ABSTRACT

This article aims at introducing some explanations on the deathrituals or funerals from the anthropological perspective. Someanthropologists like Hertz, van Gennep, and Turner are likely tounderstand death as the transitional processes from the livingworld to the world of the dead. In particular, Hertz has emphasizedthat dying is a slow process of transition from one spiritual stateto another. This study also argues that the themes of rebirth, love,sexuality, and fertility as symbols transcending death have beenexplored by many anthropologists. The combination of themes ofdeath and sexuality or fertility is considered to confront death withemphasis on life. In the Korean society, the themes of bothsexuality and death could be found in the liminal period of deathrituals around some southern part of islands. This paperconcentrates on the importance of symbolism highlighted in theliminal period of funeral rituals. For instance, the liminality ofdeath rituals is highly likely to link the symbolisms of transition,reversal, ambiguous conditions, seclusion, sexuality, and someothers.