Name: How Would You Want To Die? ?
Uploaded: 2026-01-12T17:00:22.000Z
Duration: 8 min 3 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

Even though it's something that happens to all of us.

This channel is called Life Noggin, after all.

People don't want to keep on thinking about death.

But how we honor the recently departed can get really interesting.

From mourning to celebrating or even launching loved ones into space, we can learn a lot from how we treat our dead.

It might make you appreciate life and and rethink that boring old headstone idea.

A deeper dive into topics you and your noggin might care about.

This is a new thing we're trying out, so let us know what you think of these big brains.

All over the world, people have different ways of honoring the dead.

Some of the most common include burial as seen in Judaism, Islam and Christianity, where the body is placed in the ground with specific religious rituals.

Others choose cremation, especially in Hinduism and Buddhism, where the body is burned to release the soul and be its next journey.

Some are celebrations like Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, where families decorate altars and throw parties to welcome back the spirits of their loved ones.

Most of you have probably heard of these, so let's get to the ones you haven't.

In parts of Tibet and Mongolia, the body is taken up to a mountaintop and left for vultures.

It might sound brutal, but it's actually rooted in compassion.

Buddhist teachings hold that once the soul has moved on, the body is just an empty vessel.

Rather than letting it rot or be sealed away, sky burial offers the body back to nature, feeding other living things in the process.

And since the frozen rocky terrain of the Himalayas makes traditional burial nearly impossible, it's actually pretty practical.

When I go, just leave me on top of Block Rock Mountain and let the mouse pointers peck at my pixel coating, please.

Over in Madagascar, families take part in a tradition called famarian, or the turning of the bones.

Every few years, relatives gather to reopen the family tomb, gently remove the remains of their ancestors and carefully rewrap the bones in fresh cloth, usually silk.

The wrapped remains are then carried above the crowd, often while dancing to live music.

People share food, tell stories, and sometimes even spray the bundles with perfume or take photos with them.

Once the celebration is over, the bodies are returned to the tomb until the next gathering.

It's a hands on ritual that keeps the memory of the dead alive and shows that even in death, family is never forgotten.

Now among the Yanomami, People in the Amazon, there's a rare ritual called endocannibalism.

When someone dies, their body is cremated and the ashes are mixed into a food or drink, often with mashed bananas, and

To an outsider, this might seem shocking, but

for the Yanomami, it's a sacred act that ensures the spirit of the deceased lives on through those who love them.

The belief is that by ingesting the ashes, the soul finds peace and the emotion, emotional energy of grief is transformed into unity and strength.

Some in South Korea place ashes in traditional urns, but

others have come up with a more creative solution.

These beads can be pink, black, turquoise, almost like little jewels, and

are displayed in glass vases or dishes, like decorations, on display instead of something tucked away out of sight.

And since South Korea has very little space for cemeteries, this practice is almost essential and practical.

The Tingian people in the Philippines take a different route entirely.

After death, the person is dressed in their finest clothing, seated upright in a chair, and

Instead, the dead remain seated for days, even weeks, while friends and family visit, talk to them and say their goodbyes.

It blurs the line between life and death in a way that feels more personal than abrupt, giving a quiet, respectful send off and with one last smoke.

In Nordic cultures, water has played a big role too.

In some regions, people placed coffins atop cliffs that face the sea, almost like giving the dead a front row seat to eternity.

Others took it further, setting bones adrift in death ships, small boats that floated down rivers or out into open ocean.

Sometimes these ships were set ablaze, sending off the departed in a fiery farewell that lit up the night sky.

Water represented a gateway to the afterlife or a a return to the gods.

This is actually how Circlia wants to go out.

Meanwhile, in Ghana, there's a long standing tradition of fantasy coffins.

Elaborate wooden masterpieces shaped like things that matter to the person in life.

A teacher might be buried in a giant pencil, A fisherman in a massive wooden fish.

Even airplanes, animals and soda bottles have all been turned into final resting places.

It's a creative way of honoring someone's identity and turning grief into into celebration.

For some, it's the ultimate mic drop exit.

There's a company that will take a portion of your ashes, pack them into a capsule, and

You'll circle a planet for a few months or years before the capsule burns up on re entry.

It's not the most budget friendly option, but

Greeg's already saving up and has definitely picked out his space helmet.

But humans aren't the only ones who seem to honor the dead.

Elephants have been observed standing over the bones of their deceased, gently touching them with their trunks or lingering slightly nearby.

They've even been seen returning to the same spot, almost like revisiting a grave.

Scientists say this behavior looks a lot like grief, and it's not just one or two cases.

It it's seen across different elephant families and habitats.

Some have been seen carrying the bones of their dead calves or companions for days at a time, even refusing to let go.

It's heartbreaking and strangely familiar.

Even birds, like scrub jays, seem to respond to death.

When one dies, others gather around, make loud calls and stop foraging for a while.

Researchers think it may be a warning to others, but it sure looks like a tiny bird funeral.

Turns out mourning might be more universal than we think.

So whether it's a sky burial, a dance with the bones, or an elephant paying respects, death rituals are deeply human and sometimes deeply animal, too.

They remind us that death isn't just an ending, it's a moment filled with meaning and connection to remember those we've loved and lost.

Space capsule coffin shaped like a giant burrito?

if you have a real meaty idea that will make for another Big Brain episode, let me know if you enjoyed these new, longer episodes.

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How Would You Want To Die? ?

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