Tag Archives: Dead Body

Funeral Procession

Title: Funeral Procession

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: India
  • Informant: Athi
  • Date Collected: 10-10-18

Informant Data:

  • Athi is a male psychiatrist of The Woodlands, TX. He was born in Nager Coil, India in 1970, but moved to the United States in 1998 following his marriage. Besides work, he enjoys playing golf and watching television. Today, he lives with his family in a small, suburban home just outside of Houston.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Indians consider death to be a painless escape from the cycle of life. Lord Yama, the God of Death, is believed to claim souls from the mortal world at a specific, pre-determined time. Following death, the body is taken through the village while onlookers chant mantras. The soul remains attached to the body over the course of this procession, only separating from the body once the ritual is complete. Then, on its journey to Yama, the soul is believed to take along all the sorrow/pain/wishes/desires it encountered from the mantra-chanters.

 

  • Social Context: The informant first learnt of this superstition on his way to school as a young child. As a funeral procession passed by, everyone stopped in their tracks. The began chanting mantras and silently praying.

Item:

  • The viewing of a funeral procession on the way to work, school, college, etc. is auspicious. It indicates the destruction of evil and sorrows from life and suggests that all pending desires and work will soon be achieved/accomplished.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

  • “In South India, it is believed that seeing a dead body while walking out of the house is considered very lucky because whatever you want to finish or accomplish on that day will happen without any problems.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This superstition is interesting, since one would expect that viewing a dead body would bring about bad luck, but under Indian beliefs, the opposite occurs.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is an example of a sign superstition, as it follows the form, “If A, Then B”. If one sees a funeral procession on his way, then all his sorrows will disappear and he will be able to accomplish anything he desires.

Collector’s Name: Sanjena Venkatesh

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Lore
  • Superstition
  • Funeral Procession / Dead Body