Bathing the dead

Washing the body of a dead person, sometimes as part of a religious ritual, is a customary funerary practice in several cultures. It was delegated to professionals in ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, by well-off Victorians, and continues so in modern America, but was traditionally performed by "family, friends, and neighbors."

Judaism

Main article: Bereavement in Judaism

It is part of traditional Jewish burial rites.

During the Inquisition in Spain, bodies undergoing preparation for burial were sometimes scrutinized for signs that they had been washed, since this was seen as a marker of secret Jewish practice (crypto-Judaism).

Buddhism and Hinduism

Bathing of the dead, known as yukan, is also found in Buddhism. It is also found in Hinduism.

Islam

It is a religious practice in Islam, where the body is washed by members of the dead person's family. When possible, three washings are performed: first with water infused with plum leaves, then with water infused with camphor, and lastly with purified water.

The washing is usually performed by others of the same gender, although Islamic Hausa people permit spouses to wash each other's bodies.

In West Africa

Funerary bathing is performed in traditional funerals in some countries in West Africa. The ritual washing of the dead is believed to be one of the factors which resulted in the rapid spread of Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014.

Cultural references

Antigone speaks of washing the dead in accordance with the Greek custom, although she was limited to pouring water on the body of her brother Polyneikes.

The custom of bathing the dead has been depicted in a number of films. In the 1995 film Braveheart, a young William Wallace watches as women bathe the bodies of his father and brother, who were killed in battle against English troops during the 13th century. The 2009 film The White Ribbon depicts the washing of a deceased housewife in a Northern German village just before World War I. In the film A Midnight Clear (1992), set in the Battle of the Ardennes in World War II, a small group of soldiers are able to take a brief respite from the war when they procure a bath tub and heat up some water. After all have bathed, they wash the body of a comrade who was recently killed while trying to help a unit of German soldiers.

An episode of the HBO series Six Feet Under shows Nate Fisher's body being "slowly and methodically" washed by his mother and brother.

See also

• Ritual purification
• Death and culture
• Islamic funeral#Bathing the deceased
• Antyesti#Preparation of the body