Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings was a British documentary series broadcast on Channel 4, that explored the lives and traditions of several Irish Traveller families as they prepared to unite one of their members in marriage. The series also featured Romanichal (British Gypsies) in several episodes, and has been criticised for not accurately representing England’s Romani and Travelling community. It was first broadcast in February 2010 as a one-off documentary called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, filmed as part of the Cutting Edge series and voted Most Groundbreaking Show in the Cultural Diversity Awards 2010. A series of 5 episodes were later commissioned, and the series first aired in January 2011. A second series began airing in February 2012.  A third series was not commissioned, rather the show ended with nine stand-alone specials.



 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcgTRyq02vI

My super sweet sixteen

My Super Sweet 16 is a MTV reality series documenting the lives of teenagers, usually in the United States, Canada and UK, who usually have wealthy parents who throw huge coming of age celebrations. Parties include the quinceañera (a sweet 15), the sweet 16, and other birthdays including a My Super Sweet 21 (which was broadcast during MTV's Spring Break party) and My Super Swag 18.

 The show has been criticised for its excesses and the effects of presenting such over the top parties as an aspirational norm to impressionable young people.


 

Ocean Burial

Ocean Burial

The open sea. Photo by Spirit of Albion

Since most of our planet is covered with water, burial at sea has long been the accepted norm for mariners the world over.
By international law, the captain of any ship, regardless of size or nationality has the authority to conduct an official burial service at sea.
The traditional burial shroud is a burlap bag, being cheap and plentiful, and long in use to carry cargo.  The deceased is sewn inside and is weighted with rocks or other heavy debris to keep it from floating.
If available, the flag of their nation covers the bag while a service is conducted on deck. The body is then slid from under the flag, and deposited in Davy Jones locker.
In olden days, the British navy mandated that the final stitch in the bag had to go through the deceased person’s lip, just to make sure they really were dead.  (If they were still alive, having a needle passed through their skin would revive them).
It is quite possible that sea burial has been the main form of burial across the earth since before recorded history.

Cave Burial – Hawaii burial Ceremonie

Cave Burial – Hawaii

Cave burials. Photo by Extra Medium

In the Hawaiian Islands, a traditional burial takes place in a cave where the body is bent into a fetal position with hands and feet tied to keep it that way, then covered with a tapa cloth made from the bark of a mulberry bush.
Sometimes the internal organs are removed and the cavity filled with salt to preserve it.  The bones are considered sacred and believed to have diving power. 
Many caves in Hawaii still contain these skeletons, particularly along the coast of Maui.

Extraordinary burial ceremonie Spirit Offerings – Southeast Asia

Spirit Offerings – Southeast Asia

Throughout most of Southeast Asia, people have been buried in the fields where they lived and worked. It is common to see large stone monuments in the middle of a pasture of cows or water buffalo.
The Vietnamese leave thick wads of counterfeit money under rocks on these monuments so the deceased can buy whatever they need on their way to the next life
In Cambodia and Thailand, wooden “spirit houses” sit in front of almost every hut from the poorest to the most elaborate estate.  These are places where food and drink are left periodically for the souls of departed relatives to refuel when necessary.  The offerings of both countries also ask the spirits of the relatives to watch over the lands and the families left behind.

Fire Burial – Bali

Fire Burial – Bali

Fire consumes all. Photo by Barnacle Bikers

On the mostly Hindu Isle of Bali, fire is the vehicle to the next life. The body or Mayat is bathed and laid out on a table where food offerings are laid beside it for the journey.
Lanterns line the path to the persons hut to let people know he or she has passed, and act as a reminder of their life so they are not forgotten.
It is then interred in a mass grave with others from the same village who have passed on until it is deemed there are a sufficient number of bodies to hold a cremation.
The bodies are unearthed, cleaned, and stacked on an elaborate float, gloriously decorated by the entire village and adorned with flowers. The float is paraded through the village to the central square where it is consumed by flames, and marks the beginning of a massive feast to honor and remember the dead.

Burial Ceremonnies Viking Burial – Scandinavia

Viking Burial – Scandinavia

Viking’s ashore. Illustration Long Beach City College

We have all seen images of a Viking funeral with the body laid out on the deck of a dragon ship, floating into the sunset while warriors fire flaming arrows to ignite the pyre. 
While very dramatic, burning a ship is quite expensive, and not very practical. 
What we do know is most Vikings, being a sea faring people, were interred in large graves dug in the shape of a ship and lined with rocks.  The person’s belongings and food were placed beside them.  Men took their weapons to the next world, while women were laid to rest wearing their finest jewelry and accessories. 
If the deceased was a nobleman or great warrior, his woman was passed from man to man in his tribe, who all made love to her (some would say raped) before strangling her, and placing her next to the body of her man.  Thankfully this practice is now, for the most part, extinct.