Every culture possesses rituals for the dead because the corpse is the ultimate "primal" threat. It is the physical manifestation of decay and the fragility of the biological self. The taboo against touching the dead—or the strict rituals required if one must—is an attempt to quarantine the reality of our own mortality. It draws a line between the living order and the chaos of death.
A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or people that are considered undesirable or deeply sacred by a group. When a taboo is elevated to the status of "primal," it implies universal or near-universal adoption across human history, deeply rooted in our evolutionary psychology. primal taboo
A blog or LinkedIn thought piece exploring the roots of human society. Every culture possesses rituals for the dead because