Lead story
Editor's note:
When the delta variant of the coronavirus swept through India last year, I lost several friends and family members. There was no opportunity to say goodbye, or find any closure. The Hindu rituals conducted over Zoom did little to bring any comfort.
Historian of religion Natasha Mikles had a similar experience when she lost a friend and colleague to COVID-19 in January 2021. It led her to conduct over 70 hours of interviews with grieving families and those who worked closely with them, including spirit mediums. Rituals play an important role in helping people accept their loss, and funerals can provide important structures for families to say goodbye. However, with COVID-19 bringing dramatic changes in death rituals, Mikles writes about how such rituals lost their “extraordinary power” and failed in many cases to help grieving families.
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Commentary and Analysis
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- This Week in Religion is a publication of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative, a collaboration among the Religion News Service, The Associated Press and The Conversation U.S.
- The three news organizations work to improve general understanding and analyze the significance of developments in the world of faith.
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