...fantastical, yet dark underworld that portrays the various tortured souls of the dead. The concept is the souls’ committed sins completed in their lifetime is directly related to the punishment they must face in Hell. Through this, the souls forever remember their sins and face the consequences for eternity. Dante’s illustrative, encompassing journey has served as an image of the environment Hell to warn the sinners of the suffering expected when a particular sin is committed and not repented as soon as possible. The sinners who are positioned in Canto V give in to their sexual desires of lust. They are pulled into a violent storm that exudes intense despair and suffering. The storm represents how those who have sinned felt before death. In Hell, the storm manifests itself into a physical form. Amongst the souls who are engulfed in the storm are two souls that are combined together, Francesca and Paolo. Prior to Francesca and Paolo deaths, Francesca is married but commits...
Words: 767 - Pages: 4
...The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that brings families and friends together to pray for the souls of loved ones in their unworldly embark in the afterlife while awaiting their spiritual visit. This tradition is strongly rooted in past indigenous, and Christian practices. The Catholic holiday of All Souls Day was initially what brought The Day of the Dead to light when Spanish priests saw similarities between All Souls Day and the rituals of the Aztecs that they had to honor the dead. In order to convert their beliefs into a more Catholic religious based way, the priests moved Aztec rituals to coincide along with the day of All Souls Day. In this way, The Day of the Dead had rooted from All Souls Day, as a way to influence religion on...
Words: 261 - Pages: 2
...The fact that Chichikov has trouble purchasing the dead souls pinpoints the second problem Gogol wanted to focus on – the greedy nature of Russian society. As mentioned previously, a dead peasant ultimately represents a loss for any landowner because a dead peasant literally cannot produce anything, while the landowner must still pay taxes on them. From a purely logical and financial standpoint, it would be in one’s best interest to find a way to rid themselves of ownership of these dead souls. The fact that Chichikov is willing to pay for these dead souls, when they should just be given away for free, indicates the value of the deal Chichikov is offering to the landowners. Yet the landowners hesitate to accept this deal and attempt to bargain...
Words: 783 - Pages: 4
...objects are associated with a different holiday called the Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, particularly in the Central and South regions, and by the people of the Mexican ancestry living in other places, especially the United States. The Day of the Dead is becoming very popular in the United States. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family members and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and to help support their spiritual journey. The Day of the Dead is a two day celebration. The Day of the Dead occurred on November 1st and...
Words: 676 - Pages: 3
...of the Dead Amy Barrows Com/170 10/31/2012 Margaret Munger Similar traditions are held between the Day of the Dead and Halloween, yet they have very different origins. They both started out as their own separate festivals/celebrations but over time they gained either Catholic or Christian tendencies. Which only served to make them even more similar, leading confusion for many Americans now a days. Most people know of the similarities but do not know of the origins of either! Even most Americans who celebrate Halloween do not know of it is origins! Day of the dead was a celebration to celebrate the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl, Lady of the dead. They celebrated for about a month long in their calendar what all know as August. They had all the same traditions as they do now but back then the altars/shrines they made were at the graves themselves to bring the family/descend person back to the land of the living. Aztecs would spread the flor de muertos (flower of the dead) from the grave sites to their homes. A way of leading the lost souls to their families and loved ones. Aztecs would even make foods and treats with the deceased name on the calaveras de azucar (skull of sugar). This all went on for many centuries until the Spaniards came and influenced their religion with more Catholic ties. Example being they changed the month-long celebration to be only two days coinciding with November 1, All saints day and November 2, All souls day. The...
Words: 1122 - Pages: 5
...Assignment-sk ‘. . . if we admit the existence of a higher or permanent Ego in us -- which Ego must not be confused with what we call the "Higher Self," we can comprehend that what we often regard as dreams, generally accepted as idle fancies, are, in truth, stray pages torn out from the life and experiences of the inner man, and the dim recollection of which at the moment of awakening becomes more or less distorted by our physical memory. The latter catches mechanically a few impressions of the thoughts, facts witnessed, and deeds performed by the inner man during its hours of complete freedom. For our Ego lives its own separate life within its prison of clay whenever it becomes free from the trammels of matter, i.e., during the sleep of the physical man. This Ego it is which is the actor, the real man, the true human self. But the physical man cannot feel or be conscious during dreams; for the personality, the outer man, with its brain and thinking apparatus, are paralyzed more or less completely. -- Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge, p. 50 Thus,Sleep and death are brothers, according to the old Greek proverb. However, comments G. de Purucker that” they are not merely brothers, born of the same fabric of human consciousness, but are in all verity one, identical. Death is a perfect sleep, with its interim awakenings of a kind, such as in the devachan, and a full human awakening in the succeeding reincarnation. Sleep is an imperfect fulfilment of death, nature's prophecy...
