It never occurred to me to bury the bird in a box. When I tipped myself over in that Ray Bradbury way, a leaf shroud made from what was close at hand seemed like the most natural and sacred way to honor a life. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." Why did I wrap that little dead bird in leaves tied with grass when I was eight years old? No one taught me to do that, although I'm sure by then I'd seen burials in old cartoons and westerns on TV. The author Ray Bradbury wrote: "We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. It is a loving kindness that human beings have shared through collective memory over time. No one culture, group, or custom originated shrouding. Shrouding customs are practiced in significant world religions and cultures (widely by Hindus, Muslims, and Jews, in African communities, and by some Christian sects), each with its own rules and specifications. From ancient art to fine art to photo montages of a modern day pandemic, we are not strangers to seeing images of shrouded bodies. That instinct to protect the remains of the beloved, and to make the body easier to transport for disposition, has many cultural and historical expressions. I have learned many words for shrouds since my first personal shrouding experience in childhood, when I wrapped a dead bird in leaves tied securely with long grass before burying it in the meadow. We also call them winding sheets, grave clothes, cerecloth, Tahara, Kaffan. A burial shroud is a wrapping for a deceased being's body.
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