In the first season of HBO’s historically accurate western Deadwood, Al Swearengen’s minion, E.B. Farnsworth confesses his betrayal and begs him not to feed him to the pigs − just in case there really is resurrection of the body upon Christ’s return. Given the paucity of data regarding the afterlife, what happens to us after death remains the most fascinating question, the final frontier, as it were. Just this side of death, however, we have a wealth of information about funeral practices and the cultural belief systems that give rise to the variety of options for preserving or disposing of the body.
For an in depth look into the history of the contemporary funeral, I recommend Sam James’ The Evolution of Funeral Customs and Beliefs in America: Including Science and Technological Developments and the Increased Desire for Creamtion and Natural Burial.
Originally written as his undergrad thesis at Erskine College in South Carolina (www.erskine.edu), James has made available his work at http://www.lulu.com/content/802053.
James makes it clear in his author’s note that his book is not meant to be an “all-inclusive history of funeral services in America.” Rather, he attempts to give the reader a clear and concise picture of how the modern American funeral industry came to be. Starting with the Pilgrim’s emigration to the New World in 1620, he explores the history of death practices to answer sociological questions such as: why do we embalm? When did cremation begin? What is a green cemetery? And so on.
As is often the case, monetary gain as well as curiosity was the motive for the first colonist’s opening of graves in the new land they discovered. Quoting Roger and Walter Echo-Hawks’ text Battlefield and Burial Grounds: The Indian Struggle to Protect Ancestral Graves in the United States (Minneapolis: Lerner, 1994), James’ opening sentence in his first chapter reads: “We brought sundry of the prettiest things away with us and covered up the corpse again.” These words, supposedly spoken by a scout from the Mayflower shortly after it arrives at Plymouth, elucidate the first recorded instance of grave robbing by Europeans in the New World.
Thus James begins a most fascinating account of the history of funeral rites in America. While the customs surrounding the death of a loved on vary from place to place, even home to home, James’ thesis is that “what stands true for all cultures at all times is that death is meaningful.”
The number of laws developed to protect and regulate the dead as well as the amount of money spent on funerals proves this thesis, according to James. He writes, “While customs differ, it is widely agreed upon that a failure to treat the dead with respect and a failure to memorialize their life, well lived or not, is inherently wrong.”
James then gives us a quick snapshot of the modern American “traditional funeral.”
“[It] consists of a funeral director going to the deceased’s place of death, placing their body on a cot and bringing them back to the funeral home. Upon arrival back to the funeral home, the body is embalmed ─ which sanitizes, preserves and restores the body ─ then the body is dressed in whatever clothes the family chooses, it is casketed in whatever casket the family picks out, the body is laid out, viewed, driven to a church or rolled into the funeral home chapel for a funeral ─ typically conducted by a minister ─ driven in a hearse to the cemetery, carried by pall bearers to the grave, committed to the grave by spoken words and prayer, enclosed in a vault and buried eighteen inches underground.”
Contrast this sterile procedure with that of the Pawnee Indians, a nation of about 2,500 individuals who resided in what is now the state of Oklahoma. They had a form of government called the council elected by the people, carried out diplomatic relations with England, France and America, never fought against the United States, even allying themselves with the U.S. against other Indian tribes. In return, they were moved from their land by white settlers, beat up by other Indian groups, and were completely unprotected and unsupported by the U.S. government. (James, pp. 9-10)
“The body was painted red by priests and was clothed to enter the spirit land. Red paint, for many Indians, is symbolic of life. The body was given gifts to be enjoyed in the afterlife. They had laws to protect the grave, demanding that it not be disturbed. It was a common belief that a disturbed grave could evoke the spirits and the living could be harmed. The body was wrapped in a coat of that all important animal, the buffalo (Echo Hawk, p. 48).”
Other fascinating facts from James’ valuable work include the “LifeGem,” an innovation in the cremation process whereby the carbon is collected from the ashes left by cremation, sealed and pressurized into a .25 to 1.3 carat diamond ranging in price from $3,000 – $10,000. The most recent trend in the funeral industry is the idea of direct or natural burial in “green cemeteries.” To qualify as “natural burial” in a “green cemetery,” one must prepare the body for burial…
“without chemical preservatives and [it] is buried in a simple shroud or biodegradable casket that might be made from locally harvested wood, wicker or even recycled paper, perhaps even decorated with good-bye messages from friends.”
A natural burial ground often uses grave markers that don’t intrude on the landscape. These natural markers can include shrubs and trees, an engraved flat stone native to the area or centralized memorial structure set within the emerging forest that provides places for visitors to sit. As in all cemeteries, there are careful records kept of the exact location of each internment, often using modern survey techniques such as GIS (geographic information system).
Planting native trees, shrubs and flowers on or near the grave establishes a living memorial and helps from a protected wildlife preserve. A completed natural burial preserve is a green place with trees, grasses, and wildflowers, which in turn bring birds and other wildlife to the area.” (The Centre for Natural Burial, http://naturalburial.coop/about-natural-burial/)
I don’t want to give away any more of the bounty of information, James has compiles in his thesis, though I would like to wrap up this review with a few comments about the work itself. James’ writing is not the dry, complicated and obfuscating text one would expect with academic writing. Instead, he writes in an accessible style meant for the average reader to comprehend without seeming to “dumb it down” or patronize the reader’s intelligence. Nor does he lean to a flowery style meant to bring attention to his writing capabilities (though they are more than adequate to the task). He lets the facts speak for themselves, and I found myself drawn along from one fascinating topic to another.
The only criticism of his work I have is this: I would have preferred an index so that when I needed to look up information, I could have done so easily. I hope that James will consider publishing a second edition with an index and submit his work to a publishing house that can give it the marketing it deserves.
