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We're here to help you understand death, grief, and transformation with curiosity, creativity, and community.

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WTC collapsed towers debris.

WTC collapsed towers debris.

A Thanatologist’s Reflections on 9/11, A Quarter-Century On

Sep 11

Estruscan tomb painting

Estruscan tomb painting

Of Obsequies and Etruscan Tombs - What Can We Learn from Ancient Funeral Practices

Sep 8

skeleton with rusted iron sickle over its neck

skeleton with rusted iron sickle over its neck

Funeral Practices Around the World

Sep 1

All Videos

Thanatology 13 Ep. 1.8 - The Hero's Jorney as Map for Grief - The Journey We Never Asked For

Thanatology 13 Ep. 1.8 - The Hero's Jorney as Map for Grief - The Journey We Never Asked For

Thanatology 13 Ep. 1.8 - The Hero's Jorney as Map for Grief - The Journey We Never Asked For

Thanatology 13 Ep. 1.8 - The Hero's Jorney as Map for Grief - The Journey We Never Asked For

15:50

Thanatology 13 EP 1.7 Mourning and Music

Thanatology 13 EP 1.7 Mourning and Music

14:22

Thanatology 13 Ep. 1.6: Death in Myth from Osiris to Odin

Thanatology 13 Ep. 1.6: Death in Myth from Osiris to Odin

16:52

Featured Offerings

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The Afterward:

A Book Club

Online @ 4:30pm Pacific Time

Aug. 27, 2026

FREE

Image by Simon Harmer

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Thanatology XIII Learning Community

Online

Always open

FREE

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Queen Zenobia Addressing Her Soldiers, 1725_1730, oil on canvas

The Monthly Missive

August 2026:

The Hero's Journey and Loss

FREE

We explore how ancient myths can give us language, images, and courage to face loss. At Death Education Central, we bring these stories into everyday life so they help, not just explain. Join us to discover practical ways mythology can guide grief, shape meaning, and soften the way forward.

Read more: www.DeathEducationCentral.com 🌿✨

Art Credit: Jan Linsen - Death of Procris (1626) Public Domain

#DeathEducation #MeaningMaking #GriefSupport #MythologyMatters

We explore how ancient myths can give us language, images, and courage to face loss. At Death Education Central, we bring these stories into everyday life so they help, not just explain. Join us to discover practical ways mythology can guide grief, shape meaning, and soften the way forward.

Read more: www.DeathEducationCentral.com 🌿✨

Art Credit: Jan Linsen - Death of Procris (1626) Public Domain

#DeathEducation #MeaningMaking #GriefSupport #MythologyMatters

In my latest Missive, I invite you to explore the anthropology of mortuary practices. From apatropaic burials in Poland to Balinese cremation traditions, these rituals show us how different societies define the boundary between life and the beyond.

In my latest Missive, I invite you to explore the anthropology of mortuary practices. From apatropaic burials in Poland to Balinese cremation traditions, these rituals show us how different societies define the boundary between life and the beyond.

We tell our stories to find what’s left after loss - the ways we change, grow, and remember. At Death Education Central we hold space for those narratives so meaning can emerge from grief. Visit us to read, share, and connect: www.DeathEducationCentral.com 🌿💬

Fritz von Uhde "Abandoned", 1890 (Public Domain)

#GriefSupport #MeaningMaking #DeathEducation #CommunityCare.

We tell our stories to find what’s left after loss - the ways we change, grow, and remember. At Death Education Central we hold space for those narratives so meaning can emerge from grief. Visit us to read, share, and connect: www.DeathEducationCentral.com 🌿💬

Fritz von Uhde "Abandoned", 1890 (Public Domain)

#GriefSupport #MeaningMaking #DeathEducation #CommunityCare.

Grief changes us-physically and inwardly-in ways that aren’t broken or wrong, just different. I see how the nervous system learns new rhythms after loss: nights that feel longer, memories that arrive like sudden waves, moments of quiet that hold both pain and tenderness. These shifts don’t mean we must “get back” to who we were. They show how we adapt and carry what matters forward, slowly and unevenly. If you’re navigating this, you’re not alone.

Learn more about living alongside loss at www.DeathEducationCentral.com 🌿💬

#GriefEducation #LivingWithLoss #DeathAwareness #CompassionateCare

Grief changes us-physically and inwardly-in ways that aren’t broken or wrong, just different. I see how the nervous system learns new rhythms after loss: nights that feel longer, memories that arrive like sudden waves, moments of quiet that hold both pain and tenderness. These shifts don’t mean we must “get back” to who we were. They show how we adapt and carry what matters forward, slowly and unevenly. If you’re navigating this, you’re not alone.

