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Eating the bones of the dead

When I was in elementary school, my grandmother on my father’s side passed away. This story is about what happened at her funeral. It’s bothered me ever since.

My father is the second-born son. My uncle, the first-born son, wracked up a rather large debt before I was born, causing quite a bit of trouble. He was later disowned from the family.

But, it was his mother’s funeral so of course he appeared, bringing his wife with him. It was the first time I’d seen either of them, and his wife seemed like a regular old lady. My uncle looked kind of gloomy, so I didn’t really want to get too close to him.

We went to the crematory, and the body was cremated. There’s that custom where people pick out the bone fragments from the ashes, right? So, we were doing that, and I glanced over at my uncle just in time to see him putting my grandmother’s bones in his mouth. He was fidgeting and looking around, like he didn’t want to be seen, so of course our eyes met.

He crunched the bones and then swallowed. Then he grinned.

I was only an elementary school student, so I was terrified. Of course, I couldn’t say anything to my parents about it either…

Is there some kind of special meaning behind eating the bones of one’s parents? Like, my uncle was long estranged from the family, did he eat the bones to strengthen his ties to his mother…?

This whole time I’ve wanted to know why. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

877: 2015/02/19 (Thurs) 00:46:04.74 ID:10ggavHJ0

It differs depending on the area, but there is a meaning behind the custom of chewing bones. There are some places where people also eat them. It spread throughout Japan before the war. It’s not that strange. It signifies a deep affection and yearning for the deceased.

It’s also said in some areas that eating the bones of a deceased individual helps to fix the broken parts of oneself. For example, eating the knee bone will help to heal your knee. To use a famous person as an example, Katsu Shintaro (actor, singer) once partook of this custom at the funeral of his older brother.

In ancient times, there was a custom of eating the flesh of the deceased. This took place all over the world. This was to absorb the power of the deceased’s spirit. Its power would continue to grow within one’s body and was a ritual that originated from animism.

In different areas, this was carried out by the family heir. They would absorb the spirit of their ancestors to use that power to protect their family.

The custom of chewing bones took shape after cremation began. As explained earlier about eating certain bones to heal those within one’s own body, this tradition has been passed down from animism.

In Papua New Guinea, there’s a ritual where warriors chew on the bones of those they defeated to receive their bravery and spirit.

The same ritual also occurs in the world of the Yakuza. At the funeral of the boss of the Y-Gumi, the next-in-line chewed on the bones as they removed the fragments from the ashes as a sign of devotion to his former-boss and a promise of revenge against those who killed him.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, there are people who are drawn to such actions either way.

For example, there are people who have said that they were so sad when their mother passed away that they consumed her bones so that she could live on inside them forever.

I don’t know what your uncle was thinking when he performed such actions, but I think when someone close to us dies, our real nature comes out.

 

879: 2015/02/19 (Thurs) 14:33:45.54 ID:2c3Fp3Vg0
>>877
I had no idea there was such a tradition. Our family lives in the Chubu region, I wonder if things like this happen all over the country?

 

 

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