In Food, Ritual, and Death, Okri (2015) blends the strong association between these elements in human life. He lucidly reveals the detailed operations of food and ritual in the perception and recollection of our passage through life and the last meeting with death. Okri (2015) does not define death as the end but as a rather dramatic and profound event that gives life sustenance through rituals, sustenance, and reflection. This essay aims to compare the concepts of Okri with the ideas of the Hindu and Islamic traditions, which are provided in the works of Pearson and Kramer. This critical comparison seeks to reveal some deeper general cultural and philosophical implications of the sacred interrelation of food, ritual, and death, concentrating mainly on global issues as well as cultural nuances.
Okri (2015) goes into the bosom of human beings, mixing the sanctity of food, the alchemizing power of ritual, and the enigmatic darkness of death. Okri(2015) proposes that food is not a survival end but a heavenly walkway connecting us to the elements and the universe. He says, “Therefore, food is a storehouse of the magic of sunshine, the mystery of water, the almighty character of air, and the stillness of the earth…food is the treasure house of the wealth of the world” (Okri, 2015, p. 1035). The method elevates the act of eating as something higher than a simple need of the body and pushes it to the state of ceremonial union with everything that is. Moreover, Okri (2015) studies the role of rituals in human life. He argues that rituals are not only arbitrary rituals but are purposeful activities that symbolize and represent the symbolic characteristics of our lives. The research quoted in that ritual by Okri states that life is sheer, life is marvelous, life is strange, and we want to perform an act of sanctity or celebration before its amazing and transcendent moments. A life without ritual is a life without a sense of significance (Okri, 2015, p. 1035). In the term, rituals emerge as the required structures that could help us identify our position and honor our place in the valuable cycle of life. In the end, Okri refers to the issues of death in a way of otherness that gives life its depth and worth. He implies that our mystery in life comes to an end with death, a moment that harbors the unknown and is appropriate for the cost of our finite existence. This perspective makes us treat death as a mere question of destiny, a part of the natural and valuable phase of a circle of life in general. The thoughts of Okri (2015) on food, ritual, and death offer us an exciting opportunity to consider our lives and rituals as one of the other mysteries of the world. Living is more meaningful once we can see sacred things in ordinary ones and accept the unknown.
Considering the perspectives of Okri (2015) and Pearson (1998) about the sacredness and cultural importance of food in their artistic and spiritual frameworks, we find ourselves in the fascinating play of concepts linking the physical and spiritual. Okri perceives food as a gateway to the holy, an essence of the world and its components. He argues that “food is a treasury of the spell of sunlight, the enigma of water, the omnipresence of air, and the steadiness of the earth; food is the storage of the wealth of the universe” (Okri, 2015, p. 1035). The perspective transforms the eating of food into a ritual-like and nearly sacramental event that connects humans with the sacred and mysterious aspects of the cosmos.
Pearson (1998) provides an account of food in rituals and offerings within the context of Hindu beliefs. Here, she highlights the intricate connection between food, divine gifts, and the cycle of life and rebirth so significant in Hindu spirituality. According to Pearson, food in the Hindu tradition is worship, nourishment of the gods, and a figure of cyclic existence. She writes, “Given in silent contemplation…food unites with spiritual practice, signifying an association between food and deity” (Pearson, 1998, p. 110). This perspective focuses on the role of the food serving not just as a physical sustenance but rather as a spiritual link between earthy and celestial.
Okri (2015) and Pearson (1998), in their contemplations of food in the cultural and spiritual narratives, both demonstrate how it functions as the connection between the physical and the spiritual world. Even though Okri emphasizes that food has cosmic and elemental connections, Pearson examines the role of food in ritualistic offerings and spiritual practices in Hinduism. Even though these points of view come from different cultural contexts, they are unified by the fact that food exceeds its materiality and assumes the form of the spiritual nourisher, connecting people with a larger cosmic or divine order. In this comparative analysis, it becomes obvious that food is a significant element in all cultures and religions, that food is something more than the food itself, and that it is a link between humanity and the sacred aspect of being.
Okri’s (2015) contemplations of rituals, in particular within the context of food and death, represent rituals as moments of transformation that link human experience to the enigmas of existence and the cosmos. Rituals, such as food rituals, are seen as the most significant forms of the relation with the cosmos Ok.ri (2015) proposes that it is through these rituals that we realize our place within the enigmatic scale of life and death. This view correlates with Hindu and Islamic contexts of death rituals, although in distinct ways.