Learn more about living alongside loss at www.DeathEducationCentral.com 🌿💬

#GriefEducation #LivingWithLoss #DeathAwareness #CompassionateCare

Twenty-five years after 9/11, I finally wrote about that morning—and about the grief, fear, helplessness, and changed assumptive world that followed.

Today, I have the language of thanatology to understand what I could not name then.

Read “A Thanatologist’s Reflections on 9/11, A Quarter-Century On” in the Missives at DeathEducationCentral.com

Twenty-five years after 9/11, I finally wrote about that morning—and about the grief, fear, helplessness, and changed assumptive world that followed.

Today, I have the language of thanatology to understand what I could not name then.

Read “A Thanatologist’s Reflections on 9/11, A Quarter-Century On” in the Missives at DeathEducationCentral.com

Let's explore how the Hero’s Journey can act as a compassionate map for grief, helping us understand loss as a passage rather than failure. Read the full essay: www.DeathEducationCentral.com under "Missives".

#grief #mythology #bereavement #deatheducation

Let's explore how the Hero’s Journey can act as a compassionate map for grief, helping us understand loss as a passage rather than failure. Read the full essay: www.DeathEducationCentral.com under "Missives".

#grief #mythology #bereavement #deatheducation

You're invite you to explore a gentle introduction to death education that frames endings as thresholds and offers language for grief and meaning-making.

Read the full welcome post to begin the conversation: https://wix.to/WpuP9lq 🔗🕊️📚

#DeathEducation #GriefLiteracy #Thresholds #Community

You're invite you to explore a gentle introduction to death education that frames endings as thresholds and offers language for grief and meaning-making.

Read the full welcome post to begin the conversation: https://wix.to/WpuP9lq 🔗🕊️📚

#DeathEducation #GriefLiteracy #Thresholds #Community

I recently explored a beautiful word—obsequies—and found it opened a way to think about funerals as shared journeys. Reading a study of two fifth-century BCE Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia, I was struck by how architecture, sound, light, and painted figures could make a liminal space where the living briefly move with the dead.

Those tombs remind me that funerals do more than manage remains. They create thresholds: separation, transformation, and reintegration. Mourners return changed; their relationships and identities shift. Ritual gives us someplace to go with the dead for a little while and that act of following can itself be transformative.

If you’re curious about how ancient practices can illuminate modern grief, read more in my essay and the open-access study I cite. Let’s keep talking about death with curiosity and care. 🌿🕯️

I recently explored a beautiful word—obsequies—and found it opened a way to think about funerals as shared journeys. Reading a study of two fifth-century BCE Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia, I was struck by how architecture, sound, light, and painted figures could make a liminal space where the living briefly move with the dead.

Those tombs remind me that funerals do more than manage remains. They create thresholds: separation, transformation, and reintegration. Mourners return changed; their relationships and identities shift. Ritual gives us someplace to go with the dead for a little while and that act of following can itself be transformative.

If you’re curious about how ancient practices can illuminate modern grief, read more in my essay and the open-access study I cite. Let’s keep talking about death with curiosity and care. 🌿🕯️

Death is a process, not just a moment. 🏛️

In my latest Missive, I explore how different cultures navigate the transition from life to death. Beyond the biological event, mortuary practices serve as a "material clock" negotiating the shifting social identity of the deceased and the evolving relationships of the living.

From the artificial mummification of the Chinchorro to the apotropaic burials of 17th-century Poland, the way we treat the dead reveals our most fundamental definitions of personhood and community obligation.

Join the conversation on Death Education Central as we look at "Funeral Practices Around the World" to understand how ritual redistributes personhood in the wake of loss.

Read the full analysis here: https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/funeral-practices-around-the-world

#DeathEducation #Anthropology #CulturalHeritage #Sociology #FuneralPractices

Death is a process, not just a moment. 🏛️

In my latest Missive, I explore how different cultures navigate the transition from life to death. Beyond the biological event, mortuary practices serve as a "material clock" negotiating the shifting social identity of the deceased and the evolving relationships of the living.

From the artificial mummification of the Chinchorro to the apotropaic burials of 17th-century Poland, the way we treat the dead reveals our most fundamental definitions of personhood and community obligation.

Join the conversation on Death Education Central as we look at "Funeral Practices Around the World" to understand how ritual redistributes personhood in the wake of loss.

