Delco Death Cafe

The Riderless Horse: one of the oldest and most moving military traditions in a full honor funeral is the riderless, caparisoned horse. The horse is led behind ...the caisson wearing an empty saddle with the rider’s boots reversed in the stirrups, indicating the warrior will never ride again. Join us this Memorial Day weekend to remember the heroes we have lost and the families they leave behind. Thanks to the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) for this portrait of the Riderless Horse. Photo by Shelli Breidenbach Photography.

Trip back to Wat Phra Bat Nam Pu, the AIDS hospice monastery, where many of the former patients have been mummified. There is much negative commentary directed ...towards this place in medical literature, and I came back to get a better understanding through a private tour. I left completely impressed by the compassion I saw. The monastery operates three large wards with 120 patients. This is end of life care, none of the patients are expected to leave. And that is true even after death, as they might variously be mummified, have their cremation ashes mixed into resin so that artists can create sculptures (photos 8, 9), or placed in large piles in the main hall--the bags behind the Buddha in photo 10 are filled with ashes. To understand these postmortem displays, we have to realize that the stigma against AIDS in Thailand has traditionally caused those contracting it to be disowned by their families, leaving them alone with no one to care for them. These are the people the monastery takes in, and preserving their bodies, displaying them, or making them into art is way to prevent people who have been rejected from also being forgotten--their families may have tried to erase their memories, but preserved here a trace of them will be remembered. You the reader are entitled to your own opinion, and free to express it in the comments even if it is contradictory to mine, which is that this place is doing something profound and unique in the world, with a level of compassion that is unmatched, even if it is difficult for outsiders to understand. I believe the negative commentary from Western medical practitioners is based in three main points, none of which I think are fair: the fact that this is palliative hospice care rather than hospital care attempting to prolong the life of a suffering patient; that it is free, which I think is always problematic especially for American medical professionals; and the postmortem displays, which are intended as compassionate but are so culturally specific that they are consistently misunderstood. See more

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