Ancient Egyptians have a very different way of doing things when someone dies. They believe that after someone has died their soul travels into the afterlife that night. Osiris is their king of the dead. Ammut is the demon waiting to devour the deads heart. When an Egyptian dies they go through a 70 day process called mummification. A mummy is a corpse of a person or animal preserved after death. The first thing they do in a mummification process is they wash the corpse. Then they remove the person’s organs. After that they individually wrap the organs, and then they stuff the corpse with salt called natron. Then they remove the brain from the nose. Then the body was wrapped and in between the layers they put jewels. A portrait mask was placed on their face by the chief embalmer, and then the body was put into a coffin. Each body had three souls according to the Egyptians they were called the ka, ba, and the akh. Their belief in the re-birth after death became their main focus other than their funeral practice.
Ancient China is much different from the Egyptians. The preparation for a funeral is done before death. They are put in a coffin that is rectangular with three humps. The body is completely dressed, cosmetics if it is a female. Before the body is placed in the coffin their face is covered with a yellow cloth and their body in a light blue cloth. If the person died in the house they will have the funeral in the house, and if the person died away from home they will have the funeral in a courtyard. If a baby or child dies there is no funeral held for them. At a funeral the family members don’t wear jewelry and they burn their clothes that they wore to the funeral so there is no more mourning. After seven days the soul of the dead will come back to the home. So the family puts out a red plaque so the soul won’t get lost. The Egyptian and Chinese death rituals are much different as you can see. The process of the Egyptian rituals is much longer and more complex, than the Chinese rituals.
In Jewish rituals the first thing you do when someone dies is if you belong to a synagogue and the family member lives near you then you need to contact a rabbi.
Jewish burials take place as quick as possible. The only way a funeral will be postponed is if a close family member can’t get in, in time or if there is a Jewish holiday it will be held off for a day. Cremation or embalming is against Jewish law. Men prepare men and women prepare women. They wash the body with warm water from head to foot. They are buried with prayer shawls. From right when they die until the burial they are not left alone this is called guarding or watching. Jewish funerals are simple and brief. Those who attend stay standing until the family has left the room. Following the funeral they form two lines and as the family passes they recite the traditional condolence. After the burial it is customary for the family to sit in Shiva (in mourning), for 3 days. They cover all mirrors and sit and mourn, it is a time for family closeness. All three of these funeral rituals are different in their own way Egyptians are very complex, Chinese are into what happens to the body and the Jews spend lots of time mourning. But yet all of them are interesting.