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The Why Factor: Burial

Burial

04/10/2013

BBC World Service - The Why Factor, Burial

Burial is a practice that’s been carried out for centuries – but why do we do it?

Why do we bury the dead, a practice that has been carried out for centuries by different cultures and religions around the world.

Burial is a practice that’s been carried out for centuries by different cultures and religions around the world – but why do we do it? Mike Williams goes to a Jewish cemetery where Mitzi Kalinsky from the Jewish Joint Burial Society explains the reasons behind their burial practices. He talks to Caitlin Doughty, an American mortician who is trying to revolutionise burial practices in the US and considers what he would like to happen to his body, after he dies.

(Image: Gravestones in a cemetery. BBC copyright)

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