New Views of Grief: Changing Mourning Rituals and Experiences of Bereaved People During the Covid-19 Pandemic
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8306929Keywords:
Covid-19, loss, grief, mourning rituals, cultureAbstract
The Covid-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the functioning of daily life for a long time. For this reason, mourning rituals, which are important components of daily life in Turkey, could not be performed for a long time. Considering the functions of mourning rituals in alleviating the pain of loss and returning to the routine of life, it is thought that the inability to perform these rituals will have important individual and cultural repercussions. This study aims to understand the changing mourning rituals and experiences of individuals who lost their relatives during the Covid-19 pandemic and were unable to fulfill their rituals after this loss. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 people living in different provinces of Turkey who lost their relatives during the pandemic. These interviews were analyzed by thematic analysis method.
As a result of the analysis, five main themes and some related sub-themes were identified. The main themes were named as the feeling of helplessness and embarrassment caused by the pandemic, transforming traditions and new rituals, the damage to bilateral relations due to lack of social support, new manifestations of mourning, and the reorganization of life with loss. The analysis revealed that mourning rituals have a two-dimensional function culturally. Accordingly, mourning rituals regulate the relationships of the bereaved with the person they lost and their social environment. In addition, it was understood that unfulfilled rituals negatively affect individual experiences and social relations. Finally, it was observed that the participants discovered new mourning rituals in this process and tried to alleviate the pain of loss through these rituals. The findings are discussed in the context of the relevant literature.
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