[Bbanggubneun Tajagi] A Journey Exploring 'Corpse Cultural Heritage' Around the World

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] A man moves busily. He moves from place to place, offering words of thanks with an awkward smile. He is dressed in a black suit. On one arm, he wears two stripes. At the same time, in a corner room, the main figure silently watches those coming and going with a bright smile for three days.

This is the funeral scene we encounter. Whether religious or not, regardless of the deceased's political orientation, funerals in our country all look similar. Only the scale and the faces of those attending differ, but even the owner of a world-renowned company ultimately has a similar final appearance.

Why must the way of death be the same when ways of life are all different? Can't the way of death be chosen by those facing it? Or can't the family protecting the deceased's final moments send them off in their own way? The newly released book I Want to Be a Good Corpse reflects on the 'habits' of life and death and raises questions about them.

The issue raised by I Want to Be a Good Corpse stems from a problem awareness the author encountered by chance at a funeral this spring. The deceased, who had endured a long illness, reportedly repeatedly asked the family to cremate without any special funeral procedures and scatter the ashes at a favorite place. However, the deceased's wishes were never fulfilled. The remains were placed behind a glass partition in a small urn.

Everyone imagines death. But that imagination ultimately returns to concerns about the direction of current life. When actually facing death, there is no serious reflection on the customs surrounding it.

The author, mortician Caitlin Doty, questions the funeral culture we consider absolute, saying, "If we hold the mistaken belief that we are right and 'others' are irreverent and barbaric, we will not even be able to question the existing system, let alone start reform."

The emotions the author felt watching the busy chief mourner in front of cooling Yukgaejang this spring become concrete through these questions. In the commercialized and corporatized funeral culture, questions follow one after another: "Can we send off our loved ones without regret?" "How do I want my final image to be remembered?" and so on.

The author presents funeral cultures observed around the world and grants the right to imagine and choose a better death.

In Indonesia's Toraja, the body is kept at home during the period between death and funeral. For a few months to several years, the bereaved talk to the mummified body and even change its clothes. In North Carolina, USA, research on 'human composting,' called the 'Human Recomposition Project,' is underway.

In Mexico, the boundary between the living and the dead is broken on the 'Day of the Dead.' This lightens the weight of death anchored in the hearts of the living. In the past, the Parsi community in India practiced 'sky burial,' entrusting bodies to vultures. However, with industrialization causing vultures to disappear, they are now considering the industrialization of funeral culture.

The author's departing Corpse Cultural Heritage Exploration is a story about death and, more broadly, how to handle corpses. But it is neither sad nor horrific. His journey is an attempt to bring the commercialized death, which had been in the shadows, into the light.

At many funerals, as routine greetings are repeated, the question that had curled up in one corner of the heart is brought into the sunlight. The author says, "People say sunlight disinfects everything. Whatever the cost, the difficult task of bringing out our fears, shame, and grief surrounding death into the sunlight to disinfect them has just begun."

(I Want to Be a Good Corpse / Caitlin Doty / Translated by Heegeun Lim / Banbi / 17,500 KRW)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.