Here we'll explore the biological process of death and also clear up some basic questions about the science of it all. Find out how the mind reacts to death and how people try to cope with it. Death is treated very differently all around the world. Here we'll discuss the various religious and cultural differences. Discover the social implications of death and how death affects society. Discuss death related topics with other surfers.

Anthropology The Law of Similarity and the Uncleanness of the Corpse But respect is only half the story with the dead. When the word "corpse" is mentioned, the modern mind is more likely to feel a twinge of loathing. This too can be attributed to our ancestors' belief in Frazer's laws of sympathetic magic. The principle of similarity states that like produces like. For example, in Voodoo rituals the houngan (Voodoo priest) will draw a representation of the spirit he or she wishes to invoke. The belief that creating an imitation of the spirit will help summon the spirit is a central part of Voodoo and an excellent illustration of the law of similarity. Another example is the ancient Incan attachment to gold. The Inca people worshipped the sun. They called gold the blood of the sun and revered it above all other materials, simply because it shares two properties with the sun; it has a bright yellow color and it refuses to be tarnished. As a representation of the sun, they assumed it to have some unseen relationship with the sun. If our ancestors applied this thought process to dead things, they would have found good reason to be wary of them. If like produces like, if gold contains the essence of the sun, would it not hold that a dead being would contain the essence of death? Where many rituals concerning the careful treatment of the body started for the sake of the departed, others began to protect the living from the inscrutable force which stopped each of them. Many jungle tribes in Africa still move their camp and never return to the same place when one of their own dies and must be buried. Such an attitude is part of our cultural inheritance; Jewish law dictates that a corpse is unclean and must be handled with care, until this century members of the Hindu caste responsible for gravedigging and burial were pariahs, and people of numerous nations and creeds are incredibly reluctant to touch human remains, unless they are those of someone especially close. But when you consider it, who could blame our ancestors? Dead bodies rot, rot produces disease, disease produces more dead bodies. It's the principle of contagion, only far more concrete. Copyright 2001. Created by a Thinkquest team. Feel free to email us at C0122781@thinkquest.org.