The Lion Tombs at Dadan or al-'Ula (ٱلْعُلَا), Saudi Arabia

 

I have already mentioned the city of al-'Ula [1]. The official spelling is AlUla, but al 'Ula or al-'Ula (العلا) would be more accurate. There is a lot to see in and around it. So also the rock tombs. Over 100 Nabataean tombs (Mada'in Salih) carved into the sandstone cliffs have been counted. These tombs were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Among them are the Lion Tombs, as well as others, including those where additional graves have been exposed by the wind in front of them. Inscriptions tell the stories of those buried there. Today I want to write more about the Lion Tombs and their culture, as they are the highlight of the Old City of Dadan, whereof the remnants of this old Nabatean city are close by. The lions are carved into the rocks. One has to look through binoculars as the site is only open to the public from a distance. I can understand this precaution, as the majority of people seem to need haptic sensory input where simply looking would suffice.

Dadan, or Lihyan in Arabic (لحيان), was an ancient kingdom that flourished between the 5th and 1st centuries BCE. The country derived its wealth from the frankincense trade [2]. The Dedanites were already mentioned in the Old Testament [3], indicating they existed as a people much longer. Little is known about the Dadanitic language, despite the existence of inscriptions. For example, the Wikipedia article states: “The grammar of Dadanitic is poorly understood, ..." [4]. The landscape gives an eery feeling nowadays.

Handy through the observation binoculars

There are more than twenty of these lion tombs (مقابر الأسود الدادنية), which were built between 600 and 500 BCE. The lions at the rock tombs were meant to protect the deceased [5]. Overall, the tombs also demonstrate the wealth of the dadanite society, or perhaps I should say the upper class; this is no different 2500 years later. The name of the chief god of the Dadanites was Dhu-Ghabat, the name means "he of the thicket" [6]. But again, there isn't any thicket seen today, though closer the the oasis there is green in the date palm groves.

Links and Annotations:
[1] The City of AlUla in Saudi Arabia – An Overview
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-city-of-alula-in-saudi-arabia.html 
Some Observations Concerning Women in Saudi Arabia
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2026/03/some-observations-concerning-women-in.html 
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadan 
[3] E.g.: "A prophecy against Arabia: You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia, bring water for the thirsty; you who live in Tema, bring food for the fugitives."
Isaiah 21:13-14
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadanitic 
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_tombs_of_Dedan 
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-Islamic_Arabian_deities 

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Burial and Cemeteries in Saudi Arabia

 

Please mind the comment specifications! [1]

I've long been interested in burial rites and cemeteries. If you enter the keyword "burial" here on the blog, you'll find many blog posts. But this post focuses on the Islamic form of burial and cemeteries in Saudi Arabia, which is quite different from other Islamic countries. I was once impressed by the funeral of one of the kings of Saudi Arabia, who was laid to rest in a grave alongside the next deceased, a grave that looked no different and wasn't marked separately – in death, all people are equal. I had just recently looked up a blog post about Muslim cemeteries in Iran for comparison [2]. And something like the Mausoleum of Sheikh Safi ad-Din Is’haq Ardabili (شیخ صفی‌الدین اسحاق اردبیلی) is hardly to be found in Saudi Arabia [3]. Or certainly not The Tomb of Shah Nur-eddin Nematollah Vali in Mahan [4], where we have also touched upon a particularly sensitive issue, as the Sufis are not recognized as Muslims by the Wahhabis. The tombs of the martyrs had structures, and these were destroyed by the Wahhabis because they were used for the veneration as saints; one should only worship Allah and not place any saints as intermediaries between oneself and God.

The cemetery I was able to see best was the historic cemetery below Zabal Castle (قلعة زعبل) [5], which has existed for about 900 years. The cemetery looks rather desolate, but that is by design. The dead are buried, and then the graves are left as they are. While we remove the remains after a while to make room for new graves, the dead are meant to rest here forever. I experienced this in Meerbusch, where a small cemetery has very short lease periods that cannot be extended, so I once searched for a grave in vain. That can't happen here; the graves rest and they aren't marked. But there's another problem. For a nomadic society, the desert, and especially the Saudi Arabian desert, is large enough for all kinds of cemeteries, but cities now grow around cemeteries, which are then separated off. The land belongs to the dead. There's no funerary rites with flowers or communal meals with the dead, as is common in some parts of Asia or Mexico. Well, I admit, that would be unusual in Europe as well.

