Preface
Everyone hates death, but the fear of death has to be faced, when a person dies, the most contact with the corpse is not relatives, but the mortuary, many people avoid this profession, but their existence does make many people leave with dignity.
Some hotels refuse to stay because the occupation of the guests is the mortuary, and the taxi driver knows that it is the mortuary who wants to get on the car, and does not let them get on the car, engaging in this industry not only requires superb professional skills, but also requires a strong psychological quality.
There are also well-known "celebrities" in the mortuary industry, and there is the biggest taboo in the face of corpses, that is, you can't touch the corpse after death.
Many people think it's superstition, thinking that other people believe in religion and can't touch it, but when the mortuary tells the real reason, everyone knows that it is for the good of us in the world.
Why can't people touch the body after death? What is the daily work of the mortuary profession, and why is there such a big prejudice against the profession?
1. Don't touch the corpse
It is not difficult to find that when the mortuary is working for the corpse, he often wears gloves, because while protecting the corpse, he is also protecting the mortuary himself.
When a person dies, blood circulation stops, breathing stops, but the cells in the body are still alive, which gives the virus a chance to get in.
That is to say, we usually say that the resistance is poor, the resistance will be poor when there is a fever and cold, the resistance will be poor when people lie on the hospital bed when they are old, and the same is true after people die, the body's immune system is difficult to fight bacteria and viruses.
In addition, after death, there will be gradual muscle atrophy, organ failure, and slowly "corpse spots" will grow on the body, which is actually bruises.
If a living person touches the corpse at this time, then a large number of bacteria and viruses on the corpse are likely to take this opportunity to enter the body of a normal person, and the place where a normal person touches the corpse may leave a corpse spot.
That's why you can't touch the corpse, not because of feudal superstition, because there are too many viruses, even if you are a loved one, don't touch it, for your own good, for the corpse.
So what is the day-to-day work of an undertaker, and are they treated differently because of their profession?
2. The daily work of the mortuary
Nowadays, there are only eight colleges and universities in the country that have carried out majors related to the funeral industry, because many people have resistance to the industry and the disagreement of their families, the number of applicants is actually not so large.
Now the demand for mortuaries in the market is also relatively large, so basically the graduates can reach a 100% employment rate.
It is important to know that after a body is transported to the funeral home, the body should be washed first, using professional cleaning tools and medicines to ensure that the body does not have any odor and can be kept clean.
Each transported corpse is very different, there is a kind of body that has been in the hospital for a long time and has been carefully cared for by relatives, this type of body is often relatively clean and does not need to be cleaned up too much.
But there is another category, when the criminal police handle the case, they will be more or less exposed to some murder and other cases, the suspect will be buried in a place after injuring people, and after being undiscovered for a long time, the body will decompose.
Some corpses will be sent to the mortuary after being found by the criminal police team, and out of respect for professionalism, the mortuary can only endure the stench of cleaning, and sometimes he is covered with rancid smell when he wakes up one day.
In the second step of body restoration, some people's faces will collapse after death, or nosebleeds will not stop, at this time, the mortuary needs to fill the face, and the family needs to be discussed in advance before filling.
For example, if the apple muscle is too deeply dented, fill it with cotton, and plug it with cotton if the nosebleed can't stop, so that the body can be kept in the most perfect state and the deceased can leave with dignity.
This kind of situation is also differentiated, there are few aspects of the repair of normal death, and some of the unnatural deaths will even have a broken skull and a displacement of facial features, and the mortuary can only endure the discomfort of the body to recover.
The third step is called body poison, which is what we said above, why can't people touch the body after death, there are too many viruses and bacteria on the body, and the mortuary should poison the body, have professional equipment and poison.
However, even after going through this process, it is not recommended for relatives to touch it, after all, after death, it is like providing a huge petri dish for the virus, which will definitely multiply, and the virus will reproduce extremely fast.
The fourth step is makeup, which is also the most important reason for the existence of the mortuary, after death, the lips are white, the face is white, no matter how you look at it, it is very scary.
This requires the mortuary to apply cosmetics to them, not too thick or too light, mainly for the sake of exquisiteness, for nature, in order to let the deceased leave with dignity, no one wants to be unkempt, do not want to go sloppy.
After all the steps are completed, they have to be transported away, which is basically the entire workflow of the mortuary, and sometimes if they are too busy to rest, they can only lie down in the morgue for a while.
Dealing with a group of corpses every day, maybe for a long time, it doesn't feel like anything.
3. Affect daily life
The mortuary himself is used to it, but there are still many people in the society who do not understand this profession, just like I said, hotel taxi, so some mortuaries simply do not talk about their profession, only say that they work in the hospital, so that they can avoid a lot of trouble.
The work of the mortuary must exist and be irreplaceable, he gave the deceased the last dignity, and many netizens said in the comment area that the deceased was ruddy after being treated by the mortuary, as if he had never been rescued for several months.
Others said that after they dealt with it, it was like lying there and sleeping, all in all, it was more because they were grateful, and only after experiencing it did they know how difficult it was to enter the mortuary.
The society also needs more popularization of the profession of mortuary, so that more people can understand, and they will no longer feel afraid when they go deep into it, life and death are what people must experience, and we have no way to control when to die.
Some industries have transcended life and death, such as mortuary divisions, but the indifference of society still makes them at a loss, do not take the initiative to socialize, do not share daily life, I hope that this situation can be improved in the future, salute all funeral industry mortuary divisions!
Primary sources
1. Sina Finance 2020.8.27 - Why don't people go near the body after death?
2. Hot News of China.com2022.10.18 - Why can't people touch their bodies after death? It turns out that it is not superstition, but it is very particular!
3. Xinhuanet, April 5, 2022 - Approaching the Undertaker: Protection, Dignity, and Persistence