where baroque death rituals are associated with precise and compli-
cated descriptions of what death is.^5
Hunter-gatherers, whose economy depends entirely on wild plants
and game, generally have fairly simple death rituals for the simple rea-
son that they have few resources to invest in complex ceremonies.
Their peasant neighbors, who generally despise and fear them, say that
they just abandon corpses to wild beasts. (This is what my Fang inter-
locutors often said about the pygmies.) This, however, is a gross distor-
tion. Consider for instance the funerary ceremonies of the Batek, a
loose federation of hunting-gathering groups of Malaysia. The corpse
[208] is wrapped in the finest sarong available, bedecked with flowers and
leaves, then placed on a comfortable sleeping mat. The mourners then
carry the body on a stretcher to a distant place in the forest, preferably
away from familiar paths. The men build a platform and cover it with
sweet-smelling herbs, on which they lay out the corpse. The family
members generally put a number of artifacts on the platform, such as a
smoking-pipe, some tobacco, a blowpipe and darts, etc. They blow
tobacco smoke onto the head of the deceased. After the stretcher has
been lifted on top of the platform, people plant sticks around the tree
and recite spells over them, to deter tigers from shaking the tree. The
family members then come back periodically to check the corpse and
observe the process of decomposition, as long as there are any rem-
nants of the body. On such visits they generally burn incense next to
the platform. This lasts until even the bones have disappeared, proba-
bly taken away by scavengers. Note how even seemingly simple prac-
tices of this kind are in fact ritualized. You do not just take a corpse to
the forest. You must do it as a group; people sing and recite particular
spells; one must place particular objects next to the body.^6
One frequent characteristic of more complex death rituals is the
practice of double funerals. The first set of rituals is organized immedi-
ately after death. It is concerned with the fact that the dead body is
dangerous, and in practice it generally concludes with a first burial.
The second part, which may occur months or years later, is supposed
to turn the deceased body into a more stable, proper, less dangerous
entity. In many places this is the point at which people disinter the
dead, wipe the bones clear of any remaining flesh and put them in
their final resting place. The Berawan in the Philippines have such
double rituals, as described by anthropologist Peter Metcalf. After
death, the corpse is exposed on a specially constructed seat in front of
the house, so that all close and distant kin can come over and inspect it
RELIGION EXPLAINED