Final Visual Project: Life and Death

Death is a constant of human life therefore all religions have to incorporate it into their system of beliefs. The burial rituals of many religions actually symbolize the "long lasting moods" of the religion specifically the religions view of life. In the following series of photo we will look at the burial practices of several religions and examine how these customs echo the religions ideas on life. Because these rituals are different for every religion and can even vary greatly between the different religious sects, I will only talk about a few religions' customs.


I thought I'd start with something we all recognize, mummies. The Egyptians viewed their present life as the most important, meaning they didn't focus on the afterlife while they were still alive. Also death was not seen as an end but a rebirth. Mummification symbolizes this belief in life after death. A person's "ba" much like our concept of personality and with similar needs of the physical body would have to journey to reunite with that person's "ka" or life force to become an eternal spirit, an "akh". The body is the resting place of the "ba" thus it is important that body be preserved so that it can survive in the afterlife long enough for the person to become an "akh".





Many of the pictures found in tombs also reflect the idea of life after death. In this picture food is being set out for the "ka". Sometimes real food was also used. The "ka" doesn't actually eat the food but it is thought that the "ka" absorbs the life preserving energy. The life force goes into rest during the mummification and thus needs to be reactivated giving life and eventually joining the "ba". The painting on the tomb and the process of mummification both serve as symbols of the ancient Egyptians belief in life after death.





African religions differ by tribe and region, but many of them are founded on very similar ideas.
One of these ideas is symbolized by this photo of the San Bushman of the Kalahari in South Africa as they walk to the burial grounds of their ancestors. Most people believe that everyone experiences the same thing as an afterlife; there is no heaven and no hell and the closest thing to hell is not being able to join the ancestors. They believe any rewards or punishments come during life and the goal of life is to become an ancestor. Some groups show love and respect for the dead and others are fearful because the spirits can affect the living. In the picture of the San I think the second person from the right may be carrying either a sacrifice or some of the deceased belongs both of which are supposed to help the dead in their new life with the ancestors. The importance places on the spirits and the life as an ancestor helps to symbolizes the view that one isn't really dead until all the surviving relatives have died or no one is left to remember them.





Dancing in celebration at funerals is representative of the idea that death deepens one's relation ship with the world and grants one access to both the visible and invisible worlds. As mentioned above it is believed that the dead can affect the world of the living, so this dance is an attempt to prevent any negative effects of the death asking for the dead to not trouble the living and to reinforce the natural good in the world.

The video above and the photo to the right are both about sky burials in Tibet. Buddhism is the main religion in Tibet, and Buddhism teaches reincarnation. The rituals of the sky burial symbolize the ideas behind reincarnation as well as the Buddhist paramita (virtue) of generosity. A sky burial is essentially setting a body out for the birds to eat. It is called jhator, which literally translated is "giving alms to the birds". In the video from 1:12-2:13 one sees the bodies that are going to given. Since Buddhism believes in reincarnation, the body after the soul has left is empty and carries no meaning, therefore the body can be given to the birds in an act of great generosity. It is not unusual for the body to be cut into pieces then given to the birds. If you look closely at the picture you'll see a man carrying a knife which he has used to split open the bodies for the bird. When the birds don't eat all of the flesh, it is seen as a bad omen. This burial practice supports the Buddhist's view of the afterlife and the ideals outlined by the Buddhist religion.

This next video and photo are about the Islamic burial rituals. The video above is from the funeral of on of the religious leaders so the scale is larger than a normal funeral, but if you watch from :35-:49 you see people walking very briskly to the funeral. Their speed is not an attempt to beat the rush but a ritual present in all Muslim funeral procession. If they were to walk at a slow mournful tempo, it would indicate that they don't have faith in eternal life.

The photo to the right is of a young Muslim boy how has died. When they buried him, they will turn his face towards Mecca and place the body into the ground perpendicular to Mecca. Then at the end of the funeral the men help cover the grave and say "We created you from it, and return you into it, and from it we will raise you a second time". Muslims believe in a judgement day when God will decide who is going to heaven or to hell. The actions taken during a Muslim funeral symbolize their belief in eternal life.

The final two pictures are of Hinduism funeral rituals. Hindus believe like Buddhists in reincarnation, so similarly to the sky burials and unlike the Egyptians and Muslims the body does not need to be preserved. Hinduism practices cremation because they believe it helps to release the soul. One practice that demonstrates this idea is shown to the left. The skull is cracked open with a bamboo stick to let the soul out so it can be reincarnated. This practice demonstrates their beliefs in the afterlife.

