Punk Rock Funeral Trivia Quiz

Answer: Water buffalo

According to local tradition in Tana Toraja, a water buffalo must be slaughtered in order for the soul of the dead person to enter the afterlife; the more buffaloes sacrificed, the easier the passage. The buffalo is paraded through the village before being slaughtered, and its meat is eaten by the villagers.

The sacrifice is the second part of the ritual, with the first part involving the corpse being dressed and carried in a procession inside a miniature tongkonan (the traditional ancestral house of the Torajan people, which resembles a boat on stilts). Rambu solos are very costly and can take months to organise; in the run-up, the dead person is wrapped in cloth, placed in the family tongkonan and watched over by loved ones.

Answer: Cavite

In rural areas of Cavite, the dead are buried in trees. A person who is dying will choose the tree where they want to be buried, and a hut will be built near the tree for them to live in. When they die, the tree trunk is hollowed out and the corpse placed inside, along with an ancestral statue called a likha.

Answer: Leaving the corpse on a mountain to be exposed to the elements and/or eaten by scavengers

The principle behind sky burial is that the body, now minus the soul, is an empty vessel, and does not need to preserved. Therefore, it is left to the elements, and for scavengers such as vultures to pick at. Burying the corpse in the ground is also difficult in mountainous areas, due to the rocky ground. Once the flesh has been picked off the bones, the bones are ground up with tsampa (a mix of yak butter, tea and barley flour) and given to crows and hawks to eat. Vultures are encouraged to eat the corpse, as it is considered unlucky if they do not.

Answer: Madagascar

Famadihana means 'turning of the bones'. The reason behind it is that once the body has completely decomposed, the spirit of the dead person is free to go to the ancestral world. The bones are dug up every 5-7 years, unwrapped and rewrapped in new silk shrouds.

The dead person's loved ones drink and dance, and place the bones back in the tomb before sunset. The ritual has declined in recent times due to the cost of silk shrouds, and Evangelical Christian Malagasy abandoning the practice, though the Catholic Church does not frown on the practice as it believes it to be cultural, not religious.

Answer: Judaism

'Shiva' is Hebrew for 'seven' and accordingly, the practice of sitting shiva lasts for a week. It is a required observation for parents, siblings, children or partners who have died, and starts immediately after the dead person has been buried and the grave covered with earth.

In some streams of Judaism, all mirrors in the house are covered and a candle is kept burning. Some Jews also tear their clothing, a practice called keriah, and wear the torn clothing throughout the shiva period, and do not wear leather shoes, as a sign of forsaking creature comforts.

The 'sitting' bit refers to sitting on low stools or the floor. Relatives of the dead person are encouraged to talk about them, and are visited by neighbours and other well-wishers.

Answer: Nine

Dead Yard, or Nine Nights, is an extended wake that celebrates the life of the dead person, as they are no longer suffering. Traditionally, the last night is the night before the church service, and the dead person's loved ones prepare a meal, traditionally eaten at midnight, and tell stories about them.

The spirit of the dead person is thought to walk through the party, gathering food and saying their last goodbyes before passing on. The dead person's bed and mattress should be laid up against the wall in order to encourage them to return to the grave, and when the spirit leaves, a chalk mark is drawn above their exit.

Answer: Beads

As South Korea is a densely populated country, they are running out of space for graves, to the point where a law passed in 2000 decreed that anyone burying their dead after 2000 had to remove the grave 60 years after burial. With cremation rates increasing, one way of remembering a dead loved one is to have their remains made into funeral beads. Bae Jae-Yul, head of the Bonhyang company, came up with the idea by refining ashes into a powder and heating them at super high temperatures, turning them into liquid which solidifies into ceramic-like crystals.

They are generally blue-green in colour and can be stored in jars.

Answer: True

Google image search 'Ghana customised coffin' and you get all sorts, from giant cameras and Coca Cola bottles to shoes and large pink fish. Some of these coffins, made by carpenter Kane Kwei and his assistant Paa Joe, were displayed in a 1989 exhibition in Paris, 'Les Magiciens de la Terre (The Magicians of the Earth)'.

The practice originates in the figurative palanquins for carrying chiefs of the Ga people of Ghana. These palanquins are known as 'okadi akpakai' and represent family totems. As a chief could not be buried in his palanquin, fantasy coffins were made instead.

They are also used to appease the dead person's ancestors, who are believed to have an influence on the living, and have a connection to the dead person's life. The wood of the wawa tree is used to make the coffins.

Answer: True

Believe it or not, this is a practice that actually takes place, and professional strippers can be hired to perform at funerals. Although it started out as a practice among gangsters, hiring strippers for funerals has become more mainstream, and is a racier take on the idea of professional mourners, who are hired to cry at funerals.

The funeral of one Taiwanese politician, Tung Hsiang, featured a parade of stages-cum-cars known as Electric Flower Cars, with pole dancers dancing on top. The idea is that the dancers give the dead person one last celebration before they depart for the afterlife, and are also there to get the crowd going.

The custom is more common in rural areas.

Answer: Black bread

Why black bread? The answer is because it's a reversal of the tradition of breaking black bread with someone when you meet them for the first time. Sometimes the vodka and black bread are placed next to the dead person's open coffin.

Pancakes, or blini, also have a connection with Russian funerals; their circular shape represents the circle of life, and they are traditionally offered to mothers who have given birth, and served at funeral meals. Because blini are cheap and easy to make, they can be served at anyone's funeral, regardless of status.