What do skulls, bones, hourglasses, wilting flowers and heavy metal have in common?
They are all examples of “memento mori” which literally means “remember that you die”. While for many, constantly bringing death into your awareness via symbols that signify it, may be a distasteful and morbid concept, it is one that has endured in diverse human cultures across centuries.
It is said that when a general returned in glory to ancient Rome, his fanfare procession through the streets was accompanied by a slave whose one job it was to frequently mutter “memento mori” in the general’s ear to remind him that his triumph would not last forever.
From philosophy and literature to architecture and artefacts to music, humans have acknowledged an awareness of the ephemerality of our time on earth. In Hamlet, the image of a man holding a skull at arm’s length contemplating his mortality is probably the most iconic of the Shakespearian plays- notwithstanding the one with love-drunk teenagers topping themselves.
Metal music is a contemporary example. The imagery used particularly in the artwork of this genre, usually depicts skeletons, the grim reaper, imaginary scenes from hell and real scenes of violence. Even though this imagery seems bleak, perhaps all that headbanging brings about healthy confrontations with mortality.
In Mexico, much to the chagrin of the Catholic church, another more recent manifestation is the apparent reverence of the God of Death, Santa Muerta. Once clandestine, the rituals and reverence only done in private, this neoreligion has since the 1990s become more publicly practiced, now with an estimated 10–20 million followers in Mexico, parts of Central America, the United States, and Canada. It actually seems less about revering death than remembering ancestors and indeed death.
And perhaps- it’s a positive. What better way to appreciate being alive than remembering you will die?
And on a regular, even daily basis? Perhaps, it’s actually the only logical way to put things into perspective and contextualise one’s life. Every morning we wake up is a bonus- something that should be appreciated.
An article on TalkDeath.com explains, “the theory and practice of reflecting on the inevitability of death, and how the knowledge of our ultimate fate should influence how we live our lives.”
Let’s face it- death was ever present and pressing throughout history. Much more so than the comparatively safe life we now enjoy- at least in the majority of the western world. In modern Australia, most of us live a cushioned suburban life, unencumbered by regular encounters with large-toothed creatures or marauding hordes. We largely ignore death- and even more, we actively work to keep it from our minds.
Sure, it’s something we see plenty of on screens and in our stories, but perhaps so much so that we are desensitised to it and rarely personalise the potential of it, let alone its inevitability. From the invincibility of youth to the shock of a sudden passing, we push it away and prefer not to think about it- let alone talk about it.
But maybe we should remember the brevity of our mortality more often. Is it a moribund way to live? Or could a life lived in the constantly reminded understanding that it is short cause us to focus less on the trivialities and mundanities and instead more on the wonders and profundities?
Rather than shrink in the fear of death, perhaps a constant awareness of it provides a prescription to truly live alive. Perhaps we should embrace these mementos…