At the historic cemetery below Zabal Castle, you can clearly see that stone slabs lie flat over the grave to protect the diseased from being gug up by animals, and slabs are raised each at the head and foot to mark the grave as such. The orientation is towards Mecca.

I would have liked to see the Jannat al-Baqī (ٱلْبَقِيْع) or more precisely the Baqi al-Gharqad (بَقِيْع الْغَرْقَد) in Medina [6], but there was no time for that. However, we visited the Masjid Sayed Al Shouhada (جامع سيد الشهداء) and the Archers' Hill Uhud (جبل الرماة), which is right next to The Second Martyrs' Cemetery of Uhud (مقبرة شهداء أحد الثانية). And there is very little to see. The martyrs' graves had structures, and these have been destroyed. Now, only a bare area remains, where doves rest. Not a place for the veneration of martyrs, but a place of permanent rest for their mortal remains.

More information about Islamic burial can be found in a Wikipedia article [7]. For Saudi Arabia, more information can be found in Saudipedia, which reports on burial practices in English [8]. As you can see, there are exceptions to what I have already described, but on the other hand, the state takes the matter very seriously, provides cemeteries, and also covers the costs of the burial.

When we turn to the "lion tombs" of the ancient Nabataean city of Hegra (Al Ula), we return to the topic of funerary rites.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia and Islam have become sensitive topics, so I must communicate the conditions for comments more specifically. This travelogue is not the appropriate place for a discussion of human rights. This is something for Amnesty International [1a]. Such comments, including islamophobic ones, disappear in the spam folder.
[1a] https://www.amnesty.de/informieren/laender/saudi-arabien
[2] Muslim cemeteries in Iran
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/11/muslim-cemeteries-in-iran.html
[3] Mausoleum of Sheikh Safi ad-Din Is'haq Ardabili (شیخ صفی‌الدین اسحاق اردبیلی)
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/11/mausoleum-of-sheikh-safi-ad-din-ishaq.html
[4] The Tomb of Shah Nur-eddin Nematollah Vali in Mahan
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-tomb-of-shah-nur-eddin-nematollah.html
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabal_Castle
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Baqi_Cemetery
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_funeral
[8] https://saudipedia.com/en/article/2591/government-and-politics/government-affairs/cemeteries-in-saudi-arabia

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The Titanic and Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax

 

The sinking of the Titanic [1] in 1912 still fascinates us today. We drove to the cemetery where, among others, victims of the Titanic are buried who were recovered but initially could not be identified. Those who were identified were mostly poor people whose burials in Great Britain no one could afford (transportation costs). The name is Fairview Lawn Cemetery. We could see the Jewish section from the outside on the way there, but it was too far away for us to visit. Maya, the local guide, told stories about some of the Titanic victims. "J. Dawn" was not the Jack Dawn from the movie Titanic, which I own but still haven't seen. There were still devotional objects there, but it was particularly bad after the film came out. Ultimately, however, tourism in Halifax benefits from the film about the fate of the Titanic and some of its passengers, because only since then there has been an increased interest in this cemetery. J. Dawn was Joseph Dawn, and he was a stoker on the Titanic. The grave of a child was now particularly adorned with offerings. The child's identity was determined about 20 years ago using DNA from other relatives, decades after the disaster. The gravestones are arranged like a ship's hull.
Celine Dion and her song My Heart Will Go On [3] -: I think I heard the story of how the song has been recorded. The tremor in her voice is said to be due to excessive coffee consumption. But I think that's completely irrelevant to the result.