Read the full analysis here: https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/funeral-practices-around-the-world

#DeathEducation #Anthropology #CulturalHeritage #Sociology #FuneralPractices

I wanted to share a few thoughts I've been having about the deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. I wasn’t really a devoted fan of either, though I admired both of them. Somehow they both inhabited my cultural memory for most of my life. Two very different icons: light and darkness, who became something larger than the people themselves. Their deaths so close together got me thinking about what happens when the people die, but the archetypes remain.

https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/when-the-archetypes-die

I wanted to share a few thoughts I've been having about the deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. I wasn’t really a devoted fan of either, though I admired both of them. Somehow they both inhabited my cultural memory for most of my life. Two very different icons: light and darkness, who became something larger than the people themselves. Their deaths so close together got me thinking about what happens when the people die, but the archetypes remain.

https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/when-the-archetypes-die

✨ GHOST MONTH NOW OPEN ✨

Explore Galleries I & II of our special online exhibition celebrating Hungry Ghost Month traditions. Each gallery features curated content exploring the cultural and historical significance of Hungry Ghost Month, honoring traditions of remembrance and ancestral respect. More galleries will be added as the 7th lunar month unfolds.

Find it at https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/ghost-month

#GhostMonth #HungryGhostMonth #DeathEducation #OnlineExhibition #Thanatology

✨ GHOST MONTH NOW OPEN ✨

Explore Galleries I & II of our special online exhibition celebrating Hungry Ghost Month traditions. Each gallery features curated content exploring the cultural and historical significance of Hungry Ghost Month, honoring traditions of remembrance and ancestral respect. More galleries will be added as the 7th lunar month unfolds.

Find it at https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/ghost-month

#GhostMonth #HungryGhostMonth #DeathEducation #OnlineExhibition #Thanatology

Explore the new episode of "Thanatology Thirteen" on YouTube or DeathEducationCentral.com. Discover how "The Hero's Journey" can guide us through grief, blending mythic wisdom with real-life healing. 🌌✨

#TheHerosJourney #GriefSupport

Explore the new episode of "Thanatology Thirteen" on YouTube or DeathEducationCentral.com. Discover how "The Hero's Journey" can guide us through grief, blending mythic wisdom with real-life healing. 🌌✨

#TheHerosJourney #GriefSupport

Thursday, August 27th at 4:30pm (PDT), The Afterward Book Club returns.

📖 Join us to discuss Andrew Davidson’s “The Gargoyle”. After a horrific crash leaves a cynical narrator burned beyond recognition, he must grieve the total death of his former identity. His plan for suicide is interrupted by a sculptor of stone gargoyles who claims they were lovers 700 years ago. Through her stories of historical grief and sacrifice, he undergoes a profound, beautiful transformation from the ashes of his old life.

Sign up on the website for the online discussion link under "Online Programs" at DeathEducationCentral.com.

#bookclub #deatheducation #thanatology #deathstudies

Thursday, August 27th at 4:30pm (PDT), The Afterward Book Club returns.

📖 Join us to discuss Andrew Davidson’s “The Gargoyle”. After a horrific crash leaves a cynical narrator burned beyond recognition, he must grieve the total death of his former identity. His plan for suicide is interrupted by a sculptor of stone gargoyles who claims they were lovers 700 years ago. Through her stories of historical grief and sacrifice, he undergoes a profound, beautiful transformation from the ashes of his old life.

Sign up on the website for the online discussion link under "Online Programs" at DeathEducationCentral.com.

#bookclub #deatheducation #thanatology #deathstudies

This month we’re looking at how the Hero’s Journey can help us navigate grief and loss. You can find the complete essay on the website. #deatheducation #thanatology #mythicpath #griefsupport #josephcampbell

This month we’re looking at how the Hero’s Journey can help us navigate grief and loss. You can find the complete essay on the website. #deatheducation #thanatology #mythicpath #griefsupport #josephcampbell

👻 August at Death Education Central
This month we're opening the gates between worlds.
Across China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and many other communities, the seventh lunar month is known as Ghost Month—a time when the spirits of the dead are believed to walk among the living.
But this isn't a celebration of horror.
It's a celebration of responsibility.
Who remembers those who have no family left?
Why do cultures around the world feed the dead?
Can grief become an act of generosity?
Throughout August we'll explore the Hungry Ghost Festival through anthropology, religion, mythology, psychology, and history.
Welcome to Ghost Month.

👻 August at Death Education Central
This month we're opening the gates between worlds.
Across China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and many other communities, the seventh lunar month is known as Ghost Month—a time when the spirits of the dead are believed to walk among the living.
But this isn't a celebration of horror.
It's a celebration of responsibility.
Who remembers those who have no family left?
Why do cultures around the world feed the dead?
Can grief become an act of generosity?
Throughout August we'll explore the Hungry Ghost Festival through anthropology, religion, mythology, psychology, and history.
Welcome to Ghost Month.

