From Mummification To ‘Sky Burials’: Why We Need Death Rituals?

By SARAH WILLIAMS | INNLIVE

Death rituals help us to cope with loss and perhaps even feelings of guilt associated with disposing of a corpse.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Few liturgical phrases from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer are so familiar to so many, even those who have never darkened the doors of a church. This part of the funeral service, taken from the book of Genesis, is also reflected in what priests say when they sign the cross in ash on people’s foreheads during Ash Wednesday: “You are made from dust, and to dust you shall return”.