As in Ethnic Variations in Dying, Death, and Grief, by Donald P. Irish,, Kathleen F. Lundquist, and Vivian Jenkins Nelsen, they described death in many different ways and cultures, from death to after death and how the death ceremonies are performed by special people. Donald, Kathleen, and Vivian says that Hmong funerals are to be believed by Hmongs that it is a way to enter the afterlife. As a oneself is born into this world and when he/she die, they must go back to their spiritual parents and ancestors. Then afterwards they are supposed to find the way back to their ancestors by the sound of the drum, the reed pipe and by the (Tus Qhaub Ke) who is the person trying the way back in the afterlife.
When a person die, a funeral is to be held by the person family or the closest cousin. The size of the funerals depends on the age and sex of that person whom had died. For example, when a man dies, the funeral is held longer and more people are to attend, "this is because there were a lot more people who knew that person through-out his life time," a man at Marysville named Brandon Lee said to his daughter, but this also depends on the wealth of that person and on how many sons the man has. The more sons he has, the more the days the funeral is to be held.
When a baby die the funerals only last for a couple days. Because the baby don't have any sons and daughter. That's not all, there is also no special performance played by the drum man and reed pipe to lead his way back. The parents would just often cries and kill only a pig for him.
As Donald, Kathleen, and Vivian stated that, some families with elders pre-arrange funeral activities for these respected family members. Others feel it is bad luck to plan a funeral because this may somehow precipitate a death in the family (Irish, Lundquist, and Nelsen 84).
This passage means that some Hmong people who don't think that it is too much trouble going through the causes, will plan the funeral of an elder family member while that person is still living. But for those people who feel that they should plan for a funeral ahead of time goes around to look for a burial place grave site and coffin. This usually takes a couple of months or sometimes only days, or possibly years to get the right place that would suit that person and everyone in the family. Sometimes they would consult a geomancer who knows of the perfect places to lye under the earth for help. There are places that are holy and places that are not good to buried. So this is the reason why they would consult a geomancer for help.
Right after the death of a family member, the family will wail and cry for a long time. This usually happens for a couple of days. What I think of crying for the dead is making them upset. But in the mean time either the man of the house or a close family member in the village will fire a gun three times to show that someone has died (85). After this has all happened, then the family bathes the dead and dresses the dead in the clothes that has been given to him or her from their parents.
This Picture show that someone in the
family member has died and by the shooting in the air, that notify
the village that someone has just die.
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