After the remains of the body are taken care of the family turns its attentions to the needs of the soul. The family has a ceremonial meal where they make rice balls called pinda (pictured to the right). The rice balls are offered to the soul of the deceased to help it reach Yama the god of death. These ceremonies are thought to add to the merit of the dead. Again this custom shows how Hinduism views life and death, as part of cycle where the body is not important it is the soul that matters.

In conclusion, I hope this project has caused you to view burials in a different way, not just as traditions or customs, but as symbols of the religion's views on life and death.

Baha'i Faith

I watched the 15 min video history thing of the cathedral on the US Baha'i website, and I have to say I think it is very cool that the temple has major symbols from the major prophet based religions on it. The over view they gave of the religion in the video highlighted the main views of unity etc. In class it seemed like people felt the Baha'i were trying to in a sense cloak their true message with one of unity and openness similar to that of the unitarians universalists. I mean they felt the Baha'i made it sound like anyone can believe whatever they want, but I disagree. I think the Baha'i use the "it's the same message" as an argument in favor of their religion, and it is like all of the other world religions that believe their way is the right way. If you go to the home of the link on moodle (http://www.bahai.us/), then you will see my point I think. It states "The Essence of all the prophets of God is one and the same". It doesn't state all religions are right, but that at the core, in the beginning the were the same. Also of another cool side note if you put your mouse over the emblems for the different religions a verse written by that religion's prophet will show up and all of the verses from the different prophet have essentially the same message. I don't know if it changes or if it always says the same verses, but right now the message is the golden rule do unto other as you would have them do unto you.

At first glance my thought was wow, this is really tourism oriented then I realized I wasn't at the home page, so just for comparison here is the tourism page of the national cathedral http://www.nationalcathedral.org/visit/. I feel like the Baha'i faith acts the same way all of the other faiths act. The end message and rituals may be slightly different, but they all act towards the outer community from what I've seen in the same way.

Religion or Culture?

Our discussion on Friday about religions, cults, etc. makes me wonder about religion and culture. I know religion is part of culture but sometimes the way we talk about religion in societies make me wonder where culture fits. In Geertz's definition religion influences moods and motivations but I anthropology I learn about culture creating "powerful, pervasive, and long lasting moods and motivations". I suppose one could argue that the symbols that make up religion deal with "a general order of existence" where culture doesn't have to deal with that like consumerism. It's part of our culture but is not a religion, however it and religions have similar characteristics. Maybe I should be looking at culture as the umbrella and religion as one of the things under it, but their similarities confuse me I suppose. I don't think we can say the religion or culture came first, because I think there is evidence of both. In a previous class we talked about how churchs' positions on sex and marriage where probably adopted because of health and legitimacy issues. This ideas of health and whose child is whose and who gets what most likely existed in the society before the church just used it to connect with the people. One can assume similar ideas were behind the food laws of many different religions. I do think that establishing orders of existence came first with religion. Now it can considered cultural I think because we have orders of existence ideas that don't depend on religions, but that has only come with relatively recent scientific advancements. Religion has also shaped culture because some of it's values will be placed into society and effect things non-religious in nature. An example of this would be the effect of the Puritan values on our economic system. In many ways religion has infused itself into culture or culture borrows some previously religious symbol but meaning will change. One eaxmple we talked about in class was when the Jamaican tourism video used Bob Marley's song as a symbol of Jamaica not Rastafari.

Elements of New Religions

Especially in the case of Baha'i one can see that the leader is very important. Perhaps this book is a bit biased because it is a biography of Baha'u'llah (picture on the left) not a book about how Baha'i started, but this book makes Baha'u'llah seem like the reason Baha'i came into existence and was able to sustain itself. The same can be said for the Babis, without Baha'u'llah that movement would have collapsed too. As he moved to and from different places during exile, it seems like the Babis community in the city he left would fall apart without him and in the city he moved to he would build back up or create a Babis community. The impression I got from the book was that Baha'u'llah was kind of single-handedly keeping these Babis/Baha'i ideas afloat.

Another important element that helped this movement was the non-violence. I think Baha'u'llah had experience enough violence from other religions that he knew it was not helpful to anyone. The fact that the Babis still had things in common with the main religion of the region was helpful and harmful. Helpful because you read in the book several stories about Baha'u'llah connecting with other religions through common characters such as the martyr Imam Husayn. Harmful because I think it scared the existing establishment. The creation of Baha'i was a long process. It is building upon the group the great Bab was leading so has been in the making for awhile.

