Anniversary of a Death: Deathday

A death anniversary (also called a death day or deathday) is a custom that is observed in several Asian cultures including China, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in other nations with a lot of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese populations. Like a birthday, it is celebrated every year. There are also similar memorial services that are held at different intervals, such as every week. Now this sort of bothers me. Why on earth would anyone want to publicly celebrate someone's death? Especially every week!

Well, I for one, would have thought that celebrating the anniversary of someone's death would indicate in some way that you were sort of happy about it! Don't get me wrong, I DO understand that different cultures have different ways of dealing with things but surely it would be more fitting the commemorate the day upon a particularly revered person was born!

Surely, their death would, in some way, negatively impact upon you; so that you wouldn't want to think of that awful day? It seems not. Apparently great chunks of us seem to think that a deathday is perfectly fitting!

Great figures of history throughout time have their deathdays celebrated with much fervour and joy.

Actually, they appear to get so much enjoyment out of it, it makes you wonder if it's not all some excuse to have a big party; cry a lot, spend raucous hours bemoaning the loss of a dear departed, plenty of alcohol (or other luxuries your culture allows), and a very good time had by all! Well, on reflection, I think this is great stuff. If people are gonna go mad about you once a year let it be deathday! Obviously, nobody bothers much about deceased person's Birthdays' that much so lets have a good old party once a week on the day old Uncle Harry fell down the front stairs and took the dog with him!

How about every Tuesday to commemorate the day when Aunt Lillian fell off her electric scooter in the street and got run over by a Mail van in the middle of the High Street?

It sounds funny when I say it like that but, I doubt if the people involved would have ever thought so...

I don't know - maybe I'm being a bit bloody-minded, but personally, I would prefer to respect the dead. And celebrate life!