12 Fascinating Death Rituals From Throughout History

Many people are familiar with Egyptian mummies, but the extensive mummification process - and its overall purpose - may not be as widely known. The preservation of the body in ancient Egypt was done to meet the specific needs of the person's soul in the afterlife. 

The first step in mummification was removal of the person's internal organs. Priests trained as embalmers extracted the brain via the nostrils, while they cut the abdominal cavity open at the side. It was then emptied - except for the heart. The heart remained because Egyptians believed it was the locus of intelligence and a person's actual being. The stomach, lungs, liver, and intestines were transferred to canopic jars to be buried with the rest of the body. 

Once the organs were out of the body, the embalmer priests removed moisture by covering it in natron, a salt-like drying substance. Natron also went inside the body in packets. Then it was left for 40 to 70 days. Once dried out, it was packed with sawdust, linen, and other substances and crafted to look lifelike.

From there, the priests wrapped the body with straps of linen, incorporating amulets in the layers. They said prayers and, after several layers were done, they dipped the body in resin. These steps were repeated several times until the wrapping was complete and the mummy was covered in a shroud.

During the funeral that followed, a priest ritually “opened” parts of the body for the afterlife, specifically the mouth and eyes. The mummy was placed in a coffin and moved to a tomb or burial chamber with additional funerary items.

This was all carried out so the soul could pick up the next phase of a person's journey. The soul in ancient Egypt was a multifaceted entity comprising the ka (a person's double), the ba (the intermediary between the body and the afterlife), the shuyet (the soul's shadow), the akh (the part that “belonged” to heaven), and the ab (the source of good and evil). 

The ab was located in the heart, so the gods Anubis and Thoth weighed this organ against Ma'at's feather to determine the quality of a person's deeds in life. Ma'at was the goddess of truth, justice, and order, and a person's heart had to balance with the feather in order for them to proceed to the afterlife.  

Buddhists in many parts of Asia, especially Tibet, care for the deceased by releasing them back into nature. Because the Buddhist tradition holds that a body is nothing more than a shell or a vessel, there's no need to preserve human remains. Rather, the Tibetan practice of sky burials involves taking them high into the mountains and letting birds pick away at the carcasses.

The term “sky burial” is one from the West; Buddhists call it “giving alms to the birds,” or jhator. As part of the preparation for the non-burial, the body is cleansed and broken down into parts. Bones and flesh are separated; the former are crushed and the latter is diced. The bones, organs, and flesh pieces are then transported to the mountaintop during the early morning hours.

The ritual serves as an element of the grieving process for the humans left on the Earthly plane. In 1999, one Tibetan monk named Garloji described the experience, noting, “The birds, they think they are just eating. Actually, they are removing the body and completing part of life's cycle.” Alec Le Sueur, an observer from the UK, put it this way:

On the face of it, sky burial may seem a bit gruesome, but in fact it is a highly ecological method of disposing of the dead… What better way for the body to be returned to earth than directly as vulture droppings?

It's not clear when sky burials originated, but they may have been practiced for more than 10,000 years. Some Tibetans also practice water burials (placing the remains in a river) and cremation. 

Technically illegal since 1975, the process by which the Anga - who occupy the Aseki region of Papua New Guinea - prepare the bodies of the dead involves draining, preserving, and smoking. As soon as a loved one passes, trained embalmers began the mummification process.

Researcher Ronald Beckett visited the village of Koke and witnessed this in 2008. After embalmers scrape the body with rough plant matter, they place it in a hut for at least 30 days. A smoky fire burns in the hut, while bamboo tubes inserted into the body drain its fluids. Additional holes cut in the hands and feet also facilitate drainage, as do massage techniques performed by villagers. 

Next, a clay-like substance called ocher is spread on the body to further draw out moisture. It also creates a shell of sorts to protect the body from the elements, so it can be placed atop a cliff or hill to watch over the village.

The hot temperatures in the hut help dry out the body, and the formaldehyde in the smoke preserves soft tissue. According to tradition, the entire process is necessary so the spirits of the dead don't wander the landscape and disrupt hunting or agriculture. Photographer and scientist Ulla Lohmann offered this insight after spending time with the Anga: 

We have pictures, they have mummies… The Anga believe that the spirits roam free during the day and return to their mummified bodies at night. Without seeing the face, the spirits cannot find their own body and would wander eternally.

