H.J.M. Venbrux

From soul to postself: home memorials in the Netherlands

Abstract While house shrines seemed to have virtually disappeared from Roman Catholic homes in the Netherlands, a representative national survey conducted in 2005 showed that they had re-emerged in a different form and become a more widespread phenomenon among the Dutch population. Irrespective of religious denomination, or even despite having no religious affiliation at all, about a third of the respondents stated that they had a memorial place in their home. A 2007 questionnaire revealed that new types of house shrine can be seen as a material representation of the identity of deceased relatives. We argue that, in many cases, survivors maintain these home memorials to preserve the deceaseds postself rather than because they are concerned for the fate of the soul.

Going Dutch: Individualisation, secularisation and changes in death rites

This special issue deals with new ritualisations of death in the Netherlands. Walter (2005) has argued that national practices cannot be taken for granted. According to his preliminary comparison between countries, there is considerable ‘mortuary variation in the modern West.’ Comparatively speaking, the Netherlands is one of the more secularised countries of the world. In the course of secularisation and individualisation, traditional religious rituals have fallen increasingly out of favour (Bernts, Dekker, & de Hart, 2007), resulting in a ‘quest for new rituals’ (Wouters, 2002). In the death rites in particular, experimentation and innovation are taking place (Venbrux, Heessels, & Bolt, 2008), facilitated by the consumer-oriented undertaking business and leading to more personalised mortuary rituals. Personalised funerals are a global trend, according to Walter (2005), but their features may vary from one country to another. Institutionally, the Netherlands, like the UK, is ‘at the same time religious and secular, commercial and municipal’ (Walter, 2005, p. 182). An atypical feature is that cooperatives seem to have a larger market share in handling funerals, though they operate along the same lines as commercial businesses (cf. Walter, 2005, p. 177, 188n7). What is more, over two thirds of Dutch people have insurance to cover the cost of their funeral. Unlike elsewhere (Walter, 2005, p. 178), funeral directors usually register deaths on behalf of the family. Culturally significant changes have occurred in this country, especially since the 1960s. Cultural sociologist Houtman (2008) observes that the countercultural values of the 1960s protest generation have become mainstream values today. Secularisation has eroded the division of Dutch society into sectarian blocs or ‘pillars’ [zuilen] on the basis of religious affiliation. The influx of migrants from the Mediterranean, former Dutch colonies and other parts of the world has also influenced Dutch society and culture. Consequently, mortuary practices have become increasingly diverse (see Bot, 1998). Moreover, the disruption of traditional patterns in death rites is often attributed to the gay community, which (confronted with deaths from AIDS/HIV from the 1980s onwards) organised extravagant funerals and memorial services.

Secondary burial in the Netherlands: Rights, rites and motivations

Abstract Secondary burial, though often associated with exotic places, appears to be less rare in the Netherlands than people assume. In this article we discuss contemporary re-interments of ‘average’ people, seeking to understand why such reburials take place and whether, and how, the events are ritualised. The reburials, we found, do not conform to a standardised practice: they vary considerably, leaving room for the survivors to create their own rituals, because the transition from the status of ‘living’ to that of ‘dead’ has already taken place. Moreover, these ritualisations often intersect events in the lives of survivors.

Islamic ritual experts in a migration context: motivation and authority in the ritual cleansing of the deceased

Abstract In the Dutch migration context, the deployment of Islamic ritual experts in the ritual cleansing of the deceased has become very common. The imams of the local mosques are performing death rites as part of their professional duties but there is a growing number of ‘volunteers’ involved. An upcoming phenomenon in the migration context and although widely deployed, they are the same time rather invisible. What motivates these people to become involved in death rites of people they often do not know? And how is their ritual authority recognised? A multi-layered approach provides insight in the expert’s role and their motivation and authority at a personal level as well as at a social (interpersonal) and a religious (transpersonal) level. It shows the various configurations that make up each expert’s motivation and authority. This approach hands insights in the diversity of Muslim communities in a small town migration context. Tangible leads that can help professionals to provide more tailor made assistance to Muslims and migrants in cases of death. Vignettes are drawn from qualitative research data collected from fieldwork (interviews, observations and participations) conducted in Venlo (NL).

Death and the search for meaning: canonical, utilitarian and expressive thanatological cultural niches

Abstract The bafflement, suffering and moral paradox that often surround death fuel the human search for meaning. Whereas traditionally religions provided meaning in the face of death, due to secularisation and rationalisation this search for meaning has increasingly become an individual project. We argue that in this process, people derive meaning from death-related cultural affordances. We define these as the opportunities for perception and action that are offered by culturally embedded meanings concerning death and dying that are embodied by observable carriers of meaning. They are grouped together in thanatological cultural niches: more or less consistent sets of mutually supporting death-related cultural affordances. We distinguish three thanatological cultural niches, based on differences both in mechanisms for selecting meaning and in content of meaning: a canonical niche (consisting of affordances grounded in religious authority and established tradition), utilitarian niche (consisting of affordances grounded in rational and utilitarian reasoning) and expressive niche (consisting of affordances grounded in authentic self-expression). Qualitative analysis of Dutch newspaper articles portraying people confronted with approaching death shows that they applied death-related cultural affordances from different cultural niches. Application of death-related cultural affordances stemming from different cultural niches may lead to personal conceptions of death that are mutually inconsistent.

Het Hemels Lichaam. Miraculeuze relieken uit de verzameling Hamers-IJsebrand, by Anique C. de Kruif and Evelyne M.F. Verheggen

as rhetorical signifiers of sincerity in the drama of the period. Newstok’s study is bursting with ideas and insights, but it has to be said that at times this ferment is scarcely kept under control. Individual chapters are broken up into short sections as though to impose some kind of external discipline on the proliferating matter. Footnotes burgeon, often competing for space with the text itself – one footnote on p. 85 even sketches out a future book project. A large part of Chapter four develops a comparison between Orpheus and Amphion, a topic that seems to have a very tenuous relation to epitaphs and their effects. Newstok is badly served by his editor at Palgrave Macmillan. A very handsome image on the cover remains unidentified except for a reference to ‘the illustration of this book (1640)’ [sic] buried in the text on p. 111. The next sentence told me to ‘see Edward the Black Prince’s self-composed verses’ but I could not for the life of me find these. There are innumerable minor spelling and typographical errors, many of them exasperatingly in quotations from other writers. Such carelessness mars an original and thought-provoking, if at times undisciplined, book.