But the other parts of the cemetery, which have nothing to do with the Titanic, are also interesting, such as the Chinese graves. I read Fong (方); the same reason as with Wong (王), because with an American pronunciation, the "a" would sound like an "ä".
The victims of the explosion disaster of December 6, 1917 (Halifax Explosion – there's a very detailed Wikipedia article [4]) were also commemorated; it was a naval ship that had exploded, and there was a shockwave that had seismic effects even 300 km away (Sydney), as well as a tsunami [5]. The force of the explosion was calculated to be 1/7 of that of the Hiroshima bomb of 1945 and was the largest human-made explosion until 1945. “Yet another cruel blow was to come the next day when a blizzard blanketed the area, hampering relief efforts as snow covered the dead and dying.” [6]
Then, in this area of the cemetery, another gravestone deeply moved me: "Mother" was inscribed on a very small gravestone, of which only a semicircle protruded from the earth.

Links and Annotations:
[1] “RMS Titanic was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, approximately 1,500 died (estimates vary), making the incident one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a single ship.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic
[2] “Titanic is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film written and directed by James Cameron. ... The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love during the ship's maiden voyage.” 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)
[3] Céline Dion - My Heart Will Go On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFHsd3o1w0
[4] “On the morning of December 6, 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, caught fire and detonated, devastating the Richmond district of Halifax. At least 1,782 people, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, were killed by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion
[5] A very detailed article with a narrated text can be found here:
https://canadaehx.com/2021/11/27/the-halifax-explosion/
[6] https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2017/11/30/great-halifax-explosion/

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The Cemetary of Gyumri

 

The Cemetary of Gyumri, the Spitak Earthquake some notes on Funeral Traditions

Gyumri has more than one cemetary and we passed one and stopped there. At the center there had been a group of mourning people with lots of military, but the cemetary is vast. It has to be. So we went a little further.

Gyumri (Գյումրի) is the the second largest city of Armenia [1]. It is an old city having been found in the 8th century BC, but the area has been populated since at least the third millennium BC.

The picture of the family, mother and daughter and more I don't want to show have images or even real life images of the deceased persons [2]. Often you read year of death 1988. There is a simple reason: it's the year of the Armenian earthquake aka the Spitak earthquake (Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ), which occurred on the 7th of December [3]. In between 25,000 to 50,000 people were killed, 130,000 were injured.

The funeral (Թաղում) itself takes place on the 3rd day after death, if it isn't a Saturday or Sunday. The lid of the coffin is placed next to the door of the house to inform neighbors and friends or also passers-by of the death, who may come in to respect to the deceased, who would clean hands and shoes with water or a wet towel. “Death and honoring the afterlife is a very important event.” You may read more in the two citations below [4]. The funeral ritual has thress sections [5]:
    Home Service/Wake – Dan Gark (Դեն Գարկ)
    Church Service – Yegeghetsvo Gark (Եղեգեցվո Գարք)
    Graveside Service – Kerezmanee Gark (Քերեզմանի Գարկ)
“Also, no lay person may speak or give eulogies in the sanctuary during either Home Service or Church Service at the Graveside Service. Instead, lay people should speak at the funeral home or the memorial meal (Hokejash).”

The sheer number of dead after the earthquake will not have allowed the funeral rites to be properly observed, which will have increased the grief even further. May the dead rest in peace, but also may the survivors have found their way back to life.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyumri  
[2] With migration being a part not only of the past, I could show you such tombstone works e.g. in Cologne as well.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Armenian_earthquake
[4] https://www.advantour.com/armenia/traditions/funeral.htm and https://bayercemeterybrokers.com/armenian-burial-traditions/  
[5] https://stjamesevanston.org/sacraments-and-pastoral-care/funeral  

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Mongolia – Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue

 

The Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue (Чингис хааны морьт хөшөө) is 40 meters (130 ft) high and depicts Genghis Khan on a horse. It is the tallest equestrian statue in the world [1]. The complex is located about 54 km southeast of Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар) on the southern terrace of the Tuul River (Туул голын), the place is called Tsonjin (Цонжин), which is in Central Province. And one could now consider why not a location closer to Ulaanbaatar was chosen for the equestrian monument. Well, the reason for this lies in the legend that Emperor Genghis Khan had found his golden riding crop there. A golden riding crop can also be admired on the statue. The statue, which stands silver shining in the landscape, also includes a whole complex and below the huge steel statue in the basement there is a small historical-ethnographic museum; I found it very worth visiting. Interestingly, it wasn't overcrowded, although there was a lot of activity upstairs due to the proximity of the Naadam festival, so one can assume that there would be more peace and quiet at other times.

