Galena's Journey - Writings - Without Words

Death is the unseen, unknowable aspect of life. The living can know nothing of death, for the dead are beyond our normal realm of communication. In death we experience the return of the body to the earth, and the reunion of the soul with the Divine. Therefore, it is not surprising that every culture has developed symbols to help understand and depict such a complex and paradoxical event.

The beginnings of human religion are often marked by anthropologists and historians at the point when our prehistoric ancestors began burying their dead. The dead were often laid out as if sleeping or curled up to the fetal position and strewn with flowers and grains. Some cultures began building tombs for their important dead. Concentric circles are often found on early graves symbolizing completion of a cycle and the realms of eternity. The circles also reflect the effect of dropping a stone into water, possibly suggesting a descent into the waters of the afterlife.

The idea that the afterlife was spent in or on the water is reflected in cave drawings of death ships which transported the dead to the world beyond. Sea-burials were used by many later cultures, including the Celtic and Norse peoples, to demonstrate this belief. The early Etruscans represented the bearers of souls as dolphins and sea-horses who escorted the dead to the Islands of the Blessed.

Death is not always represented by a gruesome or ugly figure. In early Greek art Death is portrayed as a lovely, naked youth or as an old, bearded man with wings. In Hindu belief, Death dances as a beautiful girl or sometimes as the god Shiva himself. As the Lord of the Dance as well as the Lord of Death, Shiva personifies the complex, mysterious, and paradoxical relationship between the act of living and the ending of life.

Although the skeleton appears as a symbol of death in late antiquity, it was not until the late Middle Ages (fourteenth to fifteenth centuries CE) that the symbols of death commonly known today appeared. In the early Middle Ages death was rarely represented. When it was explicitly shown, Death took the form of an ugly old man or woman. However, the great outbreaks of the plague in Europe changed the common perception of death. The plague made no distinction between young or old, rich or poor, man or woman. Death became a force which could mow down anyone it its path, regardless of whether they were a Pope or a peasant. Soon death became represented as the Grim Reaper or the King of Death–a skeleton carrying a sword or bow (weapons of death), a scythe (to harvest souls and cut short lives), and an hourglass (a reminder that time is short).

Besides roaming the land to collect the dead, the King of Death also presided over the Dance of the Dead, or Danse Macabre. First depicted in early fifteenth-century wall frescoes, the Danse Macabre was the manifestation of the popular medieval belief that the dead rose from their graves at midnight to dance at a tortuous pace around the churchyard. The Danse Macabre presents Death as the great leveler and equalizer of fortunes. Dead souls from every social class, age, and gender are paired with a "living" skeleton and are then led in a dance as the King of Death provides the music on his fiddle or drum. The dance ends when the souls are brought face-to-face with their skeleton partners and are forced to confront the face of Death.

Sources may include:
Becker, Udo, ed. The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. Continuum, NY 1994

Beiderman, Hans, trans. James Hulbert. The Dictionary of Symbolism: Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them. Facts on File, NY 1992

Bruce-Mitford, Miranda., The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols: Thousands of Signs and Symbols from Around the World. DK Publishing, NY 1996

Gibson, Claire. Goddess Symbols: Universal Signs of the Divine Female. Barnes & Noble, NY 1998

-----------------. Signs & Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Their Meaning and Origins. Barnes & Noble, NY 1996