Tuesday 5 February 2013

SHORT ABSTRACT ON DEATH RITUAL IN TAMANG

Tamang societies view death as a social creation. It is normally during the death feasts that potential marriage couple form, so with that in mind it is understandable that these death feasts are conducted for adults only. At the ritual all connection between the dead and the living are separated, from then on once the separation is complete the living no longer have to fear the wraith of the dead.

Tamang simultaneously engage Buddhist lamas who preside over elaborate rites of death, sacrificial lambu who propitiate chthonic divinities and exorcise harmful agents, and shamanic bombo who recapture lost shadow souls, revive life-force, unveil an enigmatic divine, and reveal.

The Tamang take this very seriously, the whole point of this death ritual is to keep the happy thoughts between the living and the dead happy! If the deceased soul does not achieve a good rebirth then the group that was responsible for completing that ritual are normally plagued with bad luck. This is where the Lamas come into play; it is up to them to ensure the safety of both the living and the dead. During the funeral feast, the Lamas will call forth the 9 bla (shadow souls) that inhabit the body. After removing them from the body he combines them all together so that they form just 1 bla who can then be reborn.

It is imperative that this happens otherwise the bla will get angry and then everyone suffers.

As you can see, the topic of death rituals is very interesting, each culture has their own reasons for doing it but at the end it is always for the same reason. To maintain a good relationship between the living and the dead.

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