Daily: Why DEATH should be a party

<p>When writer <a href="https://twitter.com/ericabuist" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Erica Buist</strong></a> had the traumatic experience of finding her partner’s father dead in his home, it led her to ask why we respond to death with fear and sadness – and ultimately to travel from Mexico to Nepal and beyond to research the surprisingly uplifting book <a href="https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Erica-Buist/This-Partys-Dead--Grief-Joy-and-Spilled-Rum-at-the-Worlds-Death-Festivals/25440019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>This Party's Dead</em></a><em>: Grief, Joy And Spilled Rum At The World's </em><strong><em>Death Festivals</em></strong>.</p><p><br></p><p>She talks to Arthur Snell about greeting the dead and dancing with corpses, feasts where dead bodies are “invited to the party”, the true meaning of Voldemort…&nbsp;and why Westerners need to get over the idea that talking about death is “rude”.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><ul><li><em>“We leave this incredibly important thing to your highest moment of trauma. Why would you do that?”</em></li><li><em>“I got hit on the head with a corpse at one of these festivals. They were dancing with it…”</em></li><li><em>“We’re happy to look at the blue corpse of a girl in a movie, but somehow not in real life.”</em></li><li><em>“In the West, when you die you lose your powers. But in a lot of these cultures, death is where you GAIN your power.”</em></li><li><em>“Hanging out with a dead body sounds bizarre. But after a couple of minutes, it’s so normal.”</em></li><li><em>“The idea that teaching kids about death will traumatise them? No. Kids LOVE death. It’s their favourite.”</em></li></ul><p><br></p><p><em>Presented by Arthur Snell. Produced Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. </em><strong><em>THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production</em></strong></p> &#10;&nbsp;<br /><hr><p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_bla