ABSTRACT
Burial of the dead is an ancient practice among humans. From paleolithic times to the present, humans have responded to the death of their fellow humans with solemnity and ceremony. C. Geertz described a funeral in Java in which the insistence on traditional practices served to disrupt, rather than restore, the sense of community. He reported that traditional rites, which were suited to an agricultural village and folk milieu, caused much dissention and confusion among villagers when practiced in town, where the economic, social, and political orientations were different from those of the village. The belief in immortality and the piacular obligations of the funeral are contrary to the philosophical and ideological beliefs of a large segment of the American public. In contrast, the US experience with death at the national level has been a study in the functional qualities of the funeral.