One week to go! There’s still time to read/listen and join the conversation. The Afterward Book Club continues with our July selection of “A Dirty Job”. Read or listen to the book by July 30th, and join us for an online discussion. If you appreciate dark (and a little bit twisted) humor, you’re going to love this novel! Please sign up to get the meeting link! www.DeathEducationCentral.com

One week to go! There’s still time to read/listen and join the conversation. The Afterward Book Club continues with our July selection of “A Dirty Job”. Read or listen to the book by July 30th, and join us for an online discussion. If you appreciate dark (and a little bit twisted) humor, you’re going to love this novel! Please sign up to get the meeting link! www.DeathEducationCentral.com

This month’s offerings from DeathEducationCentral.com are all about the role of music and sound in death and mourning rituals. We’ll explore a variety of traditions from jazz funerals to rural Greek laments to understanding the connecting thread between music and mourning.

Check out the July episode of Thanatology 13 and the full Missive now on the website.

https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/

This month’s offerings from DeathEducationCentral.com are all about the role of music and sound in death and mourning rituals. We’ll explore a variety of traditions from jazz funerals to rural Greek laments to understanding the connecting thread between music and mourning.

Check out the July episode of Thanatology 13 and the full Missive now on the website.

https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/

Why Do Humans So Rarely Grieve in Silence?

The July Missive is all about music and mourning. Modern Western culture often teaches us that grief is private. We lower our voices in funeral homes. We whisper in cemeteries. We worry about crying too loudly. We apologize if our emotions become visible. Somehow, we have come to equate dignity with quiet restraint.
Anthropology suggests a very different picture. Across much of human history, death has not been quiet, rather, it has been unmistakably loud. That doesn’t mean people were less sad. Quite the opposite. The sounds of mourning became the language through which grief could be shared.

Read the full essay on the website DeathEducationCentral.com under Missives to explore community rituals of grief and commemoration through music and sound.
https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/community-witnessing-care-music-and-mourning

The Thanatology 13 visual essay will be released on the 13th of the month, as always. 💀🦋

About the artwork:

A Vanitas with a Lady Playing a Lute and a Man Holding a Skull and a Mirror

* Artist: Attributed to the workshop of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths
* Date: c. 1525–1540
* Medium: Oil on panel

Why Do Humans So Rarely Grieve in Silence?

The July Missive is all about music and mourning. Modern Western culture often teaches us that grief is private. We lower our voices in funeral homes. We whisper in cemeteries. We worry about crying too loudly. We apologize if our emotions become visible. Somehow, we have come to equate dignity with quiet restraint.
Anthropology suggests a very different picture. Across much of human history, death has not been quiet, rather, it has been unmistakably loud. That doesn’t mean people were less sad. Quite the opposite. The sounds of mourning became the language through which grief could be shared.

Read the full essay on the website DeathEducationCentral.com under Missives to explore community rituals of grief and commemoration through music and sound.
https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/community-witnessing-care-music-and-mourning

The Thanatology 13 visual essay will be released on the 13th of the month, as always. 💀🦋

About the artwork:

A Vanitas with a Lady Playing a Lute and a Man Holding a Skull and a Mirror

* Artist: Attributed to the workshop of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths
* Date: c. 1525–1540
* Medium: Oil on panel

This is an an oil painting by Nikolai Astrup (1880-1928) titled "Midsummer Eve Bonfire" (1921). It depicts a scene from modern history that echoes from the ancient past.

Midsummer, or Summer Solstice, is a threshold point in the year that, particularly to those living in northern latitudes, marked the height of the sun's power.

Metaphorically or mythologically, it has been conceived of as the night the Sun King (or Oak King) loses to the Winter King (or Holly King) and day-by-day, the sun loses power until winter returns. It is a metaphor of birth and resurrection, of the turning of the year, of the importance of seasonal shifts especially in temperate climates.

Most modern people have become detached from the natural cycles of the seasons and reminders of death and renewal ignored, potentially increasing our death anxiety. It is my contention, that by reconnecting to the birth and death cycles of nature, that we can get more comfortable with the realities of our own eventual and inevitable declines and deaths.

To learn more more about this perspective and explore specific midsummer traditions from around the world, please see my new essay, "At the Height of the Sun: Why the Summer Solstice Still Matters" at www.DeathEducationCentral.com under "Missives"
https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/at-the-height-of-the-sun-why-the-summer-solstice-still-matters
💀🦋

This is an an oil painting by Nikolai Astrup (1880-1928) titled "Midsummer Eve Bonfire" (1921). It depicts a scene from modern history that echoes from the ancient past.

Midsummer, or Summer Solstice, is a threshold point in the year that, particularly to those living in northern latitudes, marked the height of the sun's power.

Metaphorically or mythologically, it has been conceived of as the night the Sun King (or Oak King) loses to the Winter King (or Holly King) and day-by-day, the sun loses power until winter returns. It is a metaphor of birth and resurrection, of the turning of the year, of the importance of seasonal shifts especially in temperate climates.

