A Muslim Daughter's Role in Preparing her Mother for Burial

The Guardian today ran a touching piece about a young muslim woman who, on the death of her mother, discovered it was her duty to wash down her mother's body and prepare her for burial. 

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/26/muslim-daughter-mother-burial

It's strange: this is not something we really talk about in modern Western culture, but every person who dies is washed down. It is interesting to consider why this wouldn't be done by a close family member.

Perhaps because we do not know that we are 'allowed' to do it - we don't learn it at school, and death is still such a taboo subject in so many homes. Perhaps because we are overwraught with grief that we do not feel that we could manage it. Perhaps because this level of intimacy would feel strange to us.

Whatever the reason, this could undoubtedly be a cathartic process; something which could help with the grief process and give us an additional way to say goodbye to our loved ones. If it were more commonly known that families could take part in this practice, would more people choose to do so?

As Momtaz Begum-Hossain puts it: "I reminisce over it all as a special memory. Not everyone has a chance to say goodbye properly to someone they love, but I did more than that."

“Preparing for death is one of the most empowering things you can do. Thinking about death clarifies your life.”

- Candy Chang

Roman Skulls Discovered by Crossrail Tunnellers

Around 20 Roman skulls have been discovered by Crossrail tunnellers building a utility tunnel at Crossrail’s Liverpool Street Station site.

Working under the direction of Crossrail’s archaeologists, the construction workers carefully removed the human skulls, found up to six metres below ground in the sediment of the historic river channel of the River Walbrook.

The skulls have been found below the Bedlam burial ground established in the 16th century, where 3,000 skeletons will be carefully removed during major archaeological excavations next year.

The tunnellers have also discovered wooden medieval structures believed to have been part of the walls of the Bedlam burial ground.

Please click here for the full story from Crossrail.

Just as one cannot experience true joy without having suffered great pain, life is impossible without death, for they are a single process.  Death is life in another form.

- Philip Kapleau

Ancient London Burial Ground Unearthed

Crossrail excavations have unearthed an ancient London burial ground, reports The Guardian.

A walled, two-acre burial ground which was opened in the mid-17th century by order of the mayor of London has been discovered. It was the first built away from the city's parish churches and their overfilled graveyards, and was usually known as Bedlam because it was on land formerly occupied by the mental hospital.

 

The victims of several plague outbreaks were also buried there, and as it filled, there were appeals for more top soil to keep the bodies decently covered; by the time it closed in 1714 it is said to have held a two-metre layer solid with corpses.

Because the bodies came from all over London, those buried there are unusually socially diverse. There are no surviving burial records for the cemetery, and instead names are scattered through thousands of records in the parishes where those buried there lived or died. The tunnelling project's chief archaeologist says up to 4,000 bodies of plague victims and inmates of Bedlam may yet be discovered.

Click here to read the full report from The Guardian.

All goes onward and outward,
Nothing collapses
And to die is different from
What anyone supposes
And luckier.

 - Walt Whitman

Historical Burial Ground Discovered in London

An historical burial ground in central London has been discovered by archaeologists during the Crossrail project.  Thirteen skeletons believed to be up to 660 years old have been uncovered lying in two carefully laid out rows on the edge of Charterhouse Square at Farringdon.

Historical records suggest a burial ground in the Farringdon area was opened during the Black Death Plague in 1348.  Despite development in the area over the past centuries, the burial ground, described in historical records as “no man’s land”, has never been located. Records suggest up to 50,000 people may have been buried in less than three years in the emergency cemetery, which was used up until the 1500s.

Archaeologists have previously uncovered over 300 burials from the 1500s to 1700s at the New Cemetery near the site of the Bedlam Hospital at Liverpool Street.

Click here to read the full report from Crossrail.      

Quote

Dying is the most fascinating experience in life.  You’ve got to approach dying the way you live your life – with curiosity, hope, experimentation, and with the help of your friends. 

- Dr Timothy Leary 

Death: A Self Portrait.

The Richard Harris Collection at the Wellcome Collection.

Thursday 15 November 2012 - Sunday 24 February 2013. 

A fascinating collection of memento mori, with over 300 exhibits displayed through five themed rooms, featuring works as diverse as a Renaissance painting, an etching by Goya, anatomical illustrations and papier-mâché sculptures.  It also boasts the stunning War Collection by Otto Dix and one of the earliest known versions of the Danse Macabre from the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493, alongside a range of contemporary artworks inspired by death.    

The collection contains items inspired by and celebrating death, amassed from countries across the globe over a 12 year period by Richard Harris, a former antiques dealer from Chicago.  The collection provides a unique opportunity to take a look at the many perspectives surrounding this eternally elusive subject. 

The venue also hosts a well-stocked book store selling the accompanying book by Richard Harris, and also offering a good selection of books and items in keeping with the theme.

The exhibition, which is free to enter, runs until 24 February 2013, and is well worth a visit.

For more information, see www.wellcomecollection.org/death.