Hanapbuhay sa patay: A photo essay on training and profession on embalming

• Main Author: Cabrera, Althea Marie C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Embalming > Philippines; Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2997
• Institution: De La Salle University

While we all witness death at some point of our lives, there are people who live in and around death every single day of their lives. Those are the extraordinary individuals that work are funeral services. One of those that have withstand these courageous jobs are embalmers. Embalming is not significantly a contemporary phenomenon. It has been existing for a long while and encompassed a very long cross cultural history (Peter and Ocholi 82). Each culture has a different approach and method on the preservation of dead human bodies. The procedure of mummification originated from Egypt, Greece and surrounding places (Otte and Wink 6). Meanwhile, the particular notion on embalming that the people of todays generation have was obtained from the start of civil war especially when deadly battles occurred wherein embalmment permitted viewing of the body without showing all the ravages of war (Abayomi and Odiri 996). Over many years, the process of embalming went from traditional approach to modern processes. People started to view upon embalming as both a science and an art. Shortly after, people started gaining and the it became a profession. This craft has been considered as an intricate activity and the local government manifested a license for aspirants that ant to become a professional embalmer. In the Philippine setting, there a re a few training centers that cater to those who want to learn, study and work on embalming. One of this embalming training schools specialize on hands-on training and methodology balances on their and application. Embalming is such a distinct and interesting topic to work on. Through capturing powerful images of what surrounds an embalming school, the objective of this photo essay is to exhibit the process that theses hopeful students undergo.