Chairman Kim Il Sung is dead and his material remains are being pickled and embalmed for exhibition in a mausoleum. For once I am rather proud of the Jewish custom of burying the dead before sundown.
But cremation creates an unsolvable theological problem for Jews who want to pray on their ancestors's tombs.
I have a Korean vase/urn on the table, and I was told that Koreans keep their ancestor's ashes on it (on the table too). It seemed at the time a great national custom, you could greet grandfather from when having dinner.
The practice of preserving the dead for display was a strange development of Communism. Their rejection of spirituality and embrace of materialism meant that the only way to keep the spirit of the dead alive was to literally keep them. The lack of God also encouraged personality cults since people apparently need someone or something to worship.
Embalming is an ancient Egyptian practice, Moses rejected it together with all their other nonsense except circumcision. Egyptians at least buried their mummies in pyramids, Communist put them on exhibition and you have to pay for entrance. Mao's mausoleum cost me 10 yuan, I dont remember if I got some cheap red trinket too. They must be making 5 - 10 million dollars a year with old Mao as tourist trap.
Displaying the remains of the dead is a rather ghoulish practice, though in the case of the materialist gods; Lenin, Mao and the rest I suppose its a cosmic joke on them - petrified matter with no spirit. I saw the embalmed body of St Francis Xavier in Goa and it occurred to me that the Church owed the poor man a decent burial.
8 comments:
Cremation is even better.
But cremation creates an unsolvable theological problem for Jews who want to pray on their ancestors's tombs.
I have a Korean vase/urn on the table, and I was told that Koreans keep their ancestor's ashes on it (on the table too). It seemed at the time a great national custom, you could greet grandfather from when having dinner.
The practice of preserving the dead for display was a strange development of Communism. Their rejection of spirituality and embrace of materialism meant that the only way to keep the spirit of the dead alive was to literally keep them. The lack of God also encouraged personality cults since people apparently need someone or something to worship.
K
Embalming is an ancient Egyptian practice, Moses rejected it together with all their other nonsense except circumcision. Egyptians at least buried their mummies in pyramids, Communist put them on exhibition and you have to pay for entrance. Mao's mausoleum cost me 10 yuan, I dont remember if I got some cheap red trinket too. They must be making 5 - 10 million dollars a year with old Mao as tourist trap.
"But cremation creates an unsolvable theological problem for Jews who want to pray on their ancestors's tombs."
The ashes could be interred. I know that Judaism frowns on cremation, but plenty of us aren't religious/observant enough to care.
Some fear to be buried ... ALIVE !
Some fear to be buried ... ALIVE !
Displaying the remains of the dead is a rather ghoulish practice, though in the case of the materialist gods; Lenin, Mao and the rest I suppose its a cosmic joke on them - petrified matter with no spirit. I saw the embalmed body of St Francis Xavier in Goa and it occurred to me that the Church owed the poor man a decent burial.
Ivan
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