Most modern people have become detached from the natural cycles of the seasons and reminders of death and renewal ignored, potentially increasing our death anxiety. It is my contention, that by reconnecting to the birth and death cycles of nature, that we can get more comfortable with the realities of our own eventual and inevitable declines and deaths.

To learn more more about this perspective and explore specific midsummer traditions from around the world, please see my new essay, "At the Height of the Sun: Why the Summer Solstice Still Matters" at www.DeathEducationCentral.com under "Missives"
https://www.deatheducationcentral.com/post/at-the-height-of-the-sun-why-the-summer-solstice-still-matters
💀🦋

The Afterward Book Club continues with our July selection of "A Dirty Job". Read or listen to the book by July 30th, and join us for an online discussion. If you appreciate dark (and a little bit twisted) humor, you're going to love this novel! Please sign up to get the meeting link! www.DeathEducationCentral.com

The Afterward Book Club continues with our July selection of "A Dirty Job". Read or listen to the book by July 30th, and join us for an online discussion. If you appreciate dark (and a little bit twisted) humor, you're going to love this novel! Please sign up to get the meeting link! www.DeathEducationCentral.com

Osiris. Inanna. Odin. Orpheus. Mictecacihautle. Mythic traditions of death. What can they teach us about loss and transformation? Find out in this month’s episode of Thanatology 13 now available on DeathEducationCentral.com. 🦋💀#deatheducation #thanatology #mythicpath #deathpositive #griefsupport

Osiris. Inanna. Odin. Orpheus. Mictecacihautle. Mythic traditions of death. What can they teach us about loss and transformation? Find out in this month’s episode of Thanatology 13 now available on DeathEducationCentral.com. 🦋💀#deatheducation #thanatology #mythicpath #deathpositive #griefsupport

Myths are not just ancient stories from life long ago. They are, instead, symbolic maps that can guide all people in all times through the travails of the human experience. Profound wisdom is embedded in myths about death for us today, no matter our own cultural heritage or religious values, about navigating loss, grief, and transformation.

Join me on this tour of world mythologies of death where we'll sample 5 varied traditions to see what they can teach us about making meaning in the face of mortality.

Thanatology 13 Episode 1.6 Death in Myth From Osiris to Odin, premieres on June 13th. It's a tad longer than the 13 minutes I aim for, but those extra minutes are worth your time. I'm also getting the hang of video production, so I hope you enjoy the episode.

And don't forget the essays, or Missive, as I call them, are available on DeathEducationCentral.com and if you want to go deeper, the Thanatology XIII Learning Community is always open. 🦋💀

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #Myth #Mythology

Myths are not just ancient stories from life long ago. They are, instead, symbolic maps that can guide all people in all times through the travails of the human experience. Profound wisdom is embedded in myths about death for us today, no matter our own cultural heritage or religious values, about navigating loss, grief, and transformation.

Join me on this tour of world mythologies of death where we'll sample 5 varied traditions to see what they can teach us about making meaning in the face of mortality.

Thanatology 13 Episode 1.6 Death in Myth From Osiris to Odin, premieres on June 13th. It's a tad longer than the 13 minutes I aim for, but those extra minutes are worth your time. I'm also getting the hang of video production, so I hope you enjoy the episode.

And don't forget the essays, or Missive, as I call them, are available on DeathEducationCentral.com and if you want to go deeper, the Thanatology XIII Learning Community is always open. 🦋💀

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #Myth #Mythology

The June Missive is now available at DeathEducationCentral.com. The theme for June is "Myth, Story & Transformation" and the topic for this month's exposition is "Death in Myth From Osiris to Odin". In addition to those two venerable gods, we explore the death myths of the goddess Inanna, the heart-breaking story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as the Aztec goddess of death, Mictecacihuatl (MEEK-tek-ah-see-wah-dl).

Mythology serves the human psyche with metaphorical and symbolic pathways through life. It is not meant to be read literally. Death myths in particular, instruct us how to face descent, loss, grief, transformation, and how to stay connected to our dead. In other words, how to live a more meaningful life.

I invite you to take a quick trip around the world of death myths with me this month. The illustrated presentation for Thanatology Thirteen will release on the 13th of the month, as always. And if you want to take a deeper dive into the topics, I continue to grow a collection of resources on the website in the Thanatology XIII Learning Community, which is always free and always available.

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #Mythology

The June Missive is now available at DeathEducationCentral.com. The theme for June is "Myth, Story & Transformation" and the topic for this month's exposition is "Death in Myth From Osiris to Odin". In addition to those two venerable gods, we explore the death myths of the goddess Inanna, the heart-breaking story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as the Aztec goddess of death, Mictecacihuatl (MEEK-tek-ah-see-wah-dl).

Mythology serves the human psyche with metaphorical and symbolic pathways through life. It is not meant to be read literally. Death myths in particular, instruct us how to face descent, loss, grief, transformation, and how to stay connected to our dead. In other words, how to live a more meaningful life.

