Essay by StarWindDancer
"Fading light... falling night... Trumpet calls as the Sun sinks in flight. Sleep in peace comrades dear... God is near." The words echo through the cemetery accompanied by the musical trubra of the trumpet. The silent witnesses to the spectacle startle as guns fire into the air. This scene and many others like it play throughout the world, a testament to a persons life. Death, the great equalizer, comes for everyone. Many cultures develop stories to solace the people is sad times such as these, by doing so they create a history, an explanation of death. Hundreds of myths came into being because of such unexplained events but as time progressed, science has come to replace those mysteries. Death is one of the last unexplained events that myth still explains. There are some answers out there about why and how death occurs but death is still shrouded in mystery and distrust. Even today people look back on those myths, taking comfort in the stories that there is more to come.
In China, there really is no wonder where souls go after death. To them, the dead live among them as vengeful spirits that interact with living people on a day to day basis. A person’s ancestor is as much a part of the house hold as a pet. The spirit must be fed and soothed so that the spirit does not cause problems for the living. If an ancestor becomes angry at the living, the spirit can cause much mischief. Regularly sacrifices of food, money, clothing, and other pleasures were placed the ancestral shrines. The relationship was not one sided however. Ancestors could appear to their descendents to impart wisdom and blessings. “The object of the ceremony (the sacrifice) was to bring down the spirits from above, together with the shades of the ancestors, and thus to secure the blessing of God; at the same time to please the souls of the departed, and to create a link between the living and the dead.” (Giles 29) The dead are not separate from the people but have changed forms, moved onto a new life. They are, in a manner of speaking, reincarnated into the world as ghosts.
Death has another role in Chinese practice. The first god, the first being that came into existence was P’an Ku. He was born out of the chaos with perfect knowledge. Through his death, the universe was created. “His (P’an Ku’s) breath became the wind; his voice, the thunder; his left eye, the sun; his right eye, the moon; his blood flowed in rivers; his hair grew into trees and plants; his flesh became the soil; his sweat descended as rain; while the parasites which infested his body were the origin of the human race.” (Giles 2) The importance of death, its necessity is pointed out. For without the death of the god P'an Ku, the earth could not exist. Death takes on a reverence, an important role in the Chinese culture. Death becomes an important factor of life.
Life ever present and synonymous with death is a theme that is picked up by the Egyptians. Death was something to be revered and prepared for. A person’s entire life was in preparation of death, by saving money for entombment so that the dead would be able to rise and walk again. Pharos constructed great pyramids, tombstones that were specially constructed to house their riches for the after life. The pyramids were also constructed in ways that would encourage resurrection, leading pathways from death to rebirth by facing the sunrise and sunset, an object that seemingly died and rose again. Myths also contributed to the death and resurrection of pharos. Osiris, the God-King, died and rose again, an example that pharos, king-gods, would also be able to be resurrected. “The Egyptians of every period in which they are known to us believed that Osiris was of divine origin, that he suffered death and mutilation at the hands of the powers of evil, that after a great struggle with these powers he rose again, that he became henceforth the king of the underworld and judge of the dead, and that because he had conquered death the righteous also might conquer death; and they raised Osiris to such an exalted position in heaven that he became the equal and, in some cases, the superior of Ra, the Sun-god, and ascribed to him the attributes which belong unto god.” (Budge 61) The story of the rise of Osiris lies in an almost soap opera event of deceit and betrayal by Osiris’ brother Typho. Typho, jealous of his learned brother Osiris, conspired with 72 other person’s to plot Osiris’ death. Typho measured Osiris secretly to build him a coffin of such splendor that it was the envy at a party that Typho held. Typho offered the coffin to anyone who may fit inside. The coffin, already custom made for Osiris, fit Osiris perfectly. It was as Osiris was trying on the coffin that the conspirators struck, nailing the coffin shut and throwing it into the Nile. This is part of Osiris’ death. The God-king is trapped in a coffin, a symbol of death. The story continues by having the coffin float down the Nile to land beside a tree. The tree grows around the coffin, subsuming it. The tree, being valuable, is then cut down and made into a pillar, which is placed inside a palace in Byblos. Isis, Osiris’ wife, seeks out his coffin and finds a pillar that encases his coffin. Eventually she received the coffin with her dead husband inside, and journeys the Nile back to her home. It could be considered that Osiris is reborn as he is free of the coffin and is able to impregnate his wife Isis with Horus. However, Osiris’ tribulations do not end there. Typho tracks down his brother, this time cutting him up into 14 pieces which he scattered over Egypt. This is equivalent to a second death for Osiris. The story continues that Isis, having learned of her husbands dismemberment, traveled the whole of Egypt collecting the pieces of her husband. She reassembled her husband, minus one piece that she creates a wooden substitute. Osiris, having arisen once more, goes to his son Orus and demands revenge of his death. Orus battles Typhos, takes him prisoner but is released by Isis. These events, both his deaths and succeeding resurrections, are Osiris’ triumph over death. Osiris, therefore becomes a figure of hope that death can be overcome, that death is not a permanent situation. Death is the path, a trial, that one (the pharos, for example) must overcome to be reborn.
