A funeral for an elephant

Charles 6 Comments
Charles

 

“In Thailand it is customary for a monk to pray for an elephant who has passed away. Here’s a rare peek of an elephant’s funeral.”

2 mins 6 secs. Click on the icon on the bottom-right of the screen to bring it up to full size.

 

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Jenny Uzzell
12 years ago

Wow! Thank you for that, Charles.

Charles Cowling
12 years ago

Amazingly lovely, isn’t it?

Jehdeiah
Jehdeiah
12 years ago

that’ll do for me too – that was actually surprisingly moving.

According to wonderful Wiki Aristotle rated elephants as “The animal which surpasses all others in wit and mind.”
there’s a beautiful story of elephant society and cognition surrounding death too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_cognition
This Thai ritual affords a little more dignified ending perhaps than this… coming soon to the Natural History Museum?
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/animal-inside-out/index.html

Jenny Uzzell
12 years ago

I have to admit I was filling up watching it. Strange how animals affect me that way far more often than humans do!

Jonathan
Jonathan
12 years ago

I can’t find a word for what those elephants are expressing as they gather round the dead body, nor a thought that encompasses the meaning of what they are doing with it. ‘Grieving’ and ‘mourning’ spring to mind, but it’s too easy to attribute human feelings to what we cannot understand. Their demeanour gives presence to the dead animal in a way that embraces living an beyond, of which all, dead and living, are equally a part; and that is what makes this moving for me, as well as the humble respect and awe of the monks. It is what… Read more »

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[…] time ago Charles blogged about an elephant’s funeral. Here – to finish – is a BBC film about the reactions of a small herd of elephants […]