs around the deceased. If you like someone, you also try to show him/her your affection through material things as gifts. This is also shown, when you, once in a year, remember your deceased and decorate his grave with some flowers.
If I had to choose my casket, I would pick some kind of tree. I would like to see this practiced in Slovakia, but I think we are too conservative for this.
As suggested in the article, coffin making is not much different from any other business. In the era of liberty of thought, people tend to make their preferences in everything - starting with the toilet paper, ending with coffins. When people have more money, they usually feel confident to make a bigger variety of choices. Human creativity can go far away from the social and cultural norms and traditions.
ReplyDeleteOne would agree that choosing a specially designed coffin is truly odd. Probably some elderly European wouldn’t stray from the cultural habits of burying people, but those Africans surely don’t see any heresy in making such fantastic coffins. Honestly, I generally dislike the tradition of burying people. From my point of view, it is much more sensible to be cremated. Firstly, it saves material for coffins and space in cemeteries. Secondly, being burned seems to me a more dignified way of disposing of your physical body than letting it slowly decay in the ground. Moreover, although I also like the November’s cemeteries nicely lit up with candles, I am more inclined to assume buying all the decorations for one’s grave as unnecessary. Depends on individual feelings for the deceased: I think that many people seek some kind of relieve in taking care of their relative’s grave.
I cannot disagree with the statement that these coffins are actually pieces of art. But I would certainly feel embarrassed to be buried in a coffin of such modern design. I found interesting what Eric (the coffin-maker) said; that people now tend to take a symbol of their human life - like the things they know from the world - with them to the grave and thus feel less scared by the funeral. But I personally can't figure out why people should feel less traumatic about it. The most sensible reason for being less in favour of those typical anthropoid coffins is probably their too common association with death and maybe also horror films.
I hope I’m not the only one to consider ordering a coffin in the shape of the Empire State Building truly insane. Here, the most fascinating part certainly was as the author described the procedure of being measured for the personalised coffin. Even though I thought I am the kind of person who has no problems discussing death, if I imagine having a coffin placed in my apartment I wouldn’t feel very comfortable. On one hand, it is quite different to imagine the usual prototype of a coffin and one of your favourite design. But on the other hand, inviting friends to show them my future “place of rest” and trying it for size doesn’t appeal to me
@janka
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the points you made, especially the one with a tree planted on restplace (if I understand it correctly). Yet, I have to disagree with your opinion of lying in coffin. You can't really say what would you feel until you try it out.
I also agree with all three comments above on point that it's not the flowers that matters, but the actual remembering. Although I would add point saying that time matters. If you spend time making a beatiful garland, it has point, instead of buying one
Also, I want this song to be played at my funeral (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ).