Alternative death rituals in Switzerland: building a community of shared emotions and practices

New alternative death rituals are gaining significance in Switzerland, like in other contemporary Western societies. This article discusses how celebrants who are independent of any religious community shape alternative funerals and why such rituals may be able to function as a coping resource for a...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Lüddeckens, Dorothea 1966- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Carfax Publ. [2018]
Dans: Journal of contemporary religion
Année: 2018, Volume: 33, Numéro: 1, Pages: 107-121
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Suisse / Changement religieux / Rite funéraire / Culte des morts
RelBib Classification:AG Vie religieuse
AZ Nouveau mouvement religieux
KBC Suisse
Sujets non-standardisés:B Burial
B Spirituality
B Ceremonies
B last rites
B celebrants
B ritual transfer
B death rites
B Funeral
B funeration
B religious innovation
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Résumé:New alternative death rituals are gaining significance in Switzerland, like in other contemporary Western societies. This article discusses how celebrants who are independent of any religious community shape alternative funerals and why such rituals may be able to function as a coping resource for a certain kind of participants. I argue that these rituals, co-produced by celebrants and the bereaved and including actively involved participants, can be seen as a re-conquest of ritual agency for lay people. By encouraging physical and mental contact with the deceased, the celebrants try to enable emotional arousal and create a temporary community of shared experiences and emotions and of the living and the dead. Elements of an individually crafted spirituality and a kind of nature religion represent both separation and continuing bonds between the living and the dead. As a consequence, such funerals serve as a resource in the face of death by integrating a singular death with the wider context.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2018.1408284