Prohibition of death
Encyclopedia
Social phenomenon
Social phenomena include all behavior which influences or is influenced by organisms sufficiently alive to respond to one another.-See also:*Forms of activity and interpersonal relations*List of sociology topics*Social fact-References:...
and taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
in which a law is passed stating that it is illegal to die, usually specifically in a certain political division
Political division
A political division is a term of art of geography defining the concept of a geographic region accepted to be in the jurisdiction of a particular government entity...
or in a specific building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
.
The earliest case of prohibition of death occurred in the 5th century BC, in the Greek island of Delos
Delos
The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece...
; dying on Delos was prohibited on religious grounds.
Today, in most cases, the phenomenon has occurred as a satirical protest to the posture of the governments of not approving the expansion of municipal cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
with no more space for additional corpses. In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
one town has prohibited death, in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
there have been several settlements which have had death prohibited, whilst in a town—Biritiba Mirim—in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, an attempt to prohibit is currently taking place.
Additionally, there is a traditional prohibition on recording deaths in royal palaces in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, for rather different reasons.
One place has an actual policy against allowing natural death in the community—the remote Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
town of Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway. It is located on the western coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, on the southern side on Adventfjorden , which continues inland with Adventdalen...
in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
. In this case, the prohibition is a practical response to the unusual environmental conditions in the region.
In antiquity
The island of DelosDelos
The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece...
had death, along with birth, prohibited to "purify" the island and render it fit for the proper worship of the gods. At the time it was considered a sacred and holy place by the ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
. The prohibition was made by the tyrant Pisistratus, of the city-state of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, who had first ordered that all graves within sight of the island's temple be dug up and the bodies removed to locations on or beyond the perimeter, and then, under instruction from the Delphic Oracle, that the entire island be purged of all dead bodies.
In Spain
Death has been prohibited in the Andalucian town of LanjarónLanjarón
Lanjarón is a municipality and town in the Alpujarras area in the province of Granada in Andalusia, Spain.Lanjarón has a ruined castle and chalybeate baths....
. The village, with 4,000 inhabitants, is to remain with this law until the government buys land for a new cemetery. The mayor who issued the edict explains that the awkward new law is his response to politicians urging him to do a quick fix of a long lasting problem, specifically describing his own bylaw as "absurd ... to counter an absurd situation".
In France
Prohibition of death has occurred in three settlements in southern France: CugnauxCugnaux
Cugnaux is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
, Le Lavandou
Le Lavandou
Le Lavandou is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It derives its name either from the flower lavender that is prevalent in the area, or more prosaicly from the local form of the Occitan name for lavoir, lavandor .The village is where...
, and Sarpourenx
Sarpourenx
Sarpourenx is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-External links:* http://www.sarpourenx.fr/*...
, of which the mayor was inspired to pass the law due to the success of the mayor of Cugnaux in acquiring more space for tombstones in the village. Ever since the law was passed in Sarpourenx, the village, with 240 inhabitants, has had just one death in all 2007. Still, unlike its predecessor, it has not yet obtained approval for expanding the cemetery.
The situation in Cugnaux had been a bit different though. About 60 people died there per year and the cemetery was indeed full, leaving as the only area free of charge which could qualify as an extension to the current cemetery at that time a portion of land bordering an ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
depot of military barracks, which meant a danger of deflagration
Deflagration
Deflagration is a term describing subsonic combustion that usually propagates through thermal conductivity; hot burning material heats the next layer of cold material and ignites it. Most "fire" found in daily life, from flames to explosions, is deflagration...
and, henceforth, no approval from the government to build the extension there, until the government finally approved the land.
In Brazil
About 20 towns in Brazil have faced exhaustion of capacity of cemeteries for more corpses, of which one of them is attempting to directly prohibit death: Biritiba-MirimBiritiba-Mirim
Biritiba-Mirim is a Brazilian city of the state of São Paulo in the metropolitan region. The population in 2006 is 29,694, the population density is 93.67/km² and the area of 317 km²....
; of which the town's mayor has filed a bill
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
, specifically a public bill
Public bill
In the legislative process, a public bill is a bill which proposes a law of general application throughout the jurisdiction in which it is proposed, and which if enacted will hence become a public law or public act....
, to make it illegal for the people living in the town to die. Though no specific punishments have been presented, the mayor intends to target relatives of people who die with fines and even jail if necessary to get more space for tombstones.
