Abstract：The funeral form is a response to the social cultural ideas; it is a result of certain natural environment too. Through the funeral form, people can recall the contribution of the dead, the contribution was made before death, express the emotion to the dead,console ghost from spirit; it also reflect the will that inherits the unfulfilled wish of the dead, earnestly hopes to protect the living people. So the funeral form is very important in our society and is a component that can't be avoided in social life. People could understand the law of relationship between human and land easier, if we investigate the relation between geographical environment and funeral form, expand human geography research field.
Our country is a multi-nationality country, various nationalities have far different habits and customs and culture background, so does the funeral custom. There are 5 kinds of funeral forms mainly in our country-Burial in the grounds, cremating, tower burying, water burial and celestial burial. Most nationalities adopt the form of cremating. Tibetan nationality is one of the most important ethnic groups in china, and it is different from other nationals in funeral customs, more than 90% Tibetan nationalities adopt this celestial burial. This paper primarily analyzes why this kind of funeral spread widely, the authors points out the special and natural geography of that ground, impresses history and social cultural background, and the various district cultures are main factors that make celestial burial prevailed. Celestial burial is a custom that is not an accidental social phenomenon, but shaping in certain historical condition and social environment. Celestial burial is a kind of peculiar, mysterious burying, but it contacts people and nature more closely through celestial burial, the peculiar life style of local people conforms with unique natural environment of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and human and nature are in coordinated development too.
Because the celestial burial has far-reaching significance in saving land, purifying the social environment, protecting the resources, and promoting the social civilization, we should understand and respect it. The authors think that this paper will not only help to recognize Chinese funeral forms, but also help to promote the new custom to take shape.
韦韧, 吴殿廷, 王欣, 王红强, 陈向玲. 丧葬习俗的地理学研究——以西藏天葬为例[J]. 人文地理, 2006, 21(6): 31-34.
WEI Ren, WU Dian-ting, WANG Xin, WANG Hong-qiang, CHEN Xiang-lin. THE GEOGRAPHIC RESEARCH ON FUNERAL CUSTOMS——A Case Study of Celestial Burial in Tibet. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2006, 21(6): 31-34.
