End-of-Life University

Learn about fascinating end-of-life rituals from cultures around the world.

My guest Gary Wederspahn is a board member of the Final Exit Network and the author of a book and many articles on cross-cultural communications and relations. He has served as a Peace Corps Director in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ecuador and has traveled in over 20 countries. He shares his passion for studying end-of-life rituals and traditions wherever he has traveled, including slides from many different countries. Learn more at these websites:

www.finalexitnetwork.org

www.thegooddeathsocietyblog.net

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This episode includes:

• What is appreciative inquiry and how it facilitates conversations
• Why studying end-of-life traditions introduces you to the values and deep culture of societies
• How end-of-life care has been outsourced here in the U.S. to our detriment
• Mayan traditions around death in Guatemala during Dia de los Muertos
• Three-part community cremation rituals in Bali
• The “thin veil” between the living and the dead that is perceived in many cultures
• How “continuing bonds” with ancestors help strengthen the family
• The use of cremated ashes to make burial beads in Korea
• How Vietnamese funeral processions resemble funeral parades in New Orleans
• Ceremonial kites flown in Guatemala city to honor their ancestors during Dia de los Muertos
• Zoroastrian custom of leaving corpses in “Towers of Silence” for vultures to consume
• Ifugao people in high country of Philippines keep bodies of their ancestors in rafters of the house and bring them out during special events
• “Bone collecting” ritual after cremation in Japan
• Igorot hanging coffins in the Philippines
• Tibetan sky burial also depends on vultures; Sioux burial platforms similarly rely on ravens to consume the body
• How Gary’s exposure to the rituals of other countries has informed his own decisions for the end of life

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Register for Q&A with Becky Aud-Jennison

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