Remembering together

Judaism

“Magnified and sanctified be His great name in the world which He created according to His will.”

The Mourner's Kaddish (opening) · our rendering

Jewish mourners say the Kaddish, an Aramaic prayer that praises God and never mentions death. Children say it for a parent for eleven months, and again every year on the yahrzeit, the anniversary of the death, when a candle burns for a full day. On major festivals the Yizkor service remembers the dead. Many Jews place a small stone on a grave instead of flowers: stones last. Yom HaShoah, the Jewish community's own Holocaust remembrance day, falls in spring.

Christianity

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:13 · World English Bible (British Edition), public domain

Christians remember the dead at funerals and Requiem Masses, praying for their rest. On All Saints' Day (1 November) and All Souls' Day (2 November), churches read out the names of those who have died. Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday of November, began after the First World War. Churches and civic services keep two minutes' silence at 11 o'clock and read Laurence Binyon's “For the Fallen”, written in 1914. Many war memorials carry Jesus's words from John 15:13, quoted below.

Islam

“When a person dies, their deeds come to an end except for three: a charity that continues, knowledge that benefits others, or a righteous child who prays for them.”

Sahih Muslim 1631 · our rendering

When a Muslim dies, the body is washed and wrapped, and the community prays the Janazah prayer, standing in rows without bowing. Burial is quick, with the face towards Makkah. On hearing of a death Muslims say, “Who say, when a misfortune striketh them: Lo! we are Allah's and lo! unto Him we are returning.” (Qur'an 2:156 · Pickthall). The family and friends recite al-Fatiha, the Qur'an's opening chapter, and make du'a for the person who has died.

The Prophet Muhammad encouraged visiting graves, because they remind the living of the hereafter. He also taught that three things keep benefiting a person after death, quoted below. At the Woking Peace Garden and at Brookwood, Muslims and non-Muslims now gather together to remember the soldiers.

Without religion

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.”

Laurence Binyon, “For the Fallen” (1914) · original English, public domain

Much of Britain's remembrance is shared by everyone: the poppy, the two-minute silence and the Cenotaph's empty tomb. Humanist funerals celebrate the life lived, with readings, music and memories. Laurence Binyon's poem, read at countless services, belongs to no single faith. It is quoted below.

Sikhi

Every Sikh Ardas, the prayer said at the end of worship, remembers the Gurus and the shaheeds, the martyrs, who gave their lives for faith and justice. After a death, the family usually holds a complete reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, a Sahaj Paath, and the body is cremated in the Antam Sanskar, the final rite. Sikh soldiers' sacrifice is remembered across Britain. In 2018 a statue of a Sikh soldier, the “Lion of the Great War”, was unveiled in Smethwick.

Hindu traditions

“Nay, but as when one layeth His worn-out robes away, And, taking new ones, sayeth, “These will I wear to-day!” So putteth by the spirit Lightly its garb of flesh, And passeth to inherit A residence afresh.”

Bhagavad Gita 2:22 · Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885), public domain

Hindus cremate the dead, ideally within a day, and scatter the ashes in flowing water. Shraddha rites honour ancestors with offerings of rice balls (pinda) and water, and each year, during the fortnight of Pitru Paksha in the autumn, many families remember their forebears in this way. The Chattri at Brighton stands where Hindu and Sikh soldiers' funeral pyres burned in 1915.

Beyond the Abrahamic faiths

Buddhists often make merit for the dead: giving food to monks, freeing animals, or chanting, and dedicating the good done to the person who has died. In Japan the summer festival of Obon welcomes back the spirits of ancestors with lanterns. Bahá'ís say a special Prayer for the Dead at funerals.