The word of the week of February 13th is...

[bananarasberry]

Dakhma:
noun
a 30 foot high stone pillar upon which the Parisees of India leave their dead for the vultures, also known as "tower of silence"

I particularly like this method of disposing of corpses, as it's the only one that I know of that uses burial by air. Earth and fire are common means for re-combining the remains of one's beloved departed

Comments

[blulibrarian]

Sky burial!?! That so rocks that you know about that and here I thought I was the only Westerner who knew about sky burial. I too have been fascinated by this form of burial. I'm not sure how they do it in India, but in Tibet they don't just leave the body out for the vultures, they actually dismember the body. It sounds gruesome on its surface, but I think it's an extremely powerful statement about how the body is merely a vessel, impermanence, and the un-reality of this existence. I've seriously debated between fire and air for myself. I've also thought about the Body Farm or one of those fields up north where they will leave your body to the elements.

[heartshapedcunt]

Don't some Native American tribes do burial by air? I don't know of any specifically so I'm not of much help here.