The main reason for the attempt to pass such a law with such severe punishments if broken is that the town's 28,000 inhabitants apparently do not look after their health properly, making them more vulnerable to death, which would mean having to bury more corpses in the already full cemetery. Since the cemetery was inaugurated in 1910, over 50,000 people have been buried in 3,500 crypts and tombs. In November 2005, the cemetery was declared to be full and 20 recently deceased residents were forced to share a crypt, and several others were buried under the walkways.
The mayor, to support his uncommon proposal for a law, stated that 89% of the town is occupied by rivers, of which most are underground and serve as vital water sources for nearly two million people living in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, and that the remaining percent is protected because it consists of tropical jungle. So, public land with five times the size of the cemetery was set aside to provide space for a new one, of which environmental experts claim that it will not affect water tables or surrounding tropical forest. The environment council decided to analyze such a solution carefully, while the state government had agreed to help build a new vertical cemetery; but, up to now, nothing has been done, and the law has not yet been passed, leaving the situation in suspense.
In the United Kingdom
It is often thought to be illegal to die in the Palace of WestminsterPalace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
, where Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
sits, and other royal palaces. There is no piece of legislation that states a person cannot die in the Palace; however, any person who does so might be eligible for a funeral at royal expense. Prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...
died in the lobby of the House of Commons after being assassinated there on May 11, 1812. Other deaths on the premises are said to have taken place at St. Thomas' Hospital, the nearest hospital to the palace.
In Norway
The town of LongyearbyenLongyearbyen
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway. It is located on the western coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, on the southern side on Adventfjorden , which continues inland with Adventdalen...
, the largest settlement in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, has attempted to prevent any natural deaths from taking place in the community since the 1930s, when it was discovered that bodies in the town cemetery did not decompose because the region is underlain by permafrost
Permafrost
In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
. As a result, the cemetery has not allowed any new burials since then. People in the community who fall gravely ill are evacuated by air or ship to the Norwegian mainland, where they can be buried should they die. If someone does die in the community due to accident, sudden illness, or other misfortune, his or her body is buried elsewhere, generally on the mainland.
In Japan
The island of ItsukushimaItsukushima
is an island in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. It is popularly known as , the Shrine Island. The island is one of . Itsukushima is part of the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture...
is considered a sacred location in Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
belief, and is the site of the Itsukushima Shrine
Itsukushima Shrine
Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima in the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan...
, an UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
. In Shinto worship, purity is of utmost concern, and because of this, the shrine's priests have attempted to keep the island free of the pollution of death. Only one battle has ever occurred on the island. Immediately after the Battle of Miyajima
Battle of Miyajima
The 1555 ' was the only battle to be fought on the sacred island of Miyajima; the entire island is considered to be a Shinto shrine, and no birth or death is allowed on the island. Extensive purification rituals took place after the battle, to cleanse the shrine and the island of the pollution of...
in 1555, the victorious commander had the bodies of the fallen troops removed to the mainland, and then ordered that the entire battlefield be cleansed of the blood that was spilled, to the point that buildings were scrubbed and blood-soaked soil was removed from the island. Retaining the purity of Itsukushima shrine is so important that since 1878, no deaths or births have been permitted near the shrine. To this day, pregnant women are supposed to retreat to the mainland as the day of delivery approaches, as are terminally ill or the very elderly whose passing has become imminent. Burials on the island are still forbidden.
Media and people's responses
Though these laws are meant to draw attention to the problem of lack of cemetery space in a humorous way, not everybody finds them funny. "I haven't got a job, nor am I healthy. And now they say I can't die. That's ridiculous" said a man in Biritiba-MirimBiritiba-Mirim
Biritiba-Mirim is a Brazilian city of the state of São Paulo in the metropolitan region. The population in 2006 is 29,694, the population density is 93.67/km² and the area of 317 km²....
. Conversely, in Lanjarón
Lanjarón
Lanjarón is a municipality and town in the Alpujarras area in the province of Granada in Andalusia, Spain.Lanjarón has a ruined castle and chalybeate baths....
, the edict has become wildly popular amongst residents, and even amongst political opponents of the mayor who issued the law, and was received with a sense of humor from most.
The aide to the mayor of Biritiba-Mirim summarized the situation of the possibility of making death illegal in the following way: