Explain How The Death Taboos Of Copper Inuits

Throughout different cultures, people handle death in different ways. Some of the issues that those the dead left behind must face include disposal of the body, grievance, memorializing, and preparation for the afterlife. Whether it is the Bagisu leaving corpses for wild animals to eat (Beierle 2003), the death taboos of Copper Inuits, or Italian Americans carrying a body out of a dwelling feet first so that it cannot see the door and return (Cowell 1986), all cultures must develop methods to deal with the inevitable end of life.
The Copper Inuit live in the Canadian Arctic, a harsh climate. According to David Damas (1996:1), “Gulfs and straits are ice free for only about 3 months of the year and snow covers the ground from usually some
The Christian faith, and especially Roman Catholicism, has the central belief of an afterlife involving heaven, hell, and purgatory. Interestingly, despite the large number of Catholics, only about half of Italian Americans believe in life after death. (Alba 1985). Similarly to the Copper Inuits, Italian Americans bury the deceased with objects. They believe that the souls of the deceased desire to return to earth and must be persuaded to remain in the next world (Cowell 1986). According to Daniel Cowell (1986:239), “Following a wake, the body would be placed in a pine box, carried on the shoulders of friends to the church cemetery, preceded by a village band if available, and buried by the family who also marked the grave with a small stone or cross.” At the funeral, flowers are important, as well as the
The more a culture believes in the afterlife, the more that culture will prepare for it (through more elaborate funerals and burial services). Italian-Americans, who have less a belief in the afterlife, have funerals that cater more to grieving than the deceased. According to Colleen Johnson (1985:100), “Family and friends still acknowledge the need for the mourning process in the company of loved ones in order to accommodate to the loss.” The Copper Inuit, too, have less elaborate funerals. Although they do have the funeral taboos, they also simply leave the bodies to be eaten by wolves and foxes (Pryde 1972). Also, sometimes they will simply abandon the body without having a funeral service. The Bagisu have fairly strong beliefs in the afterlife. As a result, their funeral services are more complex with dancing, although still somber with lack of beer and