Fortunately, I came across a ritual which has not lost its meaning over time simply due to its nature. The ritual in question is the sky burial performed in Tibet. Tibet has always held an immense fascination for people from the “modern” world with Tibet’s Dalai Lama and its monks and monasteries.

Tibetan Sky Burial Ritual

What fascinated me and caught my attention about this ritual was the immense importance given to details and the clear reasoning provided behind each procedure in the process. Starting, ironically after the death of a person, the ritual is initiated by keeping the body in a special house. Over the course of several days lamas perform chants to help redeem the sins of the deceased. The body is covered in white cloth and a jar mixed with food
and blood is hung at the door of the house. A day before the actual ritual the family of the deceased come with wine and mourn their loss.

Then comes the sky burial where a body cutter along with close family goes atop high ground. Here the body is pierced so that vultures may devour it. The skeleton is left at the burial site. And this marks the end of the ritual. Tibetans believe in reincarnation and life after death. Unlike conventional thinking however, they do not believe that the soul is separable from the body. They believe that the flesh is the carrier of the soul hence it is the flesh which must be transported to the heavens. Like conventional thinking, they do believe in heavens existing in the skies.

The primary importance of the vulture hence is that of a carrier. Tibetans believe that these vultures have the power to transport the soul to the  heavens once they devour it. In essence a judgment on the deceased is also passed by these vultures for they believe that if the whole corpse is not consumed, the person’s sins greatly outweighed the good deeds but if most of the corpse is devoured then the person’s soul is carried to the skies.