What is Taboo?

• *** Taboo (tapu): “sacred,” both powerful and dangerous. From Polynesian word tapu or tafoo. Usually associated with the avoidance of certain places, objects, or people. The term extended to refer to the avoidance of totemic animals or plants, or prohibitions on marrying certain classes of kin.

Where do Taboos come from?

• Taboos develop mainly from bio-cultural, ecological, and economic factors including: – sex and relationships, death, pregnancies wanted

and un-wanted, dietary rules, bodily functions, restrictions on psycho-active drugs, restrictions on trans-sexual gender identity, and the exposure of body parts.

***Taboos (continued)

No single taboo is universally recognized or followed. However, a select few of the following taboos appear in multiple cultures or religious traditions: 1. Homicide2. Incest rules 3. Cannibalism4. Exposure of most intimate body parts.

Taboo: Examples• The Exposure and modification of “intimate”

body parts.– Victorian era (UK and USA) the exposure of

women’s ankles.– Arab women must cover their hair and heads out

of respect and humility.– Both sexes cover their intimate areas (generally)Modification of Body to suit cultural norms and

values of beauty.-- Ancient Chinese foot binding -- Circumcision (male and female)

Ancient Beliefs: Views of Death and Suicide

• Ancient Greeks and Romans believed a form of altruistic suicide was considered both honorable and courageous. The reason being the Greco-Roman preoccupation with having control of one’s destiny or fate. Stoicism also contributed to this notion of controlling one’s fate or destiny.

• This is also known as, “falling on one’s sword.”

The Ancient Maya: Views of Murder and Suicide.• The ancient Maya did not view suicide, as an evil or

sinful thing to do, but on the contrary it was an especially honorable way to die. Murder was not regarded in the same way but it was far more acceptable than in other cultures both past and present.

• Ixtab was the goddess and protector of all those who killed themselves by hanging, as well as warriors who died in battle and women who died in childbirth. She took all three groups to paradise and fed them under the shade of the world tree, indicating that all three were treated as moral and social equivalents among the Maya.

• When women died during childbirth and warriors died in battle their souls were placed in the sky – the Milky way. The milky way represented the flowering Ceiba tree/Tree of life among the Ancient Maya.

Japanese: Views of Murder and Suicide

• Seppuku: (“stomach cutting”)– A form of ritual suicide reserved for Samurai warriors as a part of

their Honor code of Bushido .• seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather

than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely suffer torture), or as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed for other reasons that had brought shame to them.

• Seppuku or Harikiri has not been used as a form of capital punishment since the late 19th-early 20th centuries.

• Seppuku has from time to time been an acceptable form of altruistic suicide. Examples of this were commonly found during WWII ( Iwo Jima and Kamikaze pilots. )

Igbo: Views of Murder and Death in Nigeria

• Suicide is intolerable in Igbo society even in this modern time. The Igbos do not concede to the difficulties of life or to the demands of everyday life. They do not accept suicide, in any form and at any age, as a solution to any problem regardless of the complexities. Suicide is believed to be a terrible and evil way to die.

• Suicide is considered an omen. As a result, detailed ceremonies were performed when one commits suicide to completely exorcise the deceased's spirits and to calm or eradicate the evil spirits of the dead and to appease the gods.

• The Igbos strongly believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is one of the ways they share their love with their loved ones who have passed. Consequently, death by suicide is believed to be an evil act and "a bad death." If one committed suicide, that person was never at peace with him/herself, the community, relatives, and most importantly the gods. There is no fitting funeral ceremony for someone who committed suicide, even at an old age. No one is allowed to cry or weep publicly for the deceased. There is no wake, cooking, or drinking. Finally, cleansing ceremonies are performed by the deceased's family so that such an evil will not happen again. The elders would offer sacrifices for peace in the land, and for the extinction of such thought and illness from the land.

• The Igbos scorn murder and the penalty for murder can be extremely severe for the murderer and their family members depending on the murder case.

