ancient celtic funeral rites

These remains suggest elaborate social behavior, such as hierarchy and emotional attachment, but they also had their practical side.Coffins were stacked, remains would be pushed aside to make room for new ones, and sometimes, the coffins on the bottom collapsed under the weight of those above.A definite recognition of the spiritual significance of death can be found in the tendency to place graves in hidden areas where neither full light nor full darkness can truly reach.The people of Sumeria and Babylonia believed that the souls of the departed went to the Underworld, which was beneath Earth’s surface. Art, Music and Artifacts. As with the last student that contacted me, I realized I’ve never done a blog post on this topic, so here we go.As usual, my research focuses on Britain, but I will include what I’ve found for Ireland and Scotland, too. The whole was lit on fire. ), but from context it appears they were very similar to what takes place in the Roman Catholic religion today, which isn’t too surprising given how little liturgy has changed in its basic components within the Catholic Church.These could hold either bodies or ashes from cremation. Some sources also say the Druid would whisper to the dead person, giving him/her instructions on how to get to the next world. When the body was buried, the arms of the dead person could be loose at the sides or placed over the pubic area. The Proto-Celts had developed a culture of cremation of the dead, and then burial in urns.

Pre-Christian Celts believed in an after-death Otherworld (Annwn in Welsh mythology), a resting place between incarnations.It was a heaven-like paradise. In the past, most studies on Celtic burial practices focused on high status burials. The body was bathed, wrapped in a cloth, and presented with offerings to be cremated.At some times in Hindu history, these included the wives and servants of male deceased. Other less common ways the Hindus disposed of their dead included leaving the body in an open-air structure atop a hill, called a tower of silence, so it could be eaten by carrion predators.Many ancient spiritual beliefs in Eastern Asia centered upon ancestors. However, Hinduism is a broad term that covers a lot of regional practices with common threads.No importance is placed on the body, which is seen as merely a vessel for the soul. Scottish graves have been found with scattered small white stones (quartz), believed to ease the passage to the afterlife.I live just next to a Romano-British cemetery (Boscombe Down) , which in turn grew up around a bronze age barrow cluster. This was thought to appease the gods and ensure the deceased a good afterlife.They were also buried with belongings they might need in the afterlife. Although the Chinese would send burial offerings ahead of the spirit of the deceased by burning, they buried the body after performing funeral rituals.Representations of earthly belongings might be buried with them, as in the case of the famous terra-cotta soldiers buried with Qin Shi Huangdi, first emperor of China.In Japan, bodies were placed in barrels or clay pots and buried. References; There are different rites of passages for a girl and a boy. I started this company so people like you could finally get honest answers & advice from friendly agents who know this business inside and out. Old Celtic practices continued to thrive in Britain during and after the 5th century AD despite Roman occupation and the introduction of Christianity, according to a new book by a University of Burial practices reveal secret Celtic worship in Britain despite Roman occupation - UQ News - The University of Queensland, Australia A place for the deceased was laid out, and songs and poems, called elegies, were sung in their honor.Often, the body would be burned after the feast, and the remains would be placed in urns and buried. However, Japan is an island nation, so funeral processions often carried the deceased on a cart shaped like a boat.In Osaka and other areas of Japan, grand tombs called keyhole mounds house the remains of important people and their possessions. The Egyptians used almost the exact same practices, but there were a couple of notable differences.The first was that Egypt was hot and arid, necessitating mummification of the dead to prevent them from rotting and drawing disease to the living.