Over the last year I have had several requests for more information and deeper reads on subjects brought up on the blog. So after banging around my shelves a bit, here is the Death/Scent reading list. Some of them are staples of both olfactive and death literature, others are weird and wonderful deep cuts. This…
Category: Africa
The Perfumed Mummy
Now we reach the intersection of material culture, belief systems, and death with the physical preparation of the body, which used many aromatic ingredients. The creation of the archetypical Egyptian mummy was a complex evolution that embraced the olfactive elements of the putrid and the divine.
The Fragrance of the Soul: Olfaction and Death in Ancient Egyptian Religion
As a society, we have an anosmic view of history. We don’t think about the way things smelt or what olfaction meant to people in the past because olfaction is not a primary consideration in the present. This post is part of D/S’s series on Death and Scent in Ancient Egypt. Part I: Egypt’s Sacred Scent…
Turning the Bones Part II: Endangered Customs
This is Part II of our two-part look at Famadihana. Read Part I here While forces have been at work for some time trying to kill the lively and joyous practice of Famadihana, they have done little to dampen the practice in the highlands; what may prove the death nail, however, is the pneumonic plague.
Turning the Bones Part I: Dance with the Perfumed Dead
Places have souls; you experience them through their scents. What does Madagascar’s soul smell like? Mango and lemon chutney, recently plucked limes and papaya, fresh green coffee pods, and newly ground cocoa powder. It’s in homemade cinnamon-infused rum mixed with coconut milk (a Punch Coco), carved Rosewood figures rubbed with nutty Baobab oil, wild ylang-ylang…
The Death Scent Project 