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The importance and meaning of prayer rituals at the end of life

14 January 2021
Clinical
02 January 2021
Volume 30 · Issue 1

Abstract

Death rituals, such as the ritual of prayer, can offer cultural comfort to people who are grieving the loss of their own life or that of another. This article explores the meaning of ritual, how rituals are structured and how prayer rituals are used at the end of life from a cross-cultural perspective. Facing death can be a challenge to a person's sense of identity and their understanding of their world around them, beginning a process of spiritual suffering. Prayer rituals can help maintain a sense of control and identity during this time of crisis, offering comfort, meaning and structure. Despite varying outward appearances, prayer rituals from different cultures follow similar structures that can be deconstructed, allowing nurses to decipher their meaning and deepen the quality of care they provide to the dying person and those left behind.

Nurses often work with people who are dying and facing a challenging journey of private suffering one that can also leave a lasting impact on friends and families (Lewis and Hoy, 2011). For the bereaved person, this experience often involves anxiety, despair, sadness, guilt, and even relief as part of the grieving process. However, dying or bereaved people often find comfort, and the ability to cope, through the use of rituals and the creation of legacy.

A ritual is the undertaking of specific activities or behaviours that express symbolic, often culturally influenced, meaning, whereby specific thoughts and feelings are experienced individually, or as a group, by its performers (Rando, 1985). End-of-life (EOL) rituals serve an important purpose as they enable people to express their ongoing grief and maintain connections between the dying person and their friends and family (Rothaupt and Becker, 2007); EOL rituals are also considered distinct from habitual ritual activities as they continuously develop across the initial, liminal and later stages of the grieving process (Reeves, 2011).

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Prayer
Ritual
End of life
Palliative
Grief