ABSTRACT
Funerals act as transitional rituals. Death dislocates the deceased and the bereaved from their usual roles in the social structure, placing them in a liminal state. The deceased person has left the world of the living, but the corpse is still present; simultaneously, the bereaved are isolated, often marked out (for example, by dress) and excluded from full participation in the community. Funerals serve both to reintegrate the bereaved into and separate the dead from the world of the living. Rituals can also bring together different members of a society while also allocating, and thus reinforcing, roles according to status, wealth, age and gender. As such, funerals can bind and unite a society, providing an opportunity to demonstrate common beliefs and core values.
