Close Encounters: Tereza Kostková and Oleg Vojtíšek, Czech Radio: We've Isolated Young People from Death
😱"Is it really true that most deaths in our country go without a funeral?!" Tereza Kostková wondered in Close Encounters on Czech Radio Dvojka, where our Oleg was a guest.
We see people who still burst into tears twenty years after the death of a loved one.🥀 Without a funeral, you won't find closure, and it will torment you your whole life, especially if the death was sudden and unexpected.
The reasons vary: from traumatizing experiences at the crematorium to financial concerns. And sometimes it's also because of a well-intentioned idea that leads to hell – to avoid traumatizing children 👶 We've raised a whole generation of people who have completely suppressed death. And when it hits them, it's all the worse and deeper. 🔪
So, how do you do funerals honestly?
🏡In a beautiful place that uplifts you.
👨👨👦👦On a day that suits everyone who should and wants to be at the funeral.
💌In a way that helps you relieve guilt or say what would otherwise keep coming back to you.
Burning messages or sending messages on balloons or boats isn't esoteric at all. On the contrary, it's a very tangible and easily understandable way to put a final period on the relationship with the deceased, and then watch it leave us – because that's the reality. ⚫
👂If you want to explore the topic of Czech funerals in a similar way to how Tereza Kostková explored it, listen to us on Close Encounters on Czech Radio.
What does All Souls' Day mean to us today? Benedikt Mohelník and Oleg Vojtíšek, Czech Radio, Vertikála
"From a believer's point of view, we are debtors to our ancestors; we are here thanks to them. We live on debt from what we receive from previous generations. Saying goodbye to that person is the minimum repayment of that debt, and at the same time, we create value for the future for those who come after us and will live on our debt," said Benedikt Mohelník, director of the Dominikánská 8 platform and editor-in-chief of the revue for theology and spiritual life, Salve.
Our Oleg Vojtíšek debated with him on the Vertikála program on Czech Radio.
And they discovered an interesting thing: religious rituals and our alternative ceremonies can go hand in hand. Because art is not about destroying traditions, but updating them.
Take All Souls' Day, for example. Typically, it is celebrated in the cemetery by laying flowers in a close family circle. But you can also invite friends and colleagues, perhaps on the anniversary of the death, so you don't have to be alone. After all, tradition dictates that we remember the deceased: not that it has to be on that particular day in that particular place.
In order for traditions to serve us, it is good to adapt them to our needs in the modern world. And neither we nor modern representatives of the church are against that.
How does Halloween help our children?
Why is it necessary to hold a funeral?
And last but not least: did they cut out Oleg when he completely forgot what he actually wanted to say?
Find out in the new Vertikála.
Czech Radio Radiožurnál: Adriana Kábová as a guest of Lucie Výborná. After a bizarre experience with a funeral service after the death of my child, I decided to change the funeral industry in the Czech Republic.
Adriana Kábová is an anthropologist and funeral guide.
Already during the research of Indonesian cultures, she got to traditional funerals, during which animals are sacrificed. "Even though my topic was not originally funeral service, in Indonesia I participated in funerals in the front row," she describes.
After her own experience with the death of a baby, she decided to change the funeral industry in the Czech Republic and became a funeral guide.
What does this work entail?
And how did she cope with the loss of a child?
Death isn't the opposite of life, it's a part of it, says funeral guide Oleg Vojtíšek on Czech Radio Plzeň.
The Funeral Guides association often organizes funerals in nature, but also in a villa or lounge. "Planting trees is already a great tradition. A tree is a beautiful living memory, it gives us shade and moisture, we have to take care of it a little, and as it grows, we come to terms with the loss. Or we have clients write down on paper what they didn't get to say to the deceased, we fold the papers into boats and let them go down the river. Messages can also be written on balloons, which we release. Our specialty, for example, is that in a balloon we can release the ashes of the deceased into the stratosphere," described Oleg Vojtíšek.