I invite you to take a quick trip around the world of death myths with me this month. The illustrated presentation for Thanatology Thirteen will release on the 13th of the month, as always. And if you want to take a deeper dive into the topics, I continue to grow a collection of resources on the website in the Thanatology XIII Learning Community, which is always free and always available.

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #Mythology

Most of us assume funerals are about death.

The Bara people of Madagascar might disagree.

In Chapter 5 of Celebrations of Death, anthropologists Metcalf and Huntington explore a society where funerals are filled with dancing, feasting, courtship, sexual humor, cattle processions, and enormous gatherings of family and friends.

At first glance, it seems strange. Why celebrate life at a funeral?

The authors argue that these rituals reveal something profound: death is not only about the person who has died. It is also about the living who remain. Funerals reaffirm kinship, renew social bonds, encourage future generations, and restore vitality to the community.

In this view, the opposite of death is not simply life. It is continuity.

Perhaps one of the deepest functions of funeral rituals is not helping us let go of the dead, but helping us remember that life goes on.

👉 Swipe through the carousel to explore how the Bara use death rituals to celebrate fertility, family, ancestry, and the enduring cycle of life.

#DeathEducation #AnthropologyOfDeath #Thanatology #CulturalAnthropology #DeathStudies

Most of us assume funerals are about death.

The Bara people of Madagascar might disagree.

In Chapter 5 of Celebrations of Death, anthropologists Metcalf and Huntington explore a society where funerals are filled with dancing, feasting, courtship, sexual humor, cattle processions, and enormous gatherings of family and friends.

At first glance, it seems strange. Why celebrate life at a funeral?

The authors argue that these rituals reveal something profound: death is not only about the person who has died. It is also about the living who remain. Funerals reaffirm kinship, renew social bonds, encourage future generations, and restore vitality to the community.

In this view, the opposite of death is not simply life. It is continuity.

Perhaps one of the deepest functions of funeral rituals is not helping us let go of the dead, but helping us remember that life goes on.

👉 Swipe through the carousel to explore how the Bara use death rituals to celebrate fertility, family, ancestry, and the enduring cycle of life.

#DeathEducation #AnthropologyOfDeath #Thanatology #CulturalAnthropology #DeathStudies

Death. Grief. Loss. Transformation. The Titanic. This book is a thoughtful and easy read. Don’t think you have time to sit and read? Me neither. That’s why I listen to audiobooks. For free from my library. Don’t think you’ll have time for meetings? We’ll meet online twice for just one hour to discuss what we’ve read, even if it’s not everything. No pressure. No cost. Just taking about death themes in a really good book. The Afterward Book Club’s inaugural meeting is June 4. Please sign up on the website so I know you’re coming. DeathEducationCentral.com under “Online Events”. 💀🦋

Death. Grief. Loss. Transformation. The Titanic. This book is a thoughtful and easy read. Don’t think you have time to sit and read? Me neither. That’s why I listen to audiobooks. For free from my library. Don’t think you’ll have time for meetings? We’ll meet online twice for just one hour to discuss what we’ve read, even if it’s not everything. No pressure. No cost. Just taking about death themes in a really good book. The Afterward Book Club’s inaugural meeting is June 4. Please sign up on the website so I know you’re coming. DeathEducationCentral.com under “Online Events”. 💀🦋

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, emerging from the ashes of the American Civil War, when grieving families, widows, formerly enslaved communities, and veterans decorated the graves of the dead with flowers, wreaths, and remembrance. It was, in many ways, America’s sacred “day of the dead.”

The Civil War shattered the nation so completely that nearly every town carried fresh grief. Memorial rituals became one of the few spaces where mourning could slowly transform rage into shared memory. Over time, honoring the fallen helped former enemies begin imagining themselves as part of the same national story again, not because the wounds disappeared, but because the dead demanded remembrance greater than division.

Anthropologists often note that communal rituals surrounding death do important cultural work. They reaffirm values, restore continuity after trauma, and remind societies of what binds them together. Memorial Day has always carried that deeper function beneath the flags and ceremonies. It asks Americans to pause long enough to remember the cost of fracture.

Today, when public life often feels loud, polarized, and relentlessly adversarial, Memorial Day offers a quiet counterpoint. The holiday is not fundamentally about politics, parties, or performance. It is about collective mourning, sacrifice, and the fragile work of remaining a people despite our differences.

The graves that inspired Decoration Day held sons from farms and factories, immigrants and freedmen, brothers who fought on opposite sides, and countless who never came home at all. Their memory reminds us that a nation survives not merely through victory or ideology, but through the difficult human work of remembrance, reconciliation, and shared care for the living and the dead.

