People are social animals; we are reared in families; we bond with others in school, business, and other social organizations; we work with others, play with others, and grow with others; we marry, bear children, and die. Because we are social beings, we employ rituals to mark important events such as baptism, bar mitzvah, and marriage. And we have funerary rituals that help us when we experience death. This article explores death rituals for both the dying and their survivors. Rituals are categorized as predeath, immediate postdeath, and long-term postdeath and are identified, described, and evaluated.
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