Why the World Throws Parties for the Dead

After the death of a close friend, Erica Buist found herself consumed by anxiety about dying. In this episode of Constant Wonder, she tells host Marcus Smith how she set out to face that fear by visiting death festivals around the world, and found more celebration than mourning. From the Day of the Dead in Mexico to a rollicking festival in Madagascar where she gets hit in the head with a corpse, Erica explores the bonds between the living and the dead. She visits a cow festival in Nepal and the mummies of Sicily, and asks why Western cultures are so somber about death, and what we can learn from the carnival atmosphere of these celebrations. Guest: Erica Buist, journalist and author of This Party's Dead: Grief, Joy and Spilled Rum at the World's Death Festivals Originally aired August 31, 2022 Chapters: (0:00) Erica Buist and death anxiety (8:07) Confronting death close to home (16:31) Day of the Dead in Mexico (23:14) Gai Jatra, Nepal's cow festival (29:33) The mummies of Sicily (34:08) Love after death