Words: 2011 - Pages: 9
...Day of the Dead The day of Dead is a celebration in many Hispanic countries; Mexico is one of the countries that celebrate most this specific day. For them is a day in which the living remember their departed relatives. Is a beautiful ritual in which Mexican happily and lovingly remember their loved relatives that have died. This Celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd and there are two very special places where this ritual is impressive: Mixquic (a small town in Mexico City, and Janitzio, a charming little island in the state of Michoacan). By the end of October Mexican families start preparing for the celebration, they decorate with cempasuchil (an orange marigold flower) many Mexican families growth their own cempasuchil, believing that doing so is more appropriate for their offerings. Other tradition is what they call Pan de Muerto (Day of the Dead bread) they used this bread as an offering to the dead relatives that they leave at their tombs in the graveyard. They also prepared the favorites dishes of their relative that they decorated with cempasuchil flowers and they also leave these dishes at their relative’s tombs. On November 1st the ceremony in honor of the Angelitos take place in the cemetery; is a ceremony for the little children that died and that could never experience the happiness and sorrow of adulthood. The way that they celebrate is that very early in the morning the church start ringing the bells calling for the children’s souls and their relatives...
Words: 491 - Pages: 2
...Life After Death. What the specification requires: • An examination of the arguments for and against life after death. • Reincarnation. • Rebirth. • Resurrection. • Immortality of the soul. Introduction. Humans have refused to accept that this life is all we get for thousands of years. As a result of this refusal, humans have developed various theories to explain that when our bodies cease working, there is some kind of existence that takes place after this. Obviously, before getting into this debate, it is important to agree on what is meant by the word ‘death.’ ‘…when respiration and other reflexes are absent; consciousness is gone…an absolute and total loss of the brain function that cannot be reversed.’ This is a medical definition and is based upon medical methods of determining physical (brain) death. These methods are generally the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG) to determine brain function, an examination of pupil size and reaction and obviously, a check of blood flow (pulse), heart beat and respiration. It is generally accepted that once a body exhibits brain stem death, i.e. that there is no activity in the most primitive part of the brain, that death has occurred. What makes a human being? Theories concerning life after death are all interested in whether or not there is a part of the human body which survives the death of all the physical parts and where (or indeed when) it goes. There are a number of theories...
Words: 4935 - Pages: 20
...Since the beginning of human life on Earth, one question has bothered our society more than anything else. This question, as easiest as it might sound, is the one question that had driven our society more and more towards new ideas, new inventions, and new perspectives. Is the one question that while trying to give an answer to it, has defined us: from reasonable to unreasonable, from the most intelligent creation that has ever walked on the face of the Earth, to simply: beasts Man, by nature, is a curious being, always wondering, always asking, and always searching for one thing that he does not have, for one thing that he does not know. Always why and how and what. These questions has driven human society to the edge, only to know that there is something more, only to know that no man can know everything, no man can learn everything, no man can have everything. Despite giving a bunch of answers to the matter and at the same time the inability to give a proper one which would have satisfied everyone, humanity, is still in search for the real truth. Is there life after death? Does our existence ceased once we stop breathing? Do we experience a rebirth, or do we go someplace else? The quest for answering these questions is still on going and humanity will never stop wondering what is his purpose here on Earth and beyond. Throughout ages different explanation were provided, form ancient scriptures, to religions perspectives...
Words: 1501 - Pages: 7
...CHAPTER TWO: NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIONS Chapter Outline and Unit Summaries Introduction: The Challenges in Studying Native American Religions A. The Contemporary Revival of Interest in Native American Religions 1. Important Role in History of North America 2. Emphasis on Nature and Personal Religious Experience 3. Absence of Formal Organizational Structure B. A Wider Variety of Religious Types Under One Heading 1. A Fifteen to Twenty Thousand Year Legacy 2. Geographic Spread Across a Continent 3. Numerous Forms of Social and Economic Organization C. A Dearth of Reliable Sources on Native American Religions 4. Literary Sources from Only Past Four Hundred Years, with Best Sources from Past One Hundred Years 5. Difficulty of Identifying a Pure Type: Many Changes Fostered by Engagement with Europeans 6. Archaeology Provides Some Clues to Pre-European Era 7. The Necessity of Generalizing about the Entire Field The Spirit World A. A Mixture of Polytheism, Monotheism, and Monism B. Native American Religions Tend Toward Polytheism 1. The World Populated by Numerous Spirits 2. Mother Earth at Heart of Nature 3. Deities Represented by Natural Forces C. Native American Religions Tend Toward Monotheism and Monism1. The Supreme Being / High God Above Lesser Deities 2. High God Generally Uninvolved in World—Lower Deities Hold Sway over Nature and Everyday Life 3. High...
