Death And The Funeral Process

Cultures from around the world share many similarities and differences. One thing that many people do not think about, when thinking about other cultures and religions, is the death and grieving process. When doing research on two different cultures, such as Buddhism and Christianity, one can find at least one part of the funeral process strange. An example of some of the difference and similarities that the two cultures share are that Buddhist wear white and black to a funeral and believe in “nether world”; whereas, Christians wear all black and believe in heaven or hell; a Buddhist does not pray for anyone younger than themselves, because that is considered disrespectful; whereas, Christians will pray for anyone; and finally, Buddhist have
So if the person who has died is a teen the boy, who is not married, and has no kids then his body cannot be brought home, instead his body has to be left in the funeral parlor (Chinese customs, superstitions and traditions, 2004). The teen’s parents cannot offer prayers for their son and the funeral must take place unannounced (Chinese customs, superstitions and traditions, 2004). This is unlike a Christina funeral when anyone dies, especially a child, people will gather and pray for peace for the child and the family.
A Buddhist funeral could last from one week to a year or even two, the funeral last until the family is done grieving. They space the funeral and grieving process out so that everyone has the proper amount of time to grieve. Unlike a Buddhist funeral, Christian funerals only last 1-2 day, which is hardly enough time to grieve. Depending on how close one is to the deceased and their family, one may or may not be expected to attend every part of the Buddhist or Christian funeral, but if one cannot attend the funeral one could always send the family
If one is close to a family, that practices Buddhism or Christianity, the best thing to do is to bring a wreath or give the family money in an envelope (Barrow, 2011). If the grieving family is from the south one also might want to send them a home cooked dish. One tradition that Buddhist families participate in is the person being buried will wear a hand loomed shirt, the shirt brings good luck to the dead. Any colors can be chosen except black. The long sleeve shirt must cover all the fingers of the dead (Shuang, 1993). If the sleeves are too short, there will be bad luck in their