Evolution of Bob Marley

Im Still Waiting - Bob Marley & The Wailers

Simmer Down - Bob Marley & The Wailers



The picture and two songs that I've posted above are from Marley's first albumThe Wailing Wailers, when he was part of group called The Wailers. The people playing in this group with him change through out his career. The Wailing Wailers was released in 1965. Marley would have been 20. From what I've read it sounds like Marley first close experience with Rastafari came when he left school to focused on music and befriended a famous rastafari Jamiacan singere Joe Higgs. However it should be noted that also on Marley's first album is a version of the song "One Love". His next albums comes 6 and 8 years later. You can hear some that some of his ideas are starting to fall into place, but he still isn't the Bob Marley that everyone knows. An example of this is the song 400 Years that is posted below.

400 Years - Bob Marley & The Wailers

In 1974 on the album Natty Dread we see the Bob Marley we are more familiar with, with songs like "No Woman No Cry", "Natty Dread", "So Jah Seh", etc. I still think his sound is a little different that what come later but ... I also think his lyric writing skills got better over time. I just thought it was interesting to see how his music changed over the years.

Rastafari Symbols

In the video on Rastafari some of the symbols I found were the signs posted around the village, the houses, the fire on top of the mountain, and the turban/dreadlocks. My interpretation of these symbols is not solely based on the video. I am applying the reading to video to assist in the understanding of the symbols. The signs with R/X placed around the village are I think perhaps the most symbolic of the Rastafari outlook on society, right over wrong and black over white. All of the houses being painted red, green, yellow, and black I also feel is symbolic of their homeland Africa. The fire on the mountain top that remain continually lit could represent the ever present divinity within everything and that connects everything. The video didn't say a whole lot about the significance of the turban that I could understand, but it did mention dreadlocks. The symbolism of the dreads in the video supports all that the book said about them but in the video you can see the dreadlocks are treated with a sort of reverence that show the importance of the dreads and what they stand for.

The rastafari life portrayed in the video is different than the way of life discussed in the book, but both are different than what I had envisioned. All I knew before this class was Bob Marley and pot smoking, but I never had a great understanding of how they fit together. From Marley's music I associated Rastafarian ideals with "one love" and equality and freedom. I was very surprised at the emphasis placed on violence, I expected something like Gandhi's peaceful resistance. I also didn't realize how strongly the rastafians felt about race. I knew it was a black power sort of thing, but I don't know how closed of it is to white people. Reading some of the comments on the video we watched I see that people have different opinions of whether or not white people can be rastafari. I've never before thought of rastafari as a religion probably because as the book says it is very individualized. Because of the "one love" idea I think that all races should be accepted, but if you look at the major ideas outlined in the book it becomes difficult to see these beliefs being adopted completely be whites. I think this race issue will have to be addressed in the rastafarian culture, because I think the younger generations are less likely to view whites as bad. However, I could see this issue being left up to the individual to decide and the elders not changing any ideology for it, but I do think the ideology takes a pretty clear stance on the race issue by associating all whites with Babylon.

Also just to leave thing on an interesting note... one of the mental images I have of Bob Marley is of him shaking his hair like he is in the picture to the left. Now after reading this book I have to wonder if this is Bob Marley caught up in the moment on stage or intentionally releasing the earthforce built up in his dreads to destroy Babylon.

The Charismatic Personality

Earlier this year I saw for the first time the movie Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. It is about Jim Jones and his following and everything leading up to their mass suicide. For a brief explanation of Jim Jones and his church read this http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_jones.htm. It is just the basics but it will give you an idea of what was going on. The following videos are the first twenty minutes of the movie, but I hope after watching them you will see why I think Jim Jones is an example of the charismatic leader.

Jones clearly has the personality that is talked about in a charismatic leader. This is especially obvious when he is able to get his followers to leave their homes and loved-ones to travel across the country with him. He does get some of his authority from tradition,being a reverend in the church, but his power to break away from the mainstream religion and still keep his congregation comes from his charisma. Jones's movement also seems to fit Weber's theory in that it came about during a time of social unrest because of the fights for racial equality. Jones's church's strong stance on race and emphasis on having members of many races I think makes it hard to deny the effect that the attitudes and struggles faced by people of the times had on the creation of Jones's church. Eventually these ideas of equality spread not just to races but also economic statuses. Jones seem to pride himself on the fact that people from all different backgrounds. Some methods of routinization cal be found in Jones's church. The most obvious one I can think of is how his message is based off the bible. Like the Rastafarian movement he takes something familiar to everyone and frames it in a new light emphasizing certain parts. Despite using tradition as a way to routinize his church some flaws are that he is the only leader. Jones is in charge and has the final say in everything no one would be able to carry-on after him. Also he becomes much more radical over time, which will not gain him more followers. Finally Jones personally just looses it and so his church falls apart. I just thought it was interesting all of the people who could be considered charismatic leaders.