Death and Society

    *Bone ring made during the civil war in the U.S.

The article linked below, 'The Dead Have Something To Tell You', sketches a few eras of societies in the past and their relationship to the dead. The article notes the reverence of tombs and mummies, the building of churches over the tombs of martyrs, venerating body parts of the dead, keeping bones and preserving organs as memorabilia of the deceased, and turning bones into jewelry. There are historical and cultural variance in the way society approaches and treats the dead. It would be taboo today to remove the finger of a loved one and turn it into jewelry, or embalm the heart of a loved one. The author ends on a note that being reminded of the deaths of loved ones can add meaning to our lives.

"When Galileo was exhumed in 1737 in Florence, Italy, for transfer to a more lavish tomb, several fingers, a tooth and a vertebra were plucked from his skeleton to be kept as relics. When Descartes was exhumed in Sweden in 1666 for reburial in France, a guard stole his skull, and the French ambassador pocketed his right index finger. During the French Revolution, a conservator reported that he’d carved some of Descartes’ bones into rings, which he distributed to “friends of the good philosophy.”"  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/the-dead-have-something-to-tell-you.html?_r=1&ref=opinion%3Fref%3Dglobal-home