The 40 meters already mentioned are divided into 30 meters for the statue itself and a 10 meter high structure on which this statue stands. “The monument was built with a total of 250 tons of quality steel.” This basic structure is surrounded by 36 columns. You can take an elevator up inside or use the stairs to get to a viewing platform from which you have a great view of the landscape.

Some tourists believe that it is the burial site of Genghis Khan [2], but this location is unknown. It is believed to be located on the Mongol sacred mountain of Burkhan Khaldun (Бурхан Халдун уул) in the Khentii Mountains (Хэнтийн нуруу). Despite archaeological search expeditions, the site has not been discovered. Genghis Khan went to this holy mountain to pray to the sky god before he began the campaign to unite the Mongols and other peoples of the steppe. After the beginning of the Mongol Empire, this area became known as Ikh Khorig or the Great Tabu. Only members of the Mongolian imperial family, also called the golden family, were allowed into this area. An area of around 240 square kilometers had been cordoned off. Intrusion by unauthorized persons was punishable by death (what else?). A few years ago (2015), Dr Albert Yu-Min Lin from the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California, San Diego, started a project to find possible locations using images from space. Around 55 archaeologically interesting sites have been found where Genghis Khan's final resting place could potentially be located. I'm usually all for archaeological research, but I have my concerns in this case. So much is known about the Great Khan that the scientific value is probably less than the sensation of the find. I think, leave leave the remains of Genghis Khan alone.

The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan (成吉思汗陵) is located in Inner Mongolia, the People's Republic of China. Inner Mongolia is a somewhat strange term, but it does not come from the People's Republic of China, but has been used since ancient times. Outer Mongolia (外蒙) was used to describe the area of today's state of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia (内蒙) was used to describe the part of Mongolia that is now the autonomous Mongolian region in the People's Republic of China (Өвөр Монголын Өөртөө Засах Орон). Mausoleum is also not a correct term, it would be better to call this place Lord's Enclosure (i.e. shrine), the traditional name among the Mongolians, since the body is not buried there. "The main hall is actually a cenotaph where the coffin contains no body (only headdresses and accessories), because the actual tomb of Genghis Khan has never been discovered." There is an increasing turn to shamanism, or rather tengrism, not only in Mongolia, but also in Inner Mongolia, which explains this mausoleum. I could also imagine other motives, such as meeting the needs of the PRC's domestic tourism, but that is speculation.

Is the Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue worth visiting? In any case, you should take advantage of the opportunity to visit. There may be more people visiting around a holiday, but seeing how Mongolian visitors interact with the memorial is also interesting.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_Genghis_Khan and https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A7%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%81_%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8B_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D1%82_%D1%85%D3%A9%D1%88%D3%A9%D3%A9
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_place_of_Genghis_Khan
[3] https://mn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D3%A8%D0%B2%D3%A9%D1%80_%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB

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Mongolia – Balbals and Öngöt Complex

 

There isn't much information about Balbals and the Öngöt Complex in Mongolia and you have to make an effort to find these, even though there are a lot of sites. The word Balbal comes from Ukrainian балбал, and this probably comes from the Turkish word balbal, meaning ancestor or grandfather [1]. With Ungut or Ongot (Өнгөт) it turned out to be more difficult because I had to search quite a bit. I initially thought it referred to shamanistic or more accurately tengristic spirits because of Ongod (Онгод); Tengrism (Тэнгэр шүтлэг). But no, öngöt only means colored and can also be found in such prosaic expressions like өнгөт принтер – color printer. So the place that I want to describe in particular is called Öngöt Complex (Өнгөтийн цогцолбор) because it is located near Color Mountain (Өнгөт уул). I will use the official transliteration, which is Öngöt and not Ungut or Ongot. The Öngöt Complex is located on the edge of the Khustain Nuuru National Park (Хустайн байгалийн цогцолборт газар), which is about 100 km from Ulaanbaatar. The Öngöt Complex consists of a main tomb, animal stone figures and human stone sculptures, the Balbals.

