In most African cultures, death is so undesirable and feared that contemplation about death is a taboo. Even the sick diagnosed with terminal ailments still cling on the hope of recovery, thus shunning discussions about dying and death. This belief has a tremendous impact on the way persons in African cultures die. First, the advance care directives are rarely made as they would indicate contemplation of death. Second, it implies that the dying are mostly in the company of healthcare providers or very few family members, if any. This is the case since family gatherings before death is looked at as possible contemplations and a show of despair towards one's potential recovery. Besides, Africans believe in a communitarian way of life, where every individual shares a personal relatedness with the community. As such, decisions about death and dying are not a personal choice or right. This eliminates possibilities of unnatural termination of life among even among the very old and terminally ill. Upon death, Africans believe in an after-life where a person exists in a spiritual form as an ancestor. The belief is the reason for elaborate rituals and burial ceremonies to appease the dead. This is done to avert the dead's supernatural powers from harming the living (Ekore & Lanre-Abass, 2016).
Indonesians have unique rituals about death and dying. The Toraja people believe death is not instant but a gradual process that takes several days, weeks, or months as the person transits to a different world referred to us Puya. When a person dies, the body is wrapped and kept to enable it to compete with the dying process. During the waiting time, family members prepare for the final rites that include music, crying, and wailing. These expressions are reserved mostly for the affluent, while the poor and children often get ignored. After the final ritual, a more interesting even, called Ma'Nene, happens annually in August, where the bodies are exhumed, cleaned, dressed in new clothes and reburied (Hasbi et al., 2019).
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Unlike the African culture, the Swiss people extend their pragmatic approach about life into sensitive areas such as death and dying. The Swiss do not harbor excessive fear, nor do they refrain from contemplating and planning about death and dying. Switzerland as adopted a culture where persons who are sure about the possibility of their death take part in arrangements to ensure a smooth transition. This entails the involvement of family members and licensed persons in the event of assisted suicide deaths. The pragmatism approach of the Swiss has promoted what is currently termed as "Suicide Tourism," a phenomenon that sees terminally ill persons traveling to Switzerland to seek assisted-death services. It is also not astonishing that Switzerland has the highest cremation rates at 80 percent across Europe (Hurst et al., 2018).
The death and dying rituals are so significant due to the strong sense of beliefs attached to religions, and cultural practices passed down to generations. The concept of moving into a different world, for those who believe in life after death, or the idea of complete inexistence draws extreme emotions. This makes death and dying vital, as it links the living to the world that is either extraordinarily dreaded and or harbors supernatural powers.
References
Ekore, R., & Lanre-Abass, B. (2016). African cultural concept of death and the idea of advance care directives. Indian Journal of Palliative Care , 22 (4), 369. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1075.191741
Hasbi, Pulubuhu, D. A., Arsyad, M., & Liu, O. P. (2019). Transformation of the traditional ceremony as a rational choice: A case study of Toraja society in Indonesia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science , 235 , 012036. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/235/1/012036
Hurst, S. A., Zellweger, U., Bosshard, G., & Bopp, M. (2018). Medical end-of-life practices in Swiss cultural regions: A death certificate study. BMC Medicine , 16 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1043-5
