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Kifudu Funeral Dance of the Giriama People
This African dance brings communities together to send spirits of loved ones to ancestral realmsThe Giriama are an agricultural and hunter-gatherer sub-group of the larger Mijikenda ethnic group who live along the coast of Kenya. One of the distinguishing features of their cultural and spiritual life — and a main reason why they were able to retain their traditional practices in the face of British colonialism — is a funeral…
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What Happens When You Die Alone in New York?
Investigators unravel the mystery of George Bell’s lifeYou might be surprised to hear that dying alone isn’t an entirely uncommon event in New York City. Its dense population attracts socialites as much as it does those who want to be left alone in complete anonymity, becoming just one more face in a crowd of thousands. Everyone dies, including the people who would…
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Monday Hearts for Madalene
Page Hodel creates the most beautiful hearts in an ongoing celebration of loveMy Heart Burns Brightly For You All The Time! 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…
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When Will So Many Conferences on Death & Dying Cease to Happen Around Halloween?
Yes really, sadly it’s true…I just came off a five-week string of conferences centered around death and dying. All of them were amazing to attend, but all of them took place just before Halloween (In fact, I noticed at many of them, there was an array of skirts, blouses, scarves and such sporting colorful skulls for the occasion). I mentioned…
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Mike Egan’s Paintings Explore the Whimsical Side of Death
Fine arts grad and former embalmer Mike Egan’s paintings playfully balance life and deathMike Egan is definitely using all his professionally-acquired skills these days. Since graduating from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program in 2000, and then taking a detour through a career as an embalmer and funeral director, he now devotes his time to expressing the relationship between life, death and the spirit world…
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Our Weekly Tip: Write a Living Trust
A living trust enables management of property to be transferred before death, and avoids probate proceedings for loved ones after deathOur Weekly Tip: Explore the benefits of writing a living trust to help you manage and distribute your property both before and after your death. A living trust enables the settlor (the person who creates the trust: you) to transfer control of assets to another person (the trustee) in the event that the settlor becomes…
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How Does Grief Affect the Creative Process? (Interview)
A fine art photographer discusses how art helped her cope with the sudden death of her fiancéToday, SevenPonds spoke with Sarah Treanor, a fine art photographer and writer, based in Ohio. Her recent body of work, Still, Life, consists of self-portraits that explore her grieving process following the sudden death of her fiancé in 2012. Juniper: How does photography help you cope with loss? Sarah: Photography was initially a positive escape from my…
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“lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death To Children”
A children’s book on death that tells it like it isMost children’s books that tackle the issue of death and dying revolve around the grieving process. They usually tell the story of a pet or a grandparent that passes away, and they tend have a uniform message: that the pain caused by the loss will ease over time, and that the people we love are never…
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