May 2013
62 posts
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The battle over Tamerlan’s body →
As a mortician, I see how people care most about corpses when they want revenge on them
A great piece by Caitlin Doughty that raises a lot of interesting questions.
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Vatican denounces Mexico Death Saint →
A senior Vatican official has condemned the cult of Santa Muerte, or Holy Death, in Mexico as “blasphemous”.
The president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, said worshipping Santa Muerte was a “degeneration of religion”.
Cardinal Ravasi spoke at a series of events for believers and non-believers in Mexico City.
The cult,...
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10 facts about Hell →
Inferno, the first part of Dante’s poem The Divine Comedy, provides the theme and title for the new thriller by Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. The original poem describes a journey through Hell - writer Stephen Tomkins gives a 10-point tour of the underworld.
(Source: BBC News)
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How many saints are there? →
Pope Francis canonised 813 people on Sunday meaning sainthood is a less exclusive club than ever. And there’s no sign of the Catholic church slowing down.
(Source: The Guardian)
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Why Georgians 'dine with the dead' →
In many Western countries graveyards are seen as sinister or even frightening but not so in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.
As with other eastern Orthodox countries, it is common for Georgians to honour their deceased relatives by taking food and wine to cemeteries, and having feasts beside the graves.
Although practised thoughout the year, Orthodox Easter is one of the busiest times...
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Coffins no longer a must in Ireland →
It will no longer be illegal to bury bodies without coffins in the Republic of Ireland from next month.
Under existing regulations, a body can not be buried unless it is enclosed in a sufficiently strong material such as wood.
The change was made to facilitate Muslims, who are normally buried without a coffin.
However, after 1 June, anyone may elect to have a loved one buried without a...
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Music to murder to: crime writers on their killer... →
Martyn Waites: You’re more likely to see other crime writers at gigs than literary events, so what role does music have in the creation of crime fiction?
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In Boston, A Rare Rejection Of The Dead : NPR →
Usually, even the most heinous killers are buried without incident. That’s not true for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, whose body has become the subject of angry protests.
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After Outcry, Disney Withdraws Effort To Trademark... →
The Walt Disney Company told Fronteras Desk it will withdraw trademark applications related to the Day of the Dead holiday. Disney made the decision late Tuesday after an avalanche of social media backlash.
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Druid wants fake bones at Stonehenge →
A druid leader is calling for fake, rather than real, human remains to be put on display at Stonehenge.
In an open letter, King Arthur Pendragon has criticised English Heritage for the “macabre manner” it plans to display “ancestral remains”.
In 2011 he lost a High Court bid to have bones, found in 2008, reburied.
English Heritage said the remains are not from the 2008...
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Egyptians grab ancient land of the pharaohs to... →
Archaeologists fear for pyramid sites as illegal building gathers pace in wake of Arab spring
(The Guardian)
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Feed Me to the Wind →
Across Britain, cremation ashes remain uncollected. Amanda Mitchinson investigates why.
(Source: BBC)
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Watch
Dead and Buried is an innovative research project that enagaged a group of young people with the opportunity to work alongside Dr Hannah Rumble, from Bath University’s Centre for Death and Society and Charlotte Chapman, a facilitator from Kumiko Community Arts, to engage in a participatory arts project exploring death and natural burial. The project ran for 7 weeks, meeting one afternoon a week,...
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Buried alive: the premature obituaries →
Stephen Moss: Geoge Soros may have been surprised to read the report of his death, but he joins a proud tradition of people erroneously killed off by the media
(Source: The Guardian)
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Letter from Africa: Rites of the dead →
In our series of letters from African journalists, Sola Odunfa in Lagos pays his last respects.
I love funerals.
It is the only ceremony I know which confronts human beings with the stark reality of the transient nature of the individual and witnesses to the “great leveller”.
When I sit at a funeral I look at the sealed coffin.
I think of the body inside - former king or common...
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Turns out Richard was not the only one buried... →
When archaeologists discovered the remains of Richard III last summer, they also stumbled across a second exciting find.A 600-year-old, lead-lined stone coffin was discovered buried near the…
(Source: ThisisLeicestershire)
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Why Didn't My Richard III Come Gift Wrapped? →
It seems there has never been a better time to head outside and start digging up your local car park. Since the bones of Richard III were exhumed in Leicester last summer, archaeology has become more exciting than even two decades of Channel 4’s Time Team could have dreamed.
(Source: Huffington Post)
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Ghanaians ban 'spirit child' killing →
Local leaders in northern Ghana have announced the abolition of the ritual killing of babies born with physical disabilities, who were believed to have been possessed by evil spirits.
“Spirit children” were thought to have been a sign of impending misfortune and given a poisonous drink to kill them.
One campaigner told the BBC that improved healthcare and education meant such...
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Hyundai + the Invisible Man →
CALM Director, Jane Powell, responds to the Hyundai advert…
(Source: CALM)
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Hyundai pulls suicide bid car advert →
Carmaker Hyundai has apologised and pulled an online advert that depicted a man attempting to kill himself with exhaust fumes in its new model.
Hyundai said it “sincerely apologises for the offensive viral video”.
The advert, highlighting the car’s “100% water emissions”, attracted complaints on social media sites.
Londoner Holly Brockwell, whose father killed...
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Bringing people back from the dead →
A doctor says people can be revived several hours after they have seemingly died. Should this change the way we think about death?
Carol Brothers can’t recall the exact moment she died.
“I know it must have been a Friday around lunchtime, because we’d got back from shopping,” the 63-year old says. “I can’t remember getting out of the car.”
Her husband...
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Understanding Grief: Mourning In A Healthier Way →
Wouldn’t it be in our best interest as a society to transform our fear-based culture of death by encouraging a healthier belief about death as a normal occurrence? There is so much we could do to educate and prepare ourselves to handle death with greater loving, service, and compassion.
(Source: Huffington Post)
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Carbon tests on 'battle casualty' →
Tests are under way on a skeleton found in an East Sussex town to find out if it could be a casualty of the 1264 Battle of Lewes.
Lewes is gearing up for celebrations next year to mark the 750th anniversary of the battle.
York University experts are testing bones thought to be those of a soldier.
Sussex Archaeological Society said if the skeleton was found to be a battlefield victim, it would...
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Richard III archaeologists to return to Leicester... →
Excavators plan to search for Sir William Moton, who is believed to have been buried at Grey Friars church in 1362
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