Customs concerning death and burial rites depict the ethics, religious cosmology and intellectual development of people and their culture. The average person today tends to ignore researching or learning about burial traditions, probably because the modern world is more about youth and life with a deep rooted fear of death hidden in a corner of the mind. Death is a part of living and archaeologists explore the history of past civilizations by uncovering burial practices that cultures leave behind. These discoveries reveal more and more about the way people lived and where our present cosmology around the world comes from.

Central America has a rich history of burial rituals and customs that have fused with the invasion of Catholic and Evangelical traditions to create interesting and sometimes bizarre present day practices. This is a quick overview of Central American burial rites and customs past and present.

INCAS

The Inca people practiced mummification of their dead using ice. They built great funerary pyramids for their rulers, much like the Egyptians. Surrounding the body of the dead they buried various symbolic artifacts.

AZTECS

The Aztec had their priest or “Holy Man” deliver a speech over the body of the dead and performed a ritual that was to prepare the journey to the next existence for the dead. The priest would pour water onto the head of the dead (similar to baptism is Christian faith) and a mourning liturgy was spoken. Then paper was laid on the dead that was meant to help the person pass the hazards of the path to a new existence.

MAYAN

The Mayan culture had a very strong religious cosmology which included many death rituals. This ancient culture believed that life and death were on a cyclic continuum (similar to the Mandela and known as the “cycles of creation and the cycles of destruction”) in tune with earth seasons and astronomical cycles. They believed when ordinary people died they entered the “underworld” through a cave. But when rulers or leaders died they went to “Sky World” and became one with the gods.

Mayans saw a natural death as less desirable than a noble death from battle or events that challenged the worth of the person such as an encounter with a wild animal, death by sacrifice or suicide. They worshipped their ancestors and through this practice honored their gods.

Their death rituals included painting the dead body red (cinnabar), covering the body with a shroud like cloth and then burying it under the house where the family of the dead lived. The bodies of the dead were surrounded by religious objects from the person’s life and their mouth stuffed with maize and a jade stone. This was done with the hope of keeping the destruction of the world from happening during the night and maize was the symbol of rebirth. The graves always faced the bodies north or west toward the Mayan heavens.
Mayan priests were buries in graves with their sacred books. Wealthy leaders were cremated and funerary temples were built over their urns. Some Mayans mummified the heads of dead leaders and kept them in family mausoleums where they could be visited and “fed” at regular times.

After the Spanish invasion and conquest native Mayan beliefs and Catholic Christian beliefs began to merge. It is interest that both shared many similar rituals and icon based theological symbolism. The supernatural beliefs about death have fused with the resurrection theology of Catholicism and created many new “cult like” death rituals.

MEXICO

The people of Mexico seem to have an obsession with death and their culture is said to be “a death-rich” society steeped with traditions, art and social events that revolve around death and dying. The Mexican people are a reflection of the Aztec and Mayan sacrificial practices blended with the New World Catholicism brought by the Spanish. This mixture of belief about death and dying is seen in the bullfight life and death struggle and in the death scenes in many Mexican art by artists such as Posada, Rivera and Kahlos.

The celebration Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) is observed by all Mexicans and viewed my outsiders are morbid and weird. Yet, the characterization of death in art, events and festivals is said to be “existential affirmations of the lives and contributions made by all who have existed” (Sanchez, 1985, “Day of the Dead Is Also about Life” article for San Antonio Express News). And the skeletal characters in various arts are said to represent a political call to revolution. Leave your old life for a new one, is the theme of most death and dying symbols and practices, while the rituals help the dead make the transition.

Mexico is infused with many traditional folk and native death myths, while also embracing the Catholic faith. The blend of these beliefs means a person will have a Catholic Mass funeral service and then later the family will celebrate the death in native traditions.

NICARAGUA

The people of present day Nicaragua are a good example of the fusion between native beliefs ad Catholic beliefs concerning death. When a person dies it involves a “vela” and the celebration of “nueva dias”.

The “vela” is similar to visiting hours or a wake and may last usually one day. When the “vela” ends the “enterramiento” (burial) takes place. Then a time of mourning with singing, praying and reading of liturgy takes place and may last hours or days. But this does not end the burial ritual, as the “vela” is only the beginning of the “nueva dias” (nine days of mourning) the family of the departed hosts a celebration of life and death. This practice of daily praying, singing, reading scripture and eating can involve an entire community (in rural areas) or neighborhood and is called “Flor de Cana” (for those that can not bear it).

GUATEMALA

The death rituals of Guatemala are another example of the fusion that has occurred between native beliefs and new world Catholicism. Death rituals show how the culture has developed a union of indigenous and early Spanish influences that represent the present practices.

The burial of the body must take place within hours after the death occurs. A special funeral person cleans the body and dresses it for burial. Wooden coffins are usually used for interment and the body is placed in it once it has been prepared. The family mourns and neighbors honor the dead with candles surrounding the coffin. Groups called, the “cofradia” attendants dig the grave and take the coffin to the cemetery, lead the procession with the “skull and cross-bone’ banner . as the trail (procession) of mourners follow. As the coffin is carried to the cemetery people place pennies on it and these are used by the officiate priest to pay for incense and for each offering a paternoster’ is recited. The offerings are also a symbolic gesture of buying the soul into heaven’.
Once at the cemetery the coffin is lowered into the grave and each mourner takes a fist full of fresh dirt says a blessing, kisses the dirt then throws in down on the coffin. Supernatural lingerings from native tradition usually influence the family of the dead to bury personal items with the coffin to assure quick and rapid assent of the “spirit” to the next life. The Guatemalan people are very superstitious and fearful of dead spirits returning to haunt the living. Thus candles surround the coffin and water is thrown on the fresh grave to ward off evil spirits and avert possible supernatural retaliation. The forces of “darkness” are very real to the native people and they fear dead bodies can attract evil.

BELIZE

There is a very interesting Garifuna tradition concerning the rituals of the dead celebrated by the Garinagu people of Belize. The Garifuna culture is a unique blend of African and Carib Arawak traditions. They celebrate three traditional rites of the dead:

The Amuyadahani washing the Spirit of the Dead
The Chugu Feeding the Dead
The Dugu Feasting of the Dead
The most sacred of these rituals is the Dugu which celebrates the respect for dead ancestors.

So many customsso many rituals.so many traditions, it is very easy to see why Central America is such a very interesting place to study religion with its diverse fusion of native theology and Christian theology it offers a history of human struggle to cope with and comprehend the meaning of life and death.

Sources: www.answers.com
www.artemaya.com
www.telecomplus.net
www.civilization.ca