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I learned most of the information below from Wikipedia.
Burial or interment is the ritual act of placing a dead person or animal, and/or objects into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased or the object in it, and covering it over.
The earliest undisputed human burial, discovered so far, dates back 100,000 years. Human skeletal remains stained with red ochre were discovered in the Skhul cave at Qafzeh, Israel. A variety of grave goods were present at the site, including the mandible of a wild boar in the arms of one of the skeletons.
After death, a body will decay. Burial is not necessarily a public health requirement. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the WHO advises that only corpses carrying an infectious disease strictly require burial.
Human burial practices are the manifestation of the human desire to demonstrate "respect for the dead", and to prevent the possibilities of ghosts harming the living.
Among the reasons for burial are:
Respect for the physical remains. If left lying on top of the ground, scavengers may eat the corpse, considered disrespectful to the deceased in many (but not all) cultures. In Tibet, Sky burials return the remains to the cycle of life and acknowledge the body as "food," a core tenet of some Buddhist practices.
Burial can be seen as an attempt to bring closure to the deceased's family and friends. Psychologists in some Western Judeo-Christian quarters, as well as the US funeral industry, claim that by interring a body away from plain view, the pain of losing a loved one can be lessened.
Many cultures believe in an afterlife. Burial is sometimes believed to be a necessary step for an individual to reach the afterlife.
Many religions prescribe a particular way to live, which includes customs relating to disposal of the dead.
A decomposing body releases unpleasant gases related to decomposition. As such, burial is seen as a means of preventing smells from expanding into open air.
So, the real reason that burial in the ground is so ubiquitous in the United States is because of religious beliefs pertaining to existence of an afterlife.
In the words of Tony Soprano: "Whatcha gonna do?"
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TRIVIA
The little plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
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HISTORICAL EVENT
After President John F. Kennedy federalized National Guard troops and deployed them the day before to the University of Alabama to force its desegregation. On June 11 in 1963, facing federalized Alabama National Guard troops, Alabama Governor George Wallace ended his blockade of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and allowed two African American students to enroll.
Vivian Juanita Malone Jones
Vivian Juanita Malone Jones was an African-American woman, one of the first two African Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963 and the university's first African American graduate.
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WORD FOR TODAY
inhume
Verb
Bury (a body)
Synonyms
bury - inter - entomb
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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Hugh Laurie is an English actor, comedian, writer, musician and director. He first became known as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1987 to 1999.
From 2004 to 2012, he played Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations. He has been listed in the 2011 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest paid actor ever in a television drama, earning $409,000 per episode in House, and for being the most watched leading man on television.
Greta Van Susteren is an American commentator and television personality on the Fox News Channel, where she hosts On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren. A former criminal defense and civil trial lawyer, she appeared as a legal analyst on CNN co-hosting Burden of Proof with Roger Cossack from 1994 to 2002, playing defense attorney to Cossack's prosecutor.
Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman) is a retired American stage and screen actor, comedian, director, screenwriter, author and activist.
Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, the latter of which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder is known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991). Wilder has directed and written several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).
Adrienne Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay (played by Bea Arthur) in the sitcom Maude. In the early 1980s, Barbeau was a sex symbol, starring in several horror and science fiction films, including The Fog, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, and Escape from New York. During the 1990s, she became known for providing the voice of Catwoman on Batman: The Animated Series and subsequent Batman cartoon series. In the 2000s (decade), she appeared in the HBO series Carnivàle as Ruthie the snake dancer.
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I'll only retire in the day I should be dead and they have me buried, and some idiot spell over my casket some stupid gospel stuff.
--Ozzy Osbourne
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