Norway Death Culture

Name
Instructor
Sociology
Date
Norwegian death Culture: A Sociological Analysis.
Death is a deeply spiritual event, closely tied to one’s religious experience. It is also an event that brings family and friends together to mourn the deceased as well as to comfort the bereaved. The Norwegian culture places emphasis on these two concepts in time of death. That, when one dies, they ascend to heaven to live with Jesus and the angels. When their loved ones die, they will join them (Gustavsson, 228). In recent years, albeit the rapidly changing nature of societal rituals due to modernization and advancement into the 21st century, they have tried to maintain the conservative sober approach when it comes to handling death and rituals associated with it. The paper will analyze the salient points in the entire business and try to derive a practical perspective into how much the Norwegian culture has been affected by modernization and advancement technologically, economically and culturally.
First, I will look at the funeral rituals and the actions around the burial of the dead. When one dies, the family usually visits cemeteries to obtain an idea of the conventional designs for tombstones. Then a company is contracted to develop it. It indicates a conservative approach to the rituals about burial. Norwegians still have a negative view on innovative new ways of expressing their love for the dead. They tend to harbor a group mentality when it comes to decorating the grave of the departed.

This also shows that they place more emphasis on the spiritual aspect as compared to the physical observed in the practice of burying their dead in churchyards or special dedicated church grounds.
Another important issue is the process of mourning, following recent trends; Norwegians have begun to adopt a more technologically savvy method of mourning. This is done through memorial websites on the internet where the bereaved get a chance to express their grief in public setting and get emotional support from other subscribers on the sites. This method has been highly effective, especially in providing the much-needed outlet of emotional distress, experienced by those left behind.
Deaths by suicide are also very negatively viewed in the culture. The attitude of tabooing the idea of suicide has been preserved from the past. The Swedish, on the other hand, vocalize their pain due to death by suicide “Culture Of Norway – History, People, Traditions, Women, Food, Customs, Family,” N.p). This is aimed at dissuading further incidences. Generally, Norwegian approach and culture toward death, mourning and burial have maintained a relatively conservative approach strongly salted by the Christian religious undertones about the state of the dead and the concept of the afterlife. Works Cited
“Culture Of Norway – History, People, Clothing, Traditions, Women, Beliefs, Food, Customs, Family”. Everyculture.com. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.
Gustavsson, Anders. “Death, Dying And Bereavement In Norway And Sweden In Recent Times.” Humanities, vol 4, no. 2, 2015, pp. 224-235. MDPI AG, doi:10.3390/h4020224.