Death and remembrance: practices that mark them

Guiding, honouring and warding the dead, and the rites of mourning.

Death and remembrance bring some of the most elaborate rites in the world, aimed at guiding the dead, protecting the living and keeping the bond between them. They include the Hindu cremation and Pitru Paksha offerings, the Tibetan Buddhist bardo teachings, the Jewish shiva, Islamic burial customs, the Irish wake, Chinese ancestor offerings, the Mexican Day of the Dead, the Ghanaian fantasy coffin and Aboriginal mourning rules. This page describes them as customs.

Guiding the dead

Many traditions see death as a journey that needs help. Hindu rites are said to carry the soul onward, Tibetan Buddhist texts guide the dead through an intermediate state, and ancient Egyptian rites prepared the dead for judgement. In many Chinese and Southeast Asian families, paper money, houses and goods are burned so the dead are provided for. Many such customs came from a time when disease and decay posed real danger, and the rules about touching and washing the body reflect that.

Protecting the living

The dead can be feared as well as loved. Customs aim to keep them from returning wrongly: covering mirrors in Jewish and some European homes, leaving by a different door, throwing salt, and cleansing after a funeral. Some Aboriginal communities do not speak a dead person's name for a time. Mourners often observe set periods and then rejoin ordinary life. In Judaism and Islam, burial is quick and simple, and mourners follow a defined period of grief that gradually returns them to normal life.

Remembrance and ancestors

In Mexico, families set out an ofrenda with photographs, marigolds and the favourite foods of the dead. In China, the Qingming festival sees graves swept. In West Africa, the dead are honoured as ancestors and consulted. In Madagascar, the famadihana turns the bones of ancestors in fresh cloth. Such rites are an active relationship. Rites for the dead continue after burial: remembrance days, annual visits to graves and prayers that mark anniversaries keep the memory of each person present.

Law, cost and exploitation

Funeral cost can be heavy and open to exploitation, and fraudulent mediums prey on the grieving. States regulate disposal of bodies, and some traditions, such as sky burial in Tibet and Hindu open-air cremation, have been restricted at times. Grief support from friends and professionals matters beside any rite. Grief takes many forms, and a rite does not replace mourning, though many mourners find that a shared ritual gives the first days a shape and gives friends and relatives something to do.

Death and remembrance on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreEye of Horuswḏꜣt A stylized eye symbol in ancient Egypt representing healing and cosmic orderCharm · Protection · Healing Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreDomovoyДомовой A household spirit in Slavic folklore that guards the family and home.Being · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptScarab A carved beetle amulet and seal used in ancient Egypt for protection, identity, and ritual.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreIsisꜣst (Egyptian) Egyptian goddess of magic, mourning and kingship, mother of HorusBeing · Protection · Healing Historical

🇵🇰 Pakistan and 4 moreLal Shahbaz Qalandarلعل شهباز قلندر A Sufi saint and poet revered in South Asia, especially among the Sindhi people.Figure · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptUshabtiwšbtj Ancient Egyptian funerary figurines believed to work for the dead in the afterlifeCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreJet A black gemstone carved into amulets and mourning jewellery for centuriesCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition · Protection · Healing Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptAnubis𓇋𓈖𓊪𓃣 The jackal-headed god who guides souls and oversees mummification in ancient Egypt.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreStrigoi A Romanian undead spirit linked to witchcraft and vampirismBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptAncient Egyptian afterlife beliefs A system of rituals and texts guiding the soul through the underworld to eternal rebirthTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreUpiórупіор A demonic spirit from Slavic and Turkic folklore that is believed to return from the dead to feed on the living.Being · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇶 IraqKispu An ancient Mesopotamian ritual to feed and honour the dead ancestorsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptOpening of the mouth ceremonywpt-r (Egyptian) An ancient Egyptian rite to restore a deceased person's senses for the afterlifeRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical

🇱🇹 Lithuania and 1 moreLithuanian mythologyLietuvių mitologija The ancient polytheistic beliefs of the Baltic people, preserved in folklore and early chroniclesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaAtharvavedaअथर्ववेद The fourth Veda of Hinduism, containing spells, healing rites, and domestic rituals.Text · Protection · Healing Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptDjedḏd An ancient Egyptian pillar symbol representing stability and resurrectionCharm · Protection · Power and authority Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaPig dragon玉豬龍 A coiled Neolithic jade amulet from Hongshan culture, possibly an early dragon imageCharm · Power and authority Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreHypocephalus An ancient Egyptian disk placed under the head of the dead for protection and rebirthCharm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreScarab An ancient Egyptian amulet and seal shaped like a dung beetleCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreLecanomancy Divination using a dish or bowl of water to read the futureOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇨🇳 China and 2 moreChinese burial money瘞錢 (yì qián) Imitations of currency placed in Chinese graves to serve the deceased in the afterlife.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptPlummet amulet An Ancient Egyptian charm shaped like a plumb bob to ensure balance in the afterlifeCharm Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaShi尸 A living descendant who sat in place of a dead ancestor during ancient Chinese ritualsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇨🇦 CanadaPinga An Inuit goddess of the hunt and medicine who oversees caribou herds and souls.Being · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 JapanDatsue-ba奪衣婆 A Japanese underworld figure who strips clothes from spirits at the river of deathBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptMenatmnj.t A beaded necklace and rattle linked to Hathor for protection and luck in ancient EgyptCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandTailteann GamesÁenach Tailteann Ancient Irish funeral games and assemblies held in County Meath to honor the dead.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical

🇹🇷 TurkeyHittite sun disk An ancient Anatolian bronze symbol used in Hattian and Hittite religious ceremoniesCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical

🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreSwastika (Germanic Iron Age) A four-armed symbol found on Germanic artefacts from the Migration to Viking periods.Belief · Power and authority Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesNew England vampire panic A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief · Protection · Healing Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptHermanubisἙρμανοῦβις A Graeco-Egyptian god who guides the souls of the dead to the underworld.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Plummet amulet: The Art Institute of Chicago, CC0, source
Ushabti: Unknown author, CC0, source
Chinese burial money: Gary Todd, CC0, source
Pig dragon: Prof. Gary Lee Todd, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Scarab: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs: Hunefer, Public domain, source
Upiór: Віщун, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Hypocephalus: rob koopman, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Opening of the mouth ceremony: Hunefer, Public domain, source
Lecanomancy: Author Robert Burns Translator Alexander Smith Illustrator C. A. Vande, Public domain, source
Lithuanian mythology: Prussian historian Christophorus Hartknoch (1644-1687), Public domain, source
Atharvaveda: William Dwight Whitney / Charles Rockwell Lanman, Public domain, source
Djed: Anonymous ( Egypt ) Unknown author, Public domain, source
Isis: Ägyptischer Maler um 1360 v. Chr., Public domain, source
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar: Fassifarooq, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Datsue-ba: Fred Cherrygarden, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Menat: Anagoria, CC BY 3.0, source
Jet: Thmsfrst, Public domain, source
Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Anubis: Hunefer, Public domain, source
Tailteann Games: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Eye of Horus: Tangopaso, Public domain, source
Domovoy: Ivan Bilibin, Public domain, source
Hittite sun disk: Noumenon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Scarab: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, source
Swastika (Germanic Iron Age): No machine-readable author provided. Bloodofox~commonswiki assumed (ba, Public domain, source
New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source
Hermanubis: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Shi: Jason Zou, Public domain, source