I first saw Balbals near the Burana Tower in Kyrgyzstan (near the small town of Tokmok), which were erected by the Sogdians around the 6th to 10th centuries [2]. There, after decomposition, the bones were placed in an ossuary or terracotta coffins and stored. You can see very well-preserved balbals there, but they have been collected from different places.
I was lucky enough to see statues from a new exhibition from the Ahar region at the Azerbaijan Museum in Tabriz (Iran). These looked exactly like the Balbals [3].

I looked in travel guides. The German travel guide by Walther and Woeste [4] briefly describes the Öngöt Complex as an Ongot Complex, which will be the topic here later. The Lonely Planet Mongolia [5] did not have this complex, but lists several Balbals scattered across the country, which  are located in: Öndörkhaan (Өндөрхаан), Dariganga (Дарьганга), Altai Gobi (Говь Алтайн), Tsambagarav Uul (Цамбагарав уул) near Bayan Uul (Баян-Уул) – however, we drove west of the mountains, Altai Tavan Bogd National Park ( Алтай Таван богд байгалийн цогцолбор газар), south of Üüreg Nuur (Үүрэг нуур) - it's a shame, we missed the place by a few kilometers, as well as Zagastain Davaa or fish pass ( Загастайн даваа).

The German guidebook describes the Öngöt Complex only briefly (p.213), something like this: “On this path you pass one of the most famous grave complexes, the Ongot Grave, which was built by Turkish peoples 1200 to 1400 years ago (N 47° 33.215' E 105° 50.985')." We passed there because we had to take a big detour through the plain. We couldn't drive through the park and across the mountains to our accommodation, which lies hidden, because the rain had rendered the slopes so muddy that it was no longer possible to get through. On the plain, however, it was possible. There we reached the Öngöt Complex. More than 550 balbals stand upright in line for a distance of about 2100 meters [6]. The main grave is believed to be from the Nobles of a Turkic people (7th century Turkic Khaganate). From excavations it is quite certain that sacrifices were made there for this noble. This part of the grave complex is fenced off to prevent destruction by animals, but of course you can visit it. Next to the main grave, which is surrounded by stone slabs, you can see a ram and a lion as well as the first Balbals. Attempts were made to reconstruct some of the Balbals with an adhesive, but they fell apart again. I marked the spot on Google Earth [7]. The grave can be seen at the bottom left in the weakly contrasted rectangle. This is the largest facility in Mongolia and I assume anywhere else.

What was the purpose of the Balbals' long line facility? I haven't been able to find out anything about it. Perhaps the balbals were intended to honor the noble buried in the main grave. But I could imagine that later generations would see it as an honor to be buried there. But these are just two hypotheses. I would imagine that especially there, near the Tuul River (Туул гол), the soil has poorly preserved organic remains, making archeology difficult. Nevertheless, I don't want to sound too pessimistic, because at least building materials, wooden foundations and roof tiles were found during excavations. What is our motto: “Let's get surprised!”

I recommend visiting at least one of these tombs when traveling through Mongolia.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurgan_stelae according to: O. D. Forostyuk, Луганщина релігійна, Luhansk, Світлиця, 2004.
[2] Burial and Memorial of the Dead https://rheu​matologe.blogspot.com/2014/10/burial-and-memorial-of-dead.html
[3] Statues from the Ahar region https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2018/11/new-attraction-at-national-museum-of.html
[4] Michael Walther & Peter Woeste: Mongolei. DuMont Reise Handbuch. Dumont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2019. ISBN: 3770181417.
[5] Michael Kohn: Mongolia. Lonely Planet Publications Ltd, 2008. ISBN: 101741045789.
[6] https://montsame.mn/mn/read/246687 and
https://www.viewmongolia.com/ungut-turkic-monument.html and the information board at the site, which I should have paid more attention to earlier, because my photo clearly says “Өнгөт”, which I needed as a search term, but it has Ungot in the English text, which I find “ungut” not good.
[7] https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1R-xNa4PswGL7sqcepUsVDuHxncR3oVoU?usp=sharing

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Mongolia – the Ovoo on the Grave

 

Between the Achit Nuur (Ачит нуур) [1] and the Üüreg Nuur (Үүрэг нуур) [2] (two lakes) we passed the mining town of the Nuurst Xotgor mine (Нүүрст хотгор) [3] and then drove on to a pass, I think you can also see this place on Google Maps [4]. What makes this pass special is not the fact that you find an ovoo (овоо) there, but that this ovoo is standing on a grave. As we walked around the stones marking the perimeter, we could fathom the vastness of the area used for this grave.