Osiris isn’t the only god that succeeds over death. Babylon has her own myths of god, though in this case goddess, succeeding over death. Unlike the Egyptian myth of life and righteousness overtaking death, this story explains why the earth “dies” in winter and is reborn in spring. Ishtar, the goddess of vegetation, curious and wanting to talk with her sister, Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld, journeys to the underworld. Ishtar travels through seven gates that are on the pathway to the underworld. At each gate, Ishtar must shed a piece of clothing or jewelry. This is a symbolic death of both the goddess Ishtar and the earth during the fall season. (Jastrow 370) Ishtar, having traveled the gates and shedding everything, appears before her sister Ereshkigal naked. Enraged the sister Ereshkigal imprisons Ishtar. The earth, missing the goddess of vegetation, dies for a while. This is synonymous with the season of winter, as the earth lies ‘dead’ as Ishtar is. (Jastrow 370) Ishtar is rescued from her imprisonment, or death, by Asushu-namir, a messenger of Ea. “The messenger of Ea is clearly a counterpart of Tammuz, the solar god of the spring, who brings new life to mother earth.” (Jastrow 371) Asushu-namir resurrects the goddess Ishtar thereby reviving the earth.
Both the Egyptian and Babylonian myth of death and resurrection are incredibly similar to another myth of that region, that of Hades and Persephone. As the myth goes, Hades, god of the underworld, falls in love with the flower goddess Persephone. Unable to receive her hand in legal marriage, Hades kidnaps the goddess. Demeter, goddess of plants and mother of Persephone, is despondent at the disappearance of her daughter. The earth ‘dies,’ not growing any crops while Demeter is morning the loss of her daughter. Demeter goes in search of her daughter. The events that take place as Demeter is looking for her daughter bear striking resemblance to Isis’ search for her husband Osiris. Both goddesses wander the earth, looking for their husband/daughter until they happen upon a palace. Both Isis and Demeter become nursemaids to the king’s child. They then try to burn off the mortality of the child by placing the child in the fire while working special spells to ensure the child’s immortality. The spell is broken when the mother of the child interrupts the goddesses. This is where the story splits. In Egypt Isis then reveals herself and takes the pillar that holds her husband. In Greece, Demeter takes off, resuming her search for her daughter. Eventually Persephone is returned to her mother Demeter. Joyous, the goddess allows crops to grow once more. However, the story does not end there. Persephone, having eaten of the food of the dead, must return to the underworld for three months out of the year. When she returns the earth will rebirth itself, bringing with it spring. Persephone is therefore similar to Ishtar by having to ‘die’ each year, creating fall then winter, and being ‘reborn,’ creating spring. Both the Grecian and Babylonian myth explain the same phenomenon, that of the earth’s yearly cycle of death and rebirth.
Gods and goddesses of the dead and the underworld play an important role in these myths. In Shinto mythology Izana-gi and his consort Izana-mi create the world, mainly by giving birth to it. “They united and gave birth to many things, to the Japanese archipelago, first of all, and to things or spirits, such as waters, winds, mountains, fields, mists, foods, fire, and so on.” (Anesaki 25) After giving birth to all things on the earth, and objects of the sky, Izana-mi gave birth to one last creature, fire. Izana-mi died giving birth to fire and went to the underworld. There Izana-mi decays as she rules her new realm. Her husband, Izana-gi, eventually tracked his mate down but Izana-mi, horrified by her decaying apperance, would not allow her husband to view her. Instead the husband placed a large rock between them so that the two may converse around it. Still horrified at her condition Izana-mi “…threatened to kill a thousand people in his domain (on earth), while the Male retorted by saying that he would give birth to five hundred more than that every day.” (Anesaki 26) It is through this cycle that life over takes death but death is still a part of life for as long as death takes, life must give back.
The longest cycle of death giving back life can be taken from the story of the Israilights. In their story death came upon the world when Eve, the first woman, ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. By that act Eve brought death into the world but Jehova, the ever preasent god, promised to bring life and salvation back to the world. This was accomplished by the death and reserection of Jesus, the son of Jehova. “But the angel said6 to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, because I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.” Listen, I have told you.’” (Bible 28:5-7) It is through this gift or sacrifice and subsequint rebirth that Jesus was able to bring life, or after life back into the world. Prior to Jesus’ sacrifice all who died were subject to the punishment underworld. By Jesus’ rebirth he was able to bring about change, allow the dead to arrise to heaven, or secound earth.
It is curious to see that the last mystery of this life, death, is tied up with life itself in the myths of these many cultures. Death almost becomes synonymous with life, creating a balance between the two. “Life is a termanial condition” (Anonymus) is a phrase that rings true, for without life, death could not exist but without death, it seems, life cannot exist. The balance of life and death therefore becomes and eternal circle, one which all are destined to ride.
Bible: New English Translation Biblical Studies Press 1996 (online) http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm
Budge, Sir Wallis Egyptian Religion New York: University Books 1959
Giles, Herbert A. Religion of Ancient China Chicago: Open Cort Publishing Co. 1908?
Jastrow, Morris Jr. Ph.D Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria New York: Knickerbocker Press 1911 "Taps" written by Col. Dan Butterfield