Have you ever wondered why we bury our dead in the ground? There is a good chance you haven’t because to you, it is simply just what we do. Not to mention that with trips to the graveyard not being a common thing, the topic most likely doesn’t come up that often. But still, it is something that you might be wondering about now that we have brought the topic up. So why do we bury the dead in the ground? Especially now that other options are available such as cremation? For the current day and age it is mostly for reasons of religion and tradition. We have been burying loved ones for ages, and there is something personal about our final resting place being in the same place as our parents and grandparents.
It is hard to pinpoint the exact point when the practice started, the earliest reported burial was 100,000 years ago. As to why the early neanderthal decided to bury their dead is difficult to truly know for sure since they had no established form of language. It can be speculated though that it had some form of early religious significance or that it was simply practical. Any form of dead will attract scavengers which can be both dangerous to the tribe and can be disheartening to witness. A dead body will also release rather unpleasant gases, so burial was a good way to solve both of those problems. It is also noted that during the later era of the neanderthals, what appears to be religious aspects of buried started to occur such as being buried with various items such as tools, cloth, figurines and red ochre.
As early man developed, it seems that the religious aspects of burials begun to become more prominent until it became a part of the Christian religion, especially to the catholic. While there is a distinct difference between the mortal vessel and the soul within the body, the body itself is still seen as being the person, even after death. Some also see the body as a temple of God, with God being inside all of us. For both of these reasons it is seen as important to respect the dead with a ground burial. Outside of the religious aspects there is the fact, like we said before, that by now it is simply a matter of tradition. Our ancestors were buried, our parents and their parents were buried, and our descendants likely will be as well. So make the tradition count, put your loved ones in the hands of a dedicated funeral home, one that will show them the utmost respect and care.
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