Today, perhaps the most meaningful way to honor Memorial Day is not only with flags and barbecues, but with reflection:
What kind of country are we building with the lives we have been given?
And are we remembering one another as fellow human beings first?

🇺🇸🕯️🌹

#MemorialDay #DeathEducation #Thanatology #CollectiveMemory #RitualAndRemembrance

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, emerging from the ashes of the American Civil War, when grieving families, widows, formerly enslaved communities, and veterans decorated the graves of the dead with flowers, wreaths, and remembrance. It was, in many ways, America’s sacred “day of the dead.”

The Civil War shattered the nation so completely that nearly every town carried fresh grief. Memorial rituals became one of the few spaces where mourning could slowly transform rage into shared memory. Over time, honoring the fallen helped former enemies begin imagining themselves as part of the same national story again, not because the wounds disappeared, but because the dead demanded remembrance greater than division.

Anthropologists often note that communal rituals surrounding death do important cultural work. They reaffirm values, restore continuity after trauma, and remind societies of what binds them together. Memorial Day has always carried that deeper function beneath the flags and ceremonies. It asks Americans to pause long enough to remember the cost of fracture.

Today, when public life often feels loud, polarized, and relentlessly adversarial, Memorial Day offers a quiet counterpoint. The holiday is not fundamentally about politics, parties, or performance. It is about collective mourning, sacrifice, and the fragile work of remaining a people despite our differences.

The graves that inspired Decoration Day held sons from farms and factories, immigrants and freedmen, brothers who fought on opposite sides, and countless who never came home at all. Their memory reminds us that a nation survives not merely through victory or ideology, but through the difficult human work of remembrance, reconciliation, and shared care for the living and the dead.

Today, perhaps the most meaningful way to honor Memorial Day is not only with flags and barbecues, but with reflection:
What kind of country are we building with the lives we have been given?
And are we remembering one another as fellow human beings first?

🇺🇸🕯️🌹

#MemorialDay #DeathEducation #Thanatology #CollectiveMemory #RitualAndRemembrance

Please allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Becky Floyd, and I’m the creator of Death Education Central.

I’m an anthropologist, thanatologist, artist, educator, and lifelong student of the strange and beautiful ways human beings make meaning in the face of mortality. I hold master’s degrees in both Anthropology and Thanatology, and for more than two decades I have taught courses exploring culture, symbolism, ritual, religion, mythology, and death.

Again and again, I found that students were hungry for conversations our culture rarely allows us to have openly. Conversations about grief, fear, impermanence, identity, purpose, and what it means to live fully while knowing life is finite.

At the same time, I have always been deeply drawn to art, mythology, and the symbolic life of human beings. I believe we do not survive by facts alone. We survive through stories, rituals, creativity, beauty, and connection.

Death Education Central grew from that intersection.

This space is not about morbidity or despair. It is about curiosity. It is about reclaiming death as part of the human experience rather than hiding it away behind fear and silence. It is about exploring how anthropology, mythology, psychology, expressive arts, and ritual can help us navigate grief, transformation, and impermanence with greater courage and compassion.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I enjoy long walks through exhibits about death, visiting cemeteries, hanging out in my osteology lab, and cats… which probably tells you everything you need to know about me.

Here you will find essays, videos, book discussions, reflective conversations, and creative explorations centered around death, meaning, and what it means to be human.

If that sounds unusual… it is.

But I suspect many of us have been quietly longing for these conversations all along.

I’m very glad you’re here.

🦋
Death Education Central

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #Anthropology

Please allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Becky Floyd, and I’m the creator of Death Education Central.

I’m an anthropologist, thanatologist, artist, educator, and lifelong student of the strange and beautiful ways human beings make meaning in the face of mortality. I hold master’s degrees in both Anthropology and Thanatology, and for more than two decades I have taught courses exploring culture, symbolism, ritual, religion, mythology, and death.

Again and again, I found that students were hungry for conversations our culture rarely allows us to have openly. Conversations about grief, fear, impermanence, identity, purpose, and what it means to live fully while knowing life is finite.

At the same time, I have always been deeply drawn to art, mythology, and the symbolic life of human beings. I believe we do not survive by facts alone. We survive through stories, rituals, creativity, beauty, and connection.

Death Education Central grew from that intersection.

This space is not about morbidity or despair. It is about curiosity. It is about reclaiming death as part of the human experience rather than hiding it away behind fear and silence. It is about exploring how anthropology, mythology, psychology, expressive arts, and ritual can help us navigate grief, transformation, and impermanence with greater courage and compassion.

Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, I enjoy long walks through exhibits about death, visiting cemeteries, hanging out in my osteology lab, and cats… which probably tells you everything you need to know about me.

Here you will find essays, videos, book discussions, reflective conversations, and creative explorations centered around death, meaning, and what it means to be human.