• Punishment for murder may include ostracism of the suspected murderer and their family members from society. Banishment of the murderer from the village or death.– If the murder was committed by poisoning the victim, or if a victim died under an

obscure or suspicious circumstance, an abominable curse may be placed on those who might have committed the murder

– The Igbos people celebrate death at an old age as a blessing and celebrated with feasting, drinking and dancing.

Inuit views on Murder and Suicide• The Inuit peoples tolerate suicide however it is only

accepted if the suicide is considered altruistic in some fashion.

• Murder is viewed as evil and the sign of an imbalanced person. Murders are fairly rare but due to the environment in which they live many accidents do occur.

• Many anthropologists have asserted that Inuit populations practiced senicide or the killing of the elderly when they were no longer productive members of society. This practice is not practiced widely because the elders are considered the keepers of communal knowledge, oral histories, myths and etc.

• There are cultural taboos against sacrificing elders because of their cultural knowledge and life experience.

• Senicide was typically voluntary and only tolerated if the tribe was under some sort of duress or the individual was very ill.

• The Inuit believed that the cause of the disease and death were of a spiritual origin. The spiritual origin of disease and death comes from an imbalance within the soul of an individual.

Lakota: Views on murder and suicide• Traditional Lakota beliefs on death assert that a spirit enters into the spirit world upon the death

of our human body. Once there, it is our hope to experience the healing of our hearts, be with our loved ones and relations, and where all suffering and pain is no more.

Lakota response to the notion of suicide and murder…• The death that is different from all others is suicide. This is when we make a choice to "kill

ourselves." We do this because we believe that we will be delivered from all that troubles us here in this life. We are "evil spirit led" to believe this, otherwise we would not attempt to kill ourselves. Lakota spirituality does not allow for, inspire, or give examples of suicide as being the will of Tunkasila.

• Suicide is only the killing of one's body. The spirit does not ever die. When the body dies when we kill ourselves, the spirit continues to live in the spirit world.

• Lakota beliefs on suicide…”Before we "kill our body", we are "spiritually attacked" in our heart and mind. In that state of suffering, evil spirits give us the "excuse or reasons" to kill ourselves. The ONLY goal of "evil spirits" is to "convince us" that there is no other choice in life but to kill ourselves and that suicide is our only escape from the pain we are suffering here. The same spirits that give us reasons to "kill ourselves" also inspire the real life experiences which hurt us.”

• Murder is viewed differently only if the individuals are at war. Warriors first priority is to protect their families and their home from intruders. This is one of the few times where murder is accepted within Lakota society.

Murder and Suicide: Cultural or Religious Taboos?

• The cross-cultural perspectives on murder/suicide are significantly bound by religious belief systems and practices.

• Roman Catholic views on suicide…“Suicide is the act of one who causes his own death, either by positively destroying his ownlife, as by inflicting on himself a mortal wound or injury, or by omitting to do what is necessary to escape death, as by refusing to leave a burning house. From a moral standpoint we must treat therefore not only the prohibition of positive suicide, but also the obligation incumbent on man to preserve his life”. “Suicide is direct when a man has the intention of causing his own death, whether as an end to be attained, or as a means to another end, as when a man kills himself to escape condemnation, disgrace, ruin etc. It is indirect, and not usually called by this name when a man does not desire it, either as an end or as a means, but when he nevertheless commits an act which in effect involves death, as when he devotes himself to the care of the plague-stricken knowing that he will succumb under the task”.

Roman Catholic views of murder…

• “Homicide signifies, in general, the killing of a human being. In practice, however, the word has come to mean the unjust taking away of human life, perpetrated by one distinct from the victim and acting in a private capacity. For the purposes of this article, therefore, account is not taken of suicide, nor of the carrying out of the penalty of death by due process of law”.

• “The direct killing of an innocent person is, of course, to be reckoned among the most grievous of sins. It is said to happen directly when the death of the person is viewed either as an end attractive in itself, or at any rate is chosen as a means to an end. The malice discernible in the sin is primarily chargeable to the violation of the supreme ownership of God over the lives of His creatures. It arises as well from the manifest outrage upon one of the most conspicuous and cherished rights enjoyed by man, namely the right to life. For the scope contemplated here, a person is regarded as innocent so long as he has not by any responsible act brought any hurt to the community or to an individual comparable with the loss of life. Homicide is said to be indirect when it is no part of the agent's plan to bring about the death which occurs, so that this latter is not intended as an end nor is it selected as a means to further any purpose”.