You wouldn't be surprised finding a cairn at the height of a mountain pass and such ovoos you'll find in Mongolia all across the country. But you can find ovoos also at other places, which are held to be sacred.According to tengerism ovoos are dedicated to local deities or others gods of a vast pantheon.

Coming to an ovoo (овоо) you are supposed to circle it three times, moving clockwise, ito insure a safe journey [5]. People bring an uneven number of rocks and add these to the pile. People also wrap blue khadags (хадаг) [6] around them. Blue symbolizes the sky or tenger (тэнгэр). You will also find pots, ceramics, wheels, empty liquor bottles, prayer beads, horns of animals like the capricorn, and other items around ovoos.

Beneath this ovoo and covering more area is a grave, most probably dating back to the bronze age. There haven't been any excavations and the place is hard to find anyway, so that it's open to discussion. However, I found an essay on the topic of ovoo on a preexisting grave [7]. These burial mounds are made of earth or stones and are large cone-shaped, they are called kurgan (Mongolian курган, Russian курга́н), which are known also in Germany as Hügelgrab (Mongolian бөөгнөрөл); there are several in the vicinity of my apartment in Cologne (Ostfriedhof [8]). These funeral mounds date back till first or even second millenium BC, but could have been formed as late as during the first millenium AD. So it's quite uncertain, which ethnic group or predecessor of the Mongolian people has left these graves. Cecilia Dal Zovo: „As elsewhere in Mongolia, the entanglement of these cairns within the local monumental tradition is possibly connected with the Buddhist-inspired transformation of sacred geographies (late 16th-17th century) and the cultural and material intensification of the ovoo materiality for political and administrative purposes in the
Qing [清朝] epoch.“ The ovoo has been a later development, but maybe there is a direct connection to past customs and rites. But such questions will have to stay unanswered until more archeological findings might surface and allow a new hypothesis.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-boss-of-achit-nuur.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achit_Lake
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9C%C3%BCreg_Lake and
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-ceremony-at-lakefront-of-uureg-nuur.html
[3] Нүүрст хотгор is diffent to нуурын хотгор. While the cyrillic letter “у” is “u”, “ү” is only used in Mongolian and comes close the the German umlaut “ü”. Wikipedia gives the coordinates 49°51′12″N 90°53′23″E, so you can check on Google maps mine an mining town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuurst_Khotgor_coal_mine  
[4] 49°57'58.3"N 90°55'05.8"E
[5] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/09/mongolia-on-visiting-ovoo.html
[6] Khadag (хадаг) is the Mogolian name for the ritual scarf, formerly made of silk, nowadays mostly made of polyester because of better durability. The Tibetan scarf is white to show the pureness of the giver's heart, whereas the Mongolian is blue as the sky. The origins lie both in lamaism as well as tengerism (a better word for the often used shamanism). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khata   
[7] Cecilia Dal Zovo, « Ovoo-cairns and ancient funerary mounds in the Mongolian landscape. Piling up a monumental tradition? », Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines [En ligne], 52 | 2021, mis en ligne le 23 décembre 2021, consulté le 07 février 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/emscat/4925; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/emscat.4925 You may upload the article (French and English).
[8] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostfriedhof_(K%C3%B6ln)

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Barefoot on the Mountains - Moses and the Inca

 

Barefoot on the Mountains - the first thing that came to my mind was „Barfuß durch die Hölle“ [Barefoot through Hell], as that is the German title of a Japanese film adaptation of a novel called „Ningen no jōken“ (The Human Condition) [1]. However, I also came across Romano Guardini [2] on the topic, as I read the following passage in „Von heiligen Zeichen“ [Of Sacred Symbols] [3]: „[And steps lead up to the altar. Those who ascend are told, as God once said to Moses on Mount Horeb: „Take off your shoes, for this is holy ground.“)“ This reminded me of a trip through Argentina that also took me to Salta. There, I visited the MAAM - Archaeological Museum, which displays, among other things, three 500-year-old child mummies found on the Llullaillaco Volcano in 1999. The Llullaillaco, located on the border between Argentina and Chile, is 6,739 meters high [4]. The structures and tombs on its summit are considered the highest archaeological site in the world. Unfortunately, photography of the mummies was not allowed, and I only managed to take a photo of the museum in the evening. The mummies were of three children, two girls aged 13 and 4-5 years, and a boy aged 4-5 years (another source states their ages as 6, 7, and 15 years); the boy was on display.

