This page groups rituals by how settled or contested their scholarly description is. Wikipedia notes plainly that "the field of ritual studies has seen a number of conflicting definitions of the term." Browsing this way lets a visitor see which rituals scholars broadly agree on and which remain genuinely disputed.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingRites performed at and after a death - preparation of the body, disposal by burial or cremation, and the observances kept for a fixed period afterwards. Nearly every tradition marks death by rite, but the rites answer different problems: the fate of the dead, the pollution of the living, the obligations of descendants, and the ordering of grief. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2 Learn More
The funerary rituals
This group gathers funerary rituals, the rites surrounding death, the care of the body, and the passage of the dead: burial and cremation, mourning, and the ceremonies that ease or guide the deceased into the afterlife. A tradition's treatment of death reveals much of its view of the soul and the world beyond.
The browser will find funerary rituals from across the traditions. The entries describe each rite's form and meaning, noting the beliefs about death and the afterlife that shape it.
Scholarly Standing
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Funeral RitesView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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