If that sounds unusual… it is.

But I suspect many of us have been quietly longing for these conversations all along.

I’m very glad you’re here.

🦋
Death Education Central

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #Anthropology

“Remember you will die.”
Not as a threat… but as an invitation.

For centuries, artists, philosophers, and storytellers have used memento mori imagery to confront one of humanity’s deepest fears while also illuminating what makes life meaningful. Skulls, candles, hourglasses, fading flowers, and the Dance of Death were never simply symbols of despair. They were reminders to awaken. To pay attention. To live deliberately.

This month at Death Education Central, we are exploring how mortality awareness can clarify our priorities, deepen our relationships, and reconnect us to what truly matters.

🦋 Read the May Missive: Memento Mori: Art That Whispers Remember You Will Die
🎥 Watch Episode 1.5 of Thanatology Thirteen
🌙 Join the free Thanatology XIII Learning Community to continue the conversation with others exploring death, culture, grief, symbolism, and meaning-making.

Because death education is not about obsession with endings.
It is about learning how endings shape the beauty, urgency, and sacredness of being alive.

Begin exploring at:
Death Education Central

#MementoMori #Thanatology #DeathEducation #MortalityAwareness #MeaningMaking #ArtAndDeath #DanseMacabre #PhilosophyOfLife #DeathPositive #Thanatology13 #HumanExperience #GriefEducation

“Remember you will die.”
Not as a threat… but as an invitation.

For centuries, artists, philosophers, and storytellers have used memento mori imagery to confront one of humanity’s deepest fears while also illuminating what makes life meaningful. Skulls, candles, hourglasses, fading flowers, and the Dance of Death were never simply symbols of despair. They were reminders to awaken. To pay attention. To live deliberately.

This month at Death Education Central, we are exploring how mortality awareness can clarify our priorities, deepen our relationships, and reconnect us to what truly matters.

🦋 Read the May Missive: Memento Mori: Art That Whispers Remember You Will Die
🎥 Watch Episode 1.5 of Thanatology Thirteen
🌙 Join the free Thanatology XIII Learning Community to continue the conversation with others exploring death, culture, grief, symbolism, and meaning-making.

Because death education is not about obsession with endings.
It is about learning how endings shape the beauty, urgency, and sacredness of being alive.

Begin exploring at:
Death Education Central

#MementoMori #Thanatology #DeathEducation #MortalityAwareness #MeaningMaking #ArtAndDeath #DanseMacabre #PhilosophyOfLife #DeathPositive #Thanatology13 #HumanExperience #GriefEducation

✨ New offerings are blooming at Death Education Central.

If you’ve been curious about death education, mythology, grief, symbolism, ritual, or the deeper questions that sit quietly beneath everyday life, this is a beautiful time to step into the conversation.

Right now you can explore:

🦋 Thanatology 13: Memento Mori
A multimedia exploration of mortality awareness through art, culture, and philosophy.

📜 The May Missive
This month’s essay reflects on the long tradition of memento mori and why remembering death can help us live with greater clarity, meaning, and intention.

🌙 Thanatology XIII Learning Community
An open space for thoughtful discussion, reflection, and shared exploration.

📚 The Afterward Book Club
Beginning June 4 & 18, we gather to discuss stories that brush against grief, memory, mortality, and what it means to be human.

Death education is not about dwelling in darkness. It is about reclaiming curiosity, creativity, and connection in a culture that too often avoids these conversations entirely.

Come wander the mythic path with us.
DeathEducationCentral.com

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #MementoMori #GriefEducation #DeathPositive #Mythology #Ritual #MeaningMaking #Thanatology13 #TheAfterwardBookClub

✨ New offerings are blooming at Death Education Central.

If you’ve been curious about death education, mythology, grief, symbolism, ritual, or the deeper questions that sit quietly beneath everyday life, this is a beautiful time to step into the conversation.

Right now you can explore:

🦋 Thanatology 13: Memento Mori
A multimedia exploration of mortality awareness through art, culture, and philosophy.

📜 The May Missive
This month’s essay reflects on the long tradition of memento mori and why remembering death can help us live with greater clarity, meaning, and intention.

🌙 Thanatology XIII Learning Community
An open space for thoughtful discussion, reflection, and shared exploration.

📚 The Afterward Book Club
Beginning June 4 & 18, we gather to discuss stories that brush against grief, memory, mortality, and what it means to be human.

Death education is not about dwelling in darkness. It is about reclaiming curiosity, creativity, and connection in a culture that too often avoids these conversations entirely.

Come wander the mythic path with us.
DeathEducationCentral.com

#DeathEducation #Thanatology #MementoMori #GriefEducation #DeathPositive #Mythology #Ritual #MeaningMaking #Thanatology13 #TheAfterwardBookClub

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