The cold and dryness of the mountain peak contributed to the exceptionally well-preserved state of the mummified remains. They were found barefoot, but it is uncertain whether they climbed the volcano themselves or were carried. No shoes or foot coverings were found with the mummies. It is likely that the children were given a diet of high-quality food before their deaths, as well as coca (hair analysis and coca leaves in their mouths) to prepare them for the sacrifice. Chicha, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented corn, was also found, which may have had a ritual significance. It is believed that the children were calmed or put into a trance-like state using various substances. The children were buried alive on the summit of Llullaillaco. Studies have shown that they show no signs of injuries or physical trauma indicating a violent death [5]. This not only sounds cruel, it is cruel, but such rituals were performed in many parts of the world. The administered drugs, the lack of oxygen due to the altitude, and the cold allow for the consolation of their passing away in unconsciousness.

Although „Ningen no jōken“ by Gomikawa Jumpei, the Bible passage quoted by Romano Guardini, and the Llullaillaco child mummies are temporally and thematically far apart, and the connection by the term „barefoot“ may be called gossamer at best, this word „barefoot“ also brings a sense of reconciliation to me, as a song says: „ Ich mööch zo Fooß no Kölle jonn [I want to go to Cologne on foot]“ [6].


Links and Annotations:
[1] "Barfuß durch die Hölle (人間の條件, Ningen no jōken, literally "The Conditions of Being Human" (conditio humana)) is a Japanese epic film trilogy that was produced from 1959 to 1961. The films are based on a novel by Gomikawa Jumpei (五味川 純平, 1916–1995). Another Japanese television adaptation consisting of 7 parts, with the same story, was broadcasted in 1967 on ZDF." I saw this on German television (2nd channel) at the end of the 1960s.  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barfu%C3%9F_durch_die_H%C3%B6lle
[2] Romano Guardini (17 February 1885 – 1 October 1968) was an Italian, naturalized German Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romano_Guardini  
[3] Romano Guardini: Von heiligen Zeichen (1922–1925) [Of Sacred Symbols]. Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, Mainz undated around 1950, 102nd-111th edition, p. 22. Original text: „Und Stufen tragen zum Altar empor. Wer da hinaufschreitet, dem sagen sie, wie einst Gott zu Moses auf dem Berge Horeb: „Zieh deine Schuhe aus, denn hier ist ist heiliger Boden.““
[4] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llullaillaco and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llullaillaco
[5] Andrew S. Wilson, Emma L. Brown, Timothy Taylor: Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice. PNAS 110 (33) 13322-13327. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1305117110 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llullaillaco
[6] Unfortunately, only in German: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimweh_nach_K%C3%B6ln I was born in Cologne.

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Funeral Rites at the Ghats at Pashupatinath in Nepal

 

A note of warning and advice:
If you feel agitated by reading about funeral rites, please do not read further. Pictures of the rites will not show naked parts of corpses, which I have blurred, not only for your protection, but also not to display the diseased person.

I have thought for a long time whether I should write about the funeral rites in Pashupatinath, in particular whether I can show photos of them, because there are corpses to be seen. But I think I've found a compromise that allows me to report on this important issue that has been on my mind for over 25 years. I had made a trip to Tibet 25 years ago that started in Nepal and also ended in Nepal and we visited Pashupatinath. There we saw funeral pyres that had fascinated me since then. But there were also disconcerting aspects, such as little boys scampering through the mourners to jump  into the river further up, letting the current carry them downstreams, then coming out of the water below the mourners and then back running through the group of mourners. This did not bother the mourners, because they continued to perform their rites to honor the dead. After that, the burning of the pyre was carried out. We didn't go to opposite of the Pashupatinath Temple at the time, because my friends were too agitated to see the cremation. However, one of the friends later wrote a book titled: Why I am immortal (translation). This time I've been able to see more and do more research and so I want to share this experience, because I think it's very important. I've been interested in burial rites for a long time, not just the funeral customs of peoples outside Europe but also those in Europe and especially in Germany.