Islam and Judaism: views of Murder and suicide

• Judaism views murder and suicide as forbidden and in violation of Jewish Law. This means that anyone who commits murder or suicide will not be allotted the same funerary and mourning rites. Also the individuals who violated the be buried in a different section of a Jewish cemetery.

• However, Jewish tradition asserts that if a person commits suicide and evidence is provided that the individual was not in their right mind due to illness, tragic event, or as repentance for deadly act they will be allotted all the funerary and mourning rites.

• Mass suicide has held a place in Jewish history as a last resort.• Assisted suicide is forbidden by all Abrahamic religious traditions-

which include Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Islam: Views on Murder and Suicide• Islam views murder and suicide as unpardonable and one of the greatest of sins.

The reason is because it is detrimental to one’s spiritual journey. The Qur'an states, “And do not kill yourselves, surely God is most merciful to you.” (4:29)

• Muslim scholars consider “suicide bombing,” evil and detrimental to one’s spiritual journey. The goal should be to preserve the peace and order of society.

• All acts of war in Islam are governed by Islamic legal rules of armed warfare or military jihad. According to these tenets Jihad is a collective religious obligation of the Muslim community, when the community is endangered or Muslims are subjected to oppression and subjugation. The rules governing such warfare include-- not killing women, children, non-combatants, and leaving cultivated or residential areas undamaged. For more than a millennium, these tenets were accepted by Sunnis and Shiites.

• Islamist militant organizations Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad argue that suicide operations are justified according to Islamic law, despite Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder. Militant Muslim groups that carry out suicide attacks say that they believe their actions fulfill the obligation of jihad against the "oppressor" and that they will be rewarded in paradise.

Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism• Hinduism has many perspectives on murder and suicide.

Generally it is considered a violation of the code of Ahisma and therefore both are equally sinful.

• The currently outdated and now illegal practice of Sati (where a widow flings her body on to her deceased husband’s funeral pyre) was a fairly common practice to alleviate the deceased husband’s familial, financial and emotional obligation to the widow.

• Prayopavesa- The right to fast to death. Usually deals with a tragic loss or illness. The individual loses their will to live or refuses to take responsibility for some past action. This is the only method of suicide where non-violence is obvious and tolerated form of suicide.

Buddhism and Jainism: Views on Murder and SuicideBuddhism teaches that all people experience substantial suffering (dukkha), in which suffering originates from past negative deeds (karma). Since everything is in a constant state of impermanence or flux, individuals experience dissatisfaction with the fleeting events of life. If someone commits suicide in anger, he may be reborn in a sorrowful realm due to negative final thoughts. However, unlike Christianity and other religions, Buddhism does not condemn suicide, but rather states that the reasons for suicide are often negative and thus counteract the path to enlightenment. Buddhism in its various forms affirms that, while suicide as self-sacrifice may be appropriate for the person who is an arhat, one who has attained enlightenment, it is still very much the exception to the rule Rebirth after a violent death can or may cause the individual’s next life to be riddled with violence, sadness or physical pain.

Jainism holds many of the same tenets as Buddhism and Hinduism but Jainism believes in a path of non-violence toward living things and that non-violent suicide through fasting is the only sanctioned form of suicide known as, Santhara.

Cult Suicide

• cult suicide– describes the mass suicide by members of a

group(s) that have been considered cults.– In some cases, all or nearly all members have

committed suicide at the same time, place, and under similar conditions.

– Methods used for cult suicide include- poisoning, jumping from high places, and etc.

• Cross-culturally the context of a murder and/or suicide lays the foundation for how people within a culture, community, or religion will react to the murder or suicide.

• Religious tradition typically dictates the acceptance of murder or suicide. – In some cases, Roman Catholicism/Judaism/Islam will not bury

an individual in sacred ground nor will they perform the proper death and funerary rites.

– Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism will not tolerate violent acts against others or oneself. Non-violent acts leading to death are tolerated in the form of extreme fasting.