ABSTRACT

This chapter explores how the authenticity found in the freedom of creative play can inform our perspectives on death and dying, and how the merging of play and playfulness with end-of-life experiences offers an alternative approach to understanding and supporting those at the end of life’s journey. Active participation in play and playfulness contributes to the development of the social capital essential for the creation of healthy communities when it reinforces existing relationships based on trust, empathy and community cooperation. Recognition of the innovative potential of play and playfulness in this context represents a dynamic contribution to this public health debate. Children’s natural curiosity and their use of play as a means of exploration and discovery mean that from an early age they can conceptualize death as part of life, and how life and death fit together. The nature of the funeral ritual varies across history and culture and many funerary practices are recognizably playful, incorporating music, dancing and feasting.