From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death

Embalming is the process of injecting a chemical combination of “formaldehyde, methanol, ethanol and phenol” into a corpse (13). As other countries import embalming technology from the West, the precise formula can differ. For instance, instead of using only natural substances like oils, tea leaves, and bark, Torajan people are increasingly using an embalming mixture that is a “solution of formaldehyde, methyl alcohol, and water” in the mummification process (70). They have changed their traditional practices in favor of newer embalming techniques.

Embalming is part of the big business of funeral practice in the United States. There is a Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. Doughty highlights the capitalistic bent of their business strategy when she narrates that when monks were making “low-cost, handmade cypress caskets” in the wake of the mass deaths following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (39), the board sent them a cease-and-desist order because professional embalmers were losing business.

The ma’nene’ ritual is an example of Cultural Diversity in Death Practices. It is a ritual practiced by the Torajan people of Indonesia. They open the graves of their mummified loved ones, and they use paintbrushes to “clean the corpse, brushing […] leathery skin with short, loving strokes” (64). They then dress the mummies in new clothes and re-inter them. Some mummies who are cared for are anonymous, without known family, but they are equally respected. While caring for the dead, Torajans “[talk] directly to the corpses” (67), narrating their movements and updating them on life events.

Doughty says that before attending the ritual, she looked online to see what Westerners were saying about the practice. She saw that many were shocked and offended, calling the practice disrespectful. However, Doughty says that taking a body out of a grave, brushing them, and giving them new clothes is “the most respectful thing” a Torajan person can do (76), and it keeps them connected with loved ones who have passed.

Mummification is a style of preserving corpses with their flesh intact, via drying or embalming methods. It can be integrated into various cultural death practices. For instance, in Torajan society, mummification is vital because the Torajan people take their loved ones from their graves annually and care for their corpses. This is only possible because mummification preserves their flesh. Traditional Torajan methods for mummification include using oils and tea, which “bind with and shrink the proteins in the skin, making it stronger, stiffer, and more resistant to bacterial attack” (69). The goal is for the corpse to dry out rather than rot. The same effect can be achieved with Western technology like embalming chemicals.

Mummification can also happen accidentally. For instance, Sarah visits Guanajuato in Mexico, where people found that the local atmosphere and the “soil’s chemical components” had mummified bodies (89). During a purposeful mummification, bodies can often be arranged. During accidental mummification, “the body reverts to ‘primary flaccidity’” and muscles relax, jaws and eyelids open, and joints flex, sometimes resulting in “gaping mouths and twisted arms and necks” (89). Doughty stresses that even though the famous writer Ray Bradbury said that these mummies gave him “nightmares,” the process is natural.

Ñatitas are skulls and mummified heads kept largely by women in La Paz, Bolivia. They have a cult following of “fervent devotees” who believe that the heads can “grant favors” (189). The keepers of the ñatitas dress them in beanies and hats. Each ñatita has a different specialty, like Catholic saints. Sandra is one of the most “elegantly preserved heads [Doughty has] ever seen” (192), to the point that the cartilage of her nose is intact, and the people believe that she specializes in granting favors about finance and business.

In Bolivia, there is a yearly Festival de las Ñatitas, where Indigenous Aymara practices and imagery are on display alongside Catholic imagery. The Catholic Church attempted to quell worship of the ñatitas, but there was such a large backlash that they reversed their decision not to bless the skulls during the festival. Doughty believes that the ñatitas threaten the Catholic Church because they are largely found, displayed, and cared for by women who then offer “direct, unmediated connection to the powers of the beyond” (195), without the need for a male priest.

A natural burial is a burial without the use of any embalming chemicals or barriers around the body. Corpses go “straight into a hole in the ground—no embalming, no caskets, no heavy concrete vault” (114). The “corporatized funeral industry” criticizes natural burials, calling them a “hippie myth” (120). Doughty says that this is largely driven by their interests in profit, as these businesses rely on the immense costs of embalming, caskets, and vaults.

In Chapter 8, Doughty facilitates the natural burial of Mrs. Shepherd. Doughty explains that because corpses are not embalmed in natural burials, natural processes like decomposition can occur. When Doughty and her funeral home director prepare Mrs. Shepherd for transportation to Joshua Tree, her “skin peel[s] free from her calves,” and her face and hair are covered in mold (213). These side effects of natural composition are necessary because the goal of a natural burial is for a body to fully decay directly in the soil. A shroud is usually the only mediation between the corpse and the dirt.