This same principle transfers to maintaining bodies, as demonstrated by Beckett's visit to restore the remains of Moimango, a shaman and warrior who was mummified during the 1950s. Beckett and his team used natural materials in the region to fix Moimango's jaw and remove lichen from his extremities.

The legality of smoking a loved one's body has not stopped the practice from taking place. In 2010, an Anga subclan leader named Yengdang stated: “It is our way, it is our custom.”

In Madagascar, the practice of famadihana - “the turning of the dead" - varies slightly by region, but generally speaking, it involves retrieving a corpse from its tomb, redressing it, and reburying it. A key part of the ritual is rewriting the name of the loved one on the clothes and linens within which they are buried. This ensures an individual is not forgotten.

When people remove a body from a tomb for famadihana, it's a time of celebration. The links between the living and their ancestors are marked by dancing. As evening draws near, according to anthropologist Dr. Miora Mamphionona, “the bones are returned to the tomb before sunset because the sun is the source of our energy.”

The Malagasy people who perform famadihana do not believe in heaven or hell, but rather follow a synthesized faith based on Christianity and indigenous beliefs. As Mamphionona explained, “For us death after the bones are decomposed will take us to a second life - a life that is similar to the living life.”

Exactly when it's time to remove and then re-bury a body is left up to the ancestor, who appears in a loved one's dream to express they are cold. As Mamphionona further details about the rite: 

The first time the deceased is removed from the tomb it should be led feet first. But once the Famadihana is complete the bones should be returned headfirst because the bones are considered to be living in a new world, as ancestors.

In life, elite members of the Ibaloi people in the Philippines (in what's now the Kabayan municipality) were covered in tattoos. In death, the remnants of those tattoos are still visible due to the Ibaloi mummification process.

Mummies found in Filipino caves date to between 1200 and 1500 CE and showed signs of anal evisceration. In addition to mummification, the bodies were buried in wooden coffins. 

Oral tradition is largely where much of the information about the Ibaloi derives. Death for them was natural, inevitable, and the shift of a loved one to the spiritual realm. Spirits remained present to guard and watch over the living while their souls depart.

In anticipation of this, some individuals imbibed large amounts of salt water before death, perhaps to empty their bowels and dehydrate them. Others may have received the solution after they passed, but in all cases, no organs were removed - except apparently for the intestines.

Regardless of how the Ibaloi passed, they were cleaned and dressed after their demise. The body was often set in a seated position to help with drainage, and may have been placed over a fire to dry it out. At some point, tobacco smoke was blown into the mouths of the individuals, and they sat out in the sun to dry. The process could take up to a year.

Native to the Amazonian rainforests, the Yanomami believe the soul must enter another form after a person's passing. This is the only way the soul can be protected until it transitions to the spirit world. 

The Yanomami carry out a ritual to facilitate this, one that turns human remains into food eaten by the living. Called endocannibalism, the practice allows fellow members of the Yanomami to absorb those who have died.

The ceremony begins when the corpse is burned to ash and bones. A body might be left out to decompose prior to the cremation. Afterward, the living collect the remnants and sing and cry, as they inevitably get some ashes on their own bodies. The ash and bones are transferred to a pot and, at some point in the future, are mixed with banana, cooked, and eaten by all relatives of the deceased. Some sources indicate only the bones are consumed with the bananas, but that still qualifies as endocannibalism.

The importance of capturing every part of a loved one's body was highlighted when blood samples taken from several Yanomami during the 1960s and '70s became a subject of contention. While some samples were later returned, tests conducted on the blood caused additional consternation. According to a spokesperson for the indigenous group in 2015:

These Americans robbed our blood. They did not say anything in our language about the tests they were going to do. Nobody knew that they were going to use our blood to do research. Nobody thought that the blood would be kept in their refrigerators, as if it were food! I only found out in 2000 that the blood has been kept and was being used in research… Then the old people remembered that our blood was taken. Everybody was very sad knowing that our blood and the blood of our dead relatives was still being kept.