Words: 884 - Pages: 4
...superstitious time of year. It is a time when the spirits, fairies, goblins and witches come out to join the living. Not so long ago people believed that, and some still do, that the spirit world is closer on the night of Halloween. It is a night when you can talk with your deceased loved ones, find out who is going to die before the next Halloween or find your mate. Though we no longer hold sacrifices to the Lord of the Dead, we still celebrate with a lot of the same traditions that took place hundreds of years ago. Of all the festivals and celebrations that we observe today, few have a tale stranger than Halloween, also known as the eve of Allhallows – or Hallowmas or All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day is one of the gloomiest festivals of the church, while at the same time it observes the supernatural ceremonies with which the church has always been at war. This, after all, is the night when ghosts walk and fairies and goblins are astray. (Linton, 1950) Druids held the earliest celebrations in honor of Samhain, Lord of the Dead, whose festival actually fell on November 1. November 1 was also the Celtic New Year’s Day, the beginning of winter and the time known as “the light that loses, the night that wins.”(Linton, 1950 pg. 4) Halloween (Hallowe’en) is one of the world’s oldest holidays still observed around the globe. (History.com) No country has kept the belief of supernatural spirits wandering among the people as much as Ireland. (Kelly...
Words: 2166 - Pages: 9
...When the Day of the Dead comes, it is a time of festivity. Souls who have departed from the corporeal plane of existence and ascended above the heavens come back to the living to visit their families for two days. During this time, homes are brightly decorated and alters are set up in order to accommodate their lost loved ones. However, this doesn’t imply that a holiday exists for the sake of sadly mourning the dead. It’s the opposite. This is a time of celebration – for those who have moved on to the next stage of life. Though their views of death are controversial, and there’s probably several people who greatly disagree with their idea of death – myself included. There are some aspects of this holiday that I can agree with. One of them...
Words: 455 - Pages: 2
...eating man and vice-versa. The "cost" theme mixes uneasily with the soul/body comparison.”, through a powerful use of metaphor as well as religious notions, the poet brings light to the idea of materialism and earthly greed as catalysts for the souls entrapment in the body and furthermore addresses the potential escape from such boundaries into eternal life. Despite it's ability to appeal to both Christian and Non-Christian audiences, Sonnet 146 has been often declared one of Shakespeare's more Christian poems (David E. Anderson, 2005). This very accurately acts as a reflection of the poems context, with legal requirements on churches to read Psalms from The Book of Common Prayer monthly at the time. Richmond Noble (1940, p4) in 'Shakespeare's Biblical Knowledge' lists at least 135 Psalm references in Shakespeare's plays, also vouching for other such references in the sonnets. Shakespeare's awareness and furthermore use of several Pauline paradoxes becomes apparent through the close study of the thematic structure and development of the Sonnet. Noticeably, paradoxes in Sonnet 146 work to emphasize the disparity between the initial state of the soul and the desired state expressed at the end comparable to Paul's ironic use of paradox when contrasting the 'appearance he has in the world's eyes and the reality of his life in God's site'. (Robert Hillis Goldsmith, 1978. p99) The initial metaphor 'Poor soul, the centre...
Words: 1128 - Pages: 5
...mystical society of souls.” It is not physically not breathing anymore or the decay of a body that scare people, but their idea of what becomes of a person after death. The biggest thing the living is afraid of is not “being” anymore. They are afraid of ending up in some version of hell, or haunted by a spirit with unfinished business. This belief is what leads to a society of souls. If people did not believe in anything beyond the physical aspects of death, there would be no afterlife. 2nd and also related, is from the second paragraph on page 85. It says, “All those who die a violent death or by accident…roam the earth forever.” This too is a form of life after death and adds to the idea of a society of souls. Old ghost stores are retold time and again, especially through the media. Although mostly told for entertainment, the very idea of ghosts, make an afterlife something to believe in or fear. In Hertz's paper, Hertz makes the connection between society and death. for a very long time, death has been regarded as just another phase of existence. People, as a species, cannot think of death as the end of something, because the person who died was such a part of society that it is impossible of thinking that he or she is gone. There are connections between birth, marriage, and death, because they are regarded as phases of life. Death is not the end, but merely a continuation into the next phase of life, the afterlife. Some societies believe that the soul separates into...
Words: 849 - Pages: 4
...burials that was performed based on how affordable it was. Everyone had deserved one, even if you were too poor to pay for one of the three you still was able to have some form of one to go to the afterlife. Even the mourning was dramatic according to Herodotus (413 BCE), they would plaster their faces in mud, leave the dead with relatives and then wear a girdle while beating themselves on the chest. Mourning was sorrowful but it was to hope the dead would find eternal bliss. Mummification was practiced around 3500 BCE, because they had believed that the dead needed a body to go onto the afterlife in. According to Mark, "The soul was thought to consist of nine separate parts: the Khat was the physical body; the Ka one’s double-form; the Ba a human-headed bird aspect which could speed between earth and the heavens; Shuyet was the shadow self; Akh the immortal, transformed self, Sahuand Sechem aspects of the Akh; Ab was the heart, the source of good and evil; Ren was one’s secret name." Because of these nine parts, they lead to the reasoning behind why they needed to preserve the body. Also during this time it should that Egypt had created a complex form of the soul for their time. But their wealth decided their mummification process. They also decided what the body would be put in to. The first process was the most expensive for when the body was laid on a table with the brain removed with an iron hook. Then the body is opened up with a flint knife and the contents are removed and...
Words: 1111 - Pages: 5