Entrance at the other side

I would like to start talking about the Pashupatinath Temple and interestingly the German Wikipedia article is a much better source than the English article for this purpose [1]. Pashupatinath means „Lord of Life“ or „Lord of the Living“ and is located about 5 kilometers east of Kathmandu's  center. The Hindu temple is one of the most important places of worship for Shiva and thousands of Hindus travel there every year. But it is also the place where the cremations take place, below at the ghats. The sanctuary itself was classified  as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

The emergence of Hinduism is dated to 1,200 BC; that means ample time to the development of many traditional rites, especially for honoring or burying the dead [2]. According to Hindu belief, man, like all matter, consists of five basic elements (the Panchamahabhutas - pancha means five, which is why we also know the punch, which originally consisted of five ingredients), which have the properties of earth (pritvi), water (jala), fire (tejas), wind (vayu) and space (akasha). For the Hindu, death means liberation and passage into a new existence – reincarnation – for which personal karma, made up of positive and negative actions, is decisive. The funeral rituals support this. However, attaining a better reincarnation is only an interim goal; the real goal is moksha, liberation from the long chain of incarnations.
In Hinduism, every living being has an immortal self (atman), often translated, not entirely incorrectly, as soul. The atman refers to pure consciousness or witness consciousness, beyond identification with phenomena [3]. With the cleansing of the body comes the cleansing of the soul. Water, milk, and ghee (clarified butter) are used. A five-time circumambulation of the corpse is also performed. According to tradition, the fire is lit by the firstborn son.
When the corpse is half or completely burned. st, one should split the skull; among the Grihashtas (housekeepers) with a log and the ascetics with a coconut. After opening the Brahmarhandhra orifice in this way,  sacrificesare made with e.g. ghee. I haven't seen it myself, maybe just not being there at the right time or the practice has been abandoned. However, Sannyassins may be handed over to the floods unburned (this is meant to be done at the Ganges) or buried. Srila Prabhupada, the Founder Acharya of the Hare Krsna movement, was buried seated in the earth, first covered in sugar [4]. But this is just meant as a small digression.
After the fire has burned out, often after three days, the ashes are then strewn into the river – in this case the Bagmati River, though a wonder whether the three day interval still is feasable with so many people being cremated there. A burial in the ground is possible in principle, but unusual at Pashupatinath. Until 1829, women were immolating themselves with their deceased husbands; however, this ritual has been forbidden [5].

The cremation sites, the Arya Ghats (higher caste cremation sites) and the Surya Ghats (lower caste cremation sites) are on the right bank of the Bagmati River together with the Pashupatinath Temple.
The corpse is usually wrapped in yellow cloth, carried to the ghat and cleansed (feet and face), then offerings are made and afterwards carried to the cremation site, where a pyre has been built, on which the corpse is laid. The firstborn son lits the pyre as already mentioned. Family and friends watch, sometimes from a distance. After about four hours, the body is burned to ashes. The ash and incompletely burned logs are thrown into the river, with unburned jewelry etc. being removed from the ashes beforehand. The river seemed very muddy to me – just weeks before the rainy season.

Shortly after igniting the pyre - 25 years ago

Pyre burning down - 25 years ago

Pyre burning - April 2023

Mourners and purification rites

Bamboo stretchers are prepared to be burned

A closer look at purification rites - the white fluid is milk

On the bamboo stretcher to the funeral pyre

Another group of mourner - this time the diseased person had been in the
security business and the colleagues give the last goodbye

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupatinath  
[2] https://www.tod-und-glaube.de/die-bestattungskultur-des-hinduismus/ and https://www.pietaet-am-dornbusch.de/  
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism)
[4] Be advised that this video goes far beyond the pictures I show here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXmRMqDbSvo
[5] But such a ritual would prevent young, pretty women from marrying old geezers – not seriously. The ritual has been rightfully abolished. And I guess that more women were immolated instead of having immolated themselves.
 
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