| ancestor worship | A term sometimes used to describe customs that can be more accurately described as reverence for the dead and a sense of communion between the living and the dead.
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| Black Death | The mass deaths caused by plague, which came to Europe via a Black Sea port in 1347.
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| butsudan | In Japanese culture, a family altar containing memorial tablets honoring deceased ancestors and a focal point for ongoing relationships between the living and dead members of a household.
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| charnel house | An arcade or gallery, usually associated with a church or cathedral, where the bones of the dead were kept after being removed from common graves.
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| ch’ing ming | In Chinese culture, an annual festival celebrating the return of deceased ancestors and during which family members visit graves and burn paper replicas of money and other necessities as a way of showing respect and care for ancestors.
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| collective destiny | A view emphasizing death as the collective fate of humankind, that "we all shall die," in contrast to an emphasis on the destiny of the individual.
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| danse macabre | The "Dance of Death," a cultural and artistic phenomenon influenced by mass deaths caused by plague in the fourteenth century and conveying through drama, poetry, music, and the visual arts ideas about the inevitability and universality of death, that it comes to everyone and when least expected.
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| death knells | The ringing of a bell, usually in a distinctive pattern, to provide public notice that a death has occurred and, in some instances, to drive away evil spirits or convince a spirit not to remain with a dead body.
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| death songs | An acknowledgment of one’s preparation for death, often composed spontaneously and expressing a resolve to meet death with equanimity and to accept it with one’s whole being as the final act of earthly existence.
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| deathbed scene | The customary scene surrounding the bed of a dying person as influenced by cultural attitudes and practices.
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| effigy | An image or representation of a person, reflecting the belief that the bereaved maintain bonds with the deceased by perpetuating their memory.
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| el Día de los Muertos | The Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, which is held each year in late October and early November at the same time as the Catholic feast of All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day.
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| fêng-shui | An art of divination concerned with the proper positioning of elements in harmonious relation to one another.
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| filial piety | A translation of the Chinese hsiao, which emphasizes interdependence between the living and their ancestors whereby the living perform necessary ancestral rites and the dead dispense blessings to their descendants.
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| haka | In Japanese culture, a family gravesite where ashes of deceased family members are interred.
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| invisible death | A phrase used to describe attitudes toward death in the modern era in which most aspects of dying and death are less public and less part of common experience than in earlier times.
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| living dead | In African traditions, the ongoing community of deceased ancestors who are recalled in the minds of the living.
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| memento mori | A phrase meaning "Remember, you must die!" which emphasizes individual responsibility for the destiny of one’s soul.
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| memorialization | (1) An act of remembrance or commemoration; specifically, an act performed with the aim of honoring and remembering the dead. (2) The practice of preserving the identity of a person buried in a particular place by recording his or her name on a grave marker.
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| mourning restraints | Among the LoDagaa of Africa, items made of leather, fabric, or string that are worn by mourners and used to indicate degree of relationship between the bereaved and the deceased and to moderate the bereaved’s behavior during the period of intense grief.
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| name avoidance | The practice of refraining from using the name of deceased persons to avoid disturbing the living.
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| necromancy | From the Greek, meaning "corpse-prophecy," a way of contacting the dead through shamanistic rites and bringing back messages to benefit the living.
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| o-bon | A Japanese midsummer festival that marks the return of ancestral spirits to their families.
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| origin-of-death myths | Stories told in traditional cultures about how death became part of human experience, usually because of transgression of divine or natural law or because of failure to carry out some crucial action that would have ensured immortality.
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| otherworld | In Celtic culture, the realm of the dead where the life of the soul continues in a world apart from that in which mortals dwell. According to Arthurian legend, the name of the paradise to which King Arthur was carried after his death was known as Avalon.
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| rites of passage | Rituals that enact themes of separation, transition, and reincorporation in marking significant changes of status for individuals and their community.
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| rituals of dying | Customs and behaviors that have cultural meaning during the terminal phase of life.
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| samhain | In Celtic culture, a festival marking the end of one year and beginning of the next, during which supernatural communication with the gods and the dead takes place; a precursor of Halloween.
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| shaman | A visionary who projects his or her consciousness to the supernatural realm and acts as intermediary between the worlds of the living and the dead.
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| tamed death | A phrase coined by Philippe Ariès to describe an accepting and familiar attitude toward death associated with earlier historical periods.
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| Valhalla | Literally "the hall of the slain"; in Celtic and Nordic culture, a place of heavenly honor and glory intended for outstanding heroes chosen to support the god Odin in the final battle.
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| valkyries | In Celtic and Nordic culture, battle-goddesses who apportion victory or defeat in battle and escort fallen heroes into Valhalla.
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