Chinese culture:The final journey and others-00-2136

There are many different religions and cultures in the world and each one of them have things that are common with others. Have you heard of any culture where the youngsters do not respect their elders or where the parents do not love their kids? These things are common amongst all cultures. However there are certain things that are unique to and found only amongst the Chinese. Most of you who live in cities that boast of a good Chinese population must have observed the funeral cortege of the Chinese. Different cultures have a different way of treating their near and dear ones on their final journey. If you observe such a funeral, you will see a long procession of men and women with some people at the start playing drums and huge gongs.

Just behind them you will see a few people wrapped in sacks with their heads speared with ash. These are the close relatives of the deceased. You will also observe huge banners being carried by persons attending these funeral processions. A majority of the Chinese follows Buddhism and they do not cremate their dead. They try to stay away from doing things or performing acts that is looked upon as not being proper while arranging for the funeral of their deceased. They believe that if they do not care for the specific funeral rites and the specific burial customs, they shall be invoking misfortune to themselves and to their near and dear ones.

Thought funeral rites and burial customs may differ according to the marital status of the departed, his or her age, their social status and the reason behind their death. You cannot expect the same funeral rites to be performed on a person who has died a natural death and on someone else whose body got crushed under the wheels of a bus and was squashed beyond recognition. If a person has perished due to infectious diseases, some of the customs performed on the body of normal persons will be done away with, like embalming. Age plays a big factor as far as how the dead are treated in Chinese families. On the death of an unmarried person whose parents are still alive, there is a specific rule that is followed, the details of which are outlined below.

The parents cannot take the body of their departed son back home and the same must be left at the funeral parlor. The parents are also not allowed to offer prayers for the soul of their departed son, since he was younger to them and Chinese traditions do not permit the same respect that is given to elders to be given to youngsters too. Persons who are younger than the deceased person offer most service work and prayers. This poses a problem when kids of tender age pass away. In such circumstances there will be no services at all, since the delicate age of the kid is such that it cannot be bestowed with any respect or service.

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Article Source: http://www.essentialrelease.com

Michael Song is a professional Chinese translator working for VERY TRANSLATION which provides chinese language translation .
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