Death customs

For most of recent human history, we’ve opted for burial and cremation. Washington State residents now have a new green option: human composting — also known as natural organic reduction.

Among scientists, however, there remains a prejudice against the idea that animals feel “real” grief or respond in complex ways to death. Following reports of the “grieving,” zoologist Jules Howard, for example, wrote, “If you believe J35 was displaying evidence of mourning or grief, you are making a case that rests on faith, not on scientific endeavor.”

Death is expensive. The American casket industry is a $1.5 billion business, leading some families to seek out cheaper options from China. But the Chinese haven’t been able to bury the American competition.

One way the dead live on is in tangible memorials: gravestones, photo albums, commemorative celebrations — and even Facebook. But Facebook turns out to be one place where it’s actually kind of hard to die.

Rituals surrounding death vary from place to place, and even from community to community within the smallest of towns. Bastienne Schmidt and Philippe Cheng traveled across the US to photograph the wide range of those rituals and what they can show us about the people and places that created them.