In ancient Egyptian times, it was believed that when people die, they would go to the other side, but they would need to take their body and their valuables with them, just so they can keep their elite status going.
That eventually died out, pun intended.
Then it was noticed that if you bury bodies, people around yourself doesn’t die out as quickly, so it became a custom, and eventually involved in a religious ritual.
As I continue to fly over the countryside, I keep seeing those cemeteries. More often than not, they appears to be empty, devoid of mourning people as everyone seems to be busy trying to make a life for themselves (especially if we are to keep up with the Jones.)
However, there are still people out there who are fiercely devout to the idea of burial instead of cremation or any other means of interning the dead. It was all due to their upbringing on specific type of faith, and the strong internal belief that things should be done a specific way.
However, the rest of the family is more progressive on this subject, so when my mom passed away, she was cremated. It is nice that I was able to visit her urn in the comfort of my Dad’s home, just so I can remember her without having to fight the elements.
However, it was generally believed that sharing this information with my Grandfather was not a wise move. Apparently, he held the belief that cremation is “wrong.”
Nonetheless, my mother was cremated, conservative Catholic background or not. I am quite sure Granddad knew once he got over to the other side, and met up with Mom. I doubt he loved her any less for choosing this.
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Burial of people actually started way before the Egyptians, even before Homo sapiens appeared on this planet, Neanderthals ritually buried their dead, even sprinkling flower petals on the bodies.
There was a cave discovered with pre-Homo sapiens hominids, I can’t remember exactly which species, where many bones were discovered in a chamber under a hole, leading the excavators of that cave to conclude that the hominids had been disposing their dead in the hole, with no clothes or anything else.
I believe there may have been some reasons for burying the dead bodies: to prevent them being eaten by scavenging animals, and to contain the stench that would come from decaying bodies. Eventually they started adding rituals to the burial of bodies.
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