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Uganda’s Banyankole Tribe’s Death and Burial Traditions
Today we explore some of the unique death and burial traditions of the Banyankole tribe in southwestern UgandaContrary to many cultures, the Banyankole tribe, who reside in Ankole in southwestern Uganda, traditionally believed that death did not occur naturally but rather through methods of sorcery, scourge or spite. Therefore, when people died, their loved ones, wanting to know exactly who was to blame, would take the bodies to witch doctors to solve…
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The Funeral That Took 530 Years
A king of England is getting a proper burial for the first time this weekHe died in 1485, but King Richard III is finally getting his own funeral. It took 530 years after his death in battle for the former ruler to have a proper burial. The king’s story is an unusual one. In 2012, a group of investigators dug up a parking lot in Leicester, believing it to…
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“Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day
This mournful song acts as a reminder to cherish our loved ones while we have themThe iconic modern-punk band Green Day is no stranger to writing and performing mournful and nostalgic ballads. As we’ve seen before, their early song, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” has served as an inspiration to many who play it at graduations, funerals and any other celebration that serves as a turning point for life.…
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Monday Hearts for Madalene
Page Hodel creates the most beautiful hearts in an ongoing celebration of loveYou will Endlessly Sparkle In My Heart It’s an honor for SevenPonds to share with our readers the story of the Monday Hearts for Madalene project, a true account of the power of love in the midst of death. The project’s origins take us to 2005: the moment Page Hodel encountered Madalene Rodriguez and fell “instantly, dizzyingly in love with…
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Seeking Solace in the Landscape
Memory, visibility and healing at the National AIDS Memorial GroveLandscape is so central to how we see and move through the world that it is often easily overlooked. When we perceive nature as wild and untouched, we seek solace in the vibrant forces at play, finding our lives dwarfed by the larger movements of the universe. When a landscape is highly manipulated, we can…
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“Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories“
Terrence Holt talks about the most surprising stories of his early medical career in this suspenseful page-turnerWhen you’ve worked in a hospital’s ICU as long as Terrence Holt has, you learn a thing or two about death. His book, Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories, takes a parabolic twist to gritty stories from hospital residents. While plenty of authors in this genre focus on medical horrors and miraculous cures, Holt doesn’t rely…
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Into the Woods
Natural German burials rooted in traditional placesWere you to walk into one of FriedWald’s EcoEternity forests in Germany, you may not necessarily know that you had entered a green burial site. No headstones to be seen, no large tombs proclaiming the importance of the interred. You would simply witness a well-conserved forest, lush and green, with large trees rooting into a…
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