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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

Deaths without wakes: What are we losing?

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Opinion Named sources Context piece
  • The increasing trend of "no-wake" funerals in South Korea, where wakes and mourning rituals are skipped, raises fundamental questions about the social nature of death.
  • Traditionally, funeral rites served to separate the deceased from the living and reintegrate the bereaved into daily life, with the wake acting as a crucial social stage for this process.
  • The author argues that the "rationality" behind skipping these rituals, often cited as convenience or cost-saving, masks a deeper structural issue and a potential commodification of death, leading to a weakening of social bonds.

The rise of "no-wake" funerals in South Korea, where individuals opt for direct cremation without traditional mourning periods or receiving visitors, prompts a critical examination of how death is handled in contemporary society. While statistics indicate this is not a fleeting trend, the author cautions against viewing it merely as a decline of tradition, emphasizing its deeply structural implications.

Death is a biological event, but the 'processing' of death is thoroughly social.

— Kim Hyuk-wooIntroducing the social significance of how death is handled.

Drawing on sociological insights, the article explains that funeral rites traditionally serve two simultaneous functions: separating the deceased from the world of the living and reintegrating the bereaved back into daily life. The wake, with its rituals of bowing, receiving condolences, and sharing food, acted as a vital social stage for this reintegration, a collective effort to "reseal" society. The "no-wake" trend bypasses this crucial social labor.

The justification for skipping these rituals often centers on rationality – avoiding inconvenience, not burdening others, and saving costs. However, the author warns that this "rationality" can be dangerous, as historically established systems often become normalized as "natural" or "rational choices." When the dismantling of rituals is framed as progress or efficiency, society risks losing something essential without even recognizing it.

The essence of the funeral system has always been 'gathering together.' The fact that humans were not alone in the face of death.

— Kim Hyuk-wooHighlighting the communal aspect of traditional funeral practices.

The article questions whose rationality is being served, suggesting that the simplification of funerals benefits those in the funeral industry by reducing costs and increasing turnover. This commodification of death, paradoxically, can lead to the removal of the ritual itself from the consumer. Furthermore, in the context of South Korea's rapid modernization and the subsequent weakening of traditional community ties, funerals have served as a rare "infrastructure of relationships." The erosion of this infrastructure signifies a loosening of the final ties that bind Koreans together.

The entire cumbersome process... was in fact 'labor to re-seal society.'

— Kim Hyuk-wooDescribing the social function of traditional wake rituals.

While acknowledging that individual choices for no-wake funerals may be unavoidable due to factors like single-person households, family estrangement, or financial burdens, the author urges a focus on the underlying structures that create such inevitability. The piece concludes by reflecting on Émile Durkheim's concept of anomie, suggesting that a society unable to mourn together may also struggle to live together. The author calls for a pause to question whether the move towards "less relationship" is a genuine choice or a decision made for us, emphasizing that the act of holding a wake is fundamentally a hand extended from the living to each other.

Whose rationality is this 'rationalization'?

— Kim Hyuk-wooQuestioning the true beneficiaries of simplified funeral practices.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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