Why Embalming?

Why Embalming?

One of our greatest fears as humans is the fear of death. We try as much as possible to try to prolong our lives and we pay the price to stay alive. We read different materials with health tips, adopt variety of lifestyles to stay alive.

 These lifestyles include praying for long life (including binding and casting evil forces), doing regular exercises, going for medical checkups, driving carefully, maintaining clean environment, avoiding contact with dangerous objects and weapons and even using diabolical means just to stay alive but we have not been able to overcome the power of death.

Everything in life including life itself must have a beginning, as well an ending. As much as you resist it, everything was created with an end in mind, including you. As Evan Esar once said “you can’t do anything about the length of you life, but you can do something about its width and depth”. Dying should not be the worst of your fears; not having lived should be your worst fear.

When death comes, we still try as much as possible to preserve bodies of the deceased before they are finally laid to rest. Our attitude towards the bodies of the deceased varies along religious, ethnic or social lines. In some parts of the world, some bodies are burnt and the ashes are probably poured in the river. Some other people bury the bodies without delay according to religious rights while some others preserve the bodies for internment. 

The process by which bodies are preserved from decomposition and decay is what is known as embalming. When a person dies, the body of such an individual begins to degenerate gradually as result of bacterial action and enzymatic breakdown of the components of the body and the body begins to smell after a long while.

The body is perfused with the embalming fluid which prevents bacterial actions, destroy the activities of enzymes, holds the tissue of the body in place and ultimately prevent decay of the bodies. Those who try to preserve bodies do so for internment by trying to maintain some features like the skin colour, appearance- proper outfit.

When bodies are embalmed, the bodies can last for a very long time without being decomposed. Embalming has been an age-long procedure that have been carried out in ancient Egypt. Joseph in the bible (Gen. 50:26) died and was embalmed. This process has continued to be very significant in this present day.

Bodies that are used as study or experiment in the medical field are also preserved. However, this particular preservation do not necessarily require the addition of special features when preserving bodies that would be used for show or internment.

Anytime anyone dies and the relatives decide to fix the date of burial weeks or months later due to whatever reason, the bodies can only survive these period because it has been embalmed. In Nigeria, prices of embalming bodies varies from one location to another. Example, the prices could cost between the range of ten thousand naira to thirty thousand naira apart from the price of storing the body after the embalment.