grief
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Grief: Scarab Hiding
Written by SusanCowger
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Scarabs are dung beetles. The eat dung, they live in dung. Whenever there is a fresh deposit of dung, hundreds of beetles appear out of nowhere. They immediately form the dung into large, perfectly smooth, spheres and roll them down the street. Months later, their young emerge from these spheres as fully grown adults. To the ancients this was miraculous—a key to the afterlife, rebirth and resurrection. I’m not sure they got that entirely right, but one thing they did get right: they had rituals for grieving. They made amulets of scarabs, wrote messages on them and laid them on the heart of the dead. Not only a ritual of god-speed, the words gave voice to all that could have/should have been said before they departed.
We in America have given up all rituals of grief: no armbands or black clothing, no sack-cloth and ashes. Certainly no amulets. Grief is expected to get over its self.
"
Written by SusanCowger
"
Scarabs are dung beetles. The eat dung, they live in dung. Whenever there is a fresh deposit of dung, hundreds of beetles appear out of nowhere. They immediately form the dung into large, perfectly smooth, spheres and roll them down the street. Months later, their young emerge from these spheres as fully grown adults. To the ancients this was miraculous—a key to the afterlife, rebirth and resurrection. I’m not sure they got that entirely right, but one thing they did get right: they had rituals for grieving. They made amulets of scarabs, wrote messages on them and laid them on the heart of the dead. Not only a ritual of god-speed, the words gave voice to all that could have/should have been said before they departed.We in America have given up all rituals of grief: no armbands or black clothing, no sack-cloth and ashes. Certainly no amulets. Grief is expected to get over its self.
"
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