The death practices of Hinduism are very symbolic in that they provide the farewell to the departed soul and the means to help it in its departure towards liberation (Moksha). Though different and complex, these rites reflect the primary idea of samsara-based life – cycles of life and death and the importance of karma (Pearson, 1998). The detailed procedures with the lighting of the funeral pyre and the dispersion of ashes into a sacred river are clear evidence of the Hindu doctrine of the immortal soul and the necessity for the soul to break the cycle of rebirth and become one with Brahman, the ultimate reality.
In the same way, Islamic practices of death, which also include washing and wrapping the body in a shroud, the funeral prayers, and the burial, are an intense encounter with the enigma of life and the passage of the soul to the afterworld. The happiness of the drop is to die in the river (Ghazal of Ghalib), and Muslims prepare for an inevitable Final Judgment by living a life of virtue; both points revealed by Kramer illuminate the Islamic understanding of death as a great crossing-over point to a new existence where one’s earthly actions determine one’s eternal fate (Kramer, n.d., p. 160).
The rituals of both traditions thus acknowledge and sanctify the transition from life to death, and they imbue their practices with a profound acceptance of the transitory nature of life and the immortal nature of the soul. Thus, Hindu rituals are centered on the cycle of rebirth and release, while Islamic rituals are concerned with the preparation for the day of judgment and eternal life. However, these variations aside, both traditions utilize rites to manifest respect for the enigma of life, the inescapability of death, and the desire for a symbolic passing into the universe.
Okri’s (2015) notion that rituals are “a way of giving meaning to a period in time” and his idea that “Ritual is consciousness working on time” capture the essence of how both Hindu and Islamic traditions use rituals not just to mark significant life events but to facilitate spiritual transformation and prepare the soul for its journey beyond this worldly existence
In the Hinduism and Islam ways of viewing death, both traditions give very deep insights into the nature of existence, the soul, and the afterlife. In this religion, death is considered a crucial stage in the soul’s way to freedom subsequent to the command of karma and the cycle of reincarnation, or samsara. A key Hindu text, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.2.13), encapsulates the law of karma with the assertion: “ Truly, by doing good deeds, one becomes good; by doing bad deeds, one becomes bad” (Pearson, 1998, p. 114). This underscores the fact that belief in the eternal journey of the soul and the moral law holds.
In the same way, in Islam, death is not the end but a critical movement into the lifetime of eternity, where the deeds of the person in his world determine his fortune in the hereafter. Kramer (n.d.) reflects this view, noting the Islamic emphasis on preparation for the afterlife through righteous living, as articulated in the Quran: “Every soul shall taste death” (Sura 21:34) is a clear affirmation of the fact that death is unavoidable and that a good life according to the will of Allah is crucial (Kramer, n.d, p. 160). These perspectives underscore a shared understanding of death as a transition, deeply embedded in the ritual and ethical fabric of both religions. They offer a pathway to understanding the continuities and divergences in human conceptions of mortality and the afterlife.
In conclusion, the analysis of Okri’s (20150 “Food, Ritual, and Death” by reference to Hindu and Islamic views, as outlined by Pearson (1998) and Kramer (n.d), creates a colorful pattern of ideas that highlights the inter-relatedness of life food, ritual practices, and the lastness of death. Together, all these tales underscore that humanity, in general, respects the circular character of life, and rituals are the mediating instruments between the stages of this life. Okri distinguishes the cosmic importance of food and the festive rituals that are used to confront the unknown. In contrast, Hinduism and Islam provide systematic ritualistic structures to guide the soul’s passage through death, revealing deeper philosophical ideas about the afterlife. This kind of comparison not only demonstrates the cultural specifics presented in understanding these components, but it also points out the deepest universality that humanity tends to look into the indefinable nature of life itself, so one should look into the whole variety of expressions of life, death, and the rites that associates them.
Kramer (n.d). Islamic Attitudes Towards Death
Okri, B. (2015). Food, ritual, and death. Callaloo, 38(5), 1034-1036.
Pearson, A. M. (1998). Hinduism. How different religions view death and afterlife, 109-131.