As this project wraps up I have begun to think about my overall project and research question, which was "How do the Portuguese observe rituals of death, historically and in present
times, and how have these customs changed throughout history". I believe that the information that I have amassed over the semester has answered this question. From sources such as Patricia Goldey's article to modern day funeral planning websites to will and inheritance law websites, I have discovered how the Portuguese have treated death and death rituals over time, from the past to the present.
The one thing that my research has not provided me with is information on how the Portuguese treated death in their colonies. This information remained elusive throughout the semester, primarily because the main Portuguese colony was Brazil and all the information I found was post-colonialism. As I've stated before, I do realize that any traditions that took place in Brazil would have most likely been influenced from Portuguese colonialism but there would have been other outside influencing factors as well and I wanted to keep my research focused solely on Portugal and its traditions. As such, I elected to leave Portugal's colonies out of my project. Instead I focused more on what took place in the motherland and how wills and inheritance laws work and have evolved over time.
The topic of wills and inheritance was confusing and overwhelming and extremely legal. Yet it was interesting, especially since I know next to nothing about the same topic in American society. By finding as many different sources as I could to explain wills and inheritance in Portugal, I feel as though I finally have a good grasp on the topic and will be able to show how it has evolved over time. I am quite satisfied with that aspect of my project now.
The Patricia Goldey essay by far was the most helpful of all my sources. It was the most interesting because it covered just about every aspect about death and death rituals in Portugal that I could think of and it gave me a good basis to begin my project with. By being able to use her essay and compare it to modern day rituals, I feel as though I have a good timeline of how death rituals have evolved over time in Portugal.
Some of my posts have just been about random information and facts that I discovered about death in Portugal. I feel as though these are important fillers to the rest of the information I have and add to the completeness of my overall project. I still have a few things that I want to discuss for my final project, information that I am still working on going through, so I am probably going to make a few more blog posts just as a way to have all my information in a coherent and organized place. Overall though, I feel as though I am in a good position to finalize my project. My research has been interesting and enlightening in ways that I did not imagine at first. This project has taught me a lot about Portugal and the way it treats death and ritualizes it.
I would say that death and death rituals in Portugal have definitely evolved and changed over time and I have the research to back up that assertion. I am working on compiling it all into my timeline approach for the project and will continue to use my blog to organize my thoughts and finalize the project.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Some Numbers on Life and Death in Portugal
This week I looked into statistics on Portuguese mortality, life expectancy, and causes of death. A study was done in 2008 that compiled all this information as a way to compare Portugal to Spain and how these numbers started out very different between the two countries, but how they have more recently become closer. The study, titled "Mortality Changes in the Iberian Peninsula in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century", was very interesting yet full of facts that bogged down my reading. I used it mostly to pull out information about Portugal, which meant that a lot of the article didn't have much to do with what I wanted. It was still interesting to read though, if a bit dry, and it did produce some good information.
LIFE EXPECTANCY
In 2005, the life expectancy for a Portuguese woman was 81.3 years. For a man it was 74.9 years. These numbers experienced a great increase from 1950, when females lived to about 61 and males lived to around 55.8 years old. These showed jumps of 20.3 and 19.1 years, respectively. Yet, just since 2005, life expectancy has yet again risen. Women now enjoy 83 years on average and men can live to 77 years. In 1950, when life expectancy was much lower, the death rates among children less than 1 year old was also high. Out of every 1000 children, 100 deaths would occur, at least among the males of the population. More recently this probability has dropped. Now children 5 years old and younger experience a mortality rate of 4 out of every 1000. The probability of dying between 15 and 60 years old stands at 117 out of 1000 for men and 50 out of 1000 for women.
EXCESS MORTALITY
In the early 1960s, Portugal faced an excess in mortality due to a high death rate among babies, children, and adolescents. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century the country was also found to have excess mortality during the winter months, compared to the rest of Western Europe. This was due to a lack of thermal efficiency in housing and an income inequality. By 2003, the excess amounts of mortality in Portugal were due to endocrine and metabolic diseases, mostly found in those aged 60 to 79.
CAUSES OF DEATH
The study listed the top eight causes of death that make up the biggest proportions of total deaths in Portugal from 1980 to 2003. These include circulatory system diseases, neoplasms, ill-defined conditions, endocrine/metabolic diseases, external causes, infectious diseases, digestive system diseases, and mental disorders. Other leading causes of death in Portugal included cerebrovascular mortality; this type of death was higher in Portugal than all the rest of Western Europe in 2002. In 2005, death caused by HIV in Portugal became higher than anywhere else in Western Europe. Portuguese men are more likely than women to die in accidents, as a result of suicide, or by undetermined causes. This is also true in comparison to Spanish men as well, at least as of 2003.
These facts are still dense, even in this shortened form but they added a new aspect to my project that I had not had before. My focus so far has been on rituals, religious and social, and wills and inheritance. I had not found numbers like this before this week so I feel like they added a new dimension to my project, despite the heaviness of the material. Next I will be talking more about wills and inheritance because I found a few sites that explain the laws a little bit better. There is still a lot of legal jargon to wade through but compared to what I had so far, these will be helpful.
Source
Canudas-Romo, Vladimir, Dana Glei, Rosa Gomez-Redondo, Edviges Coelho, and Carl Boe. "Mortality Changes in the Iberian Peninsula in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century." Population (English Edition, 2002-) 63, no. 2 (Apr.- Jun., 2008): 319-343. http://www,jstor.org/stable/27645349 (accessed November 30, 2013).
LIFE EXPECTANCY
In 2005, the life expectancy for a Portuguese woman was 81.3 years. For a man it was 74.9 years. These numbers experienced a great increase from 1950, when females lived to about 61 and males lived to around 55.8 years old. These showed jumps of 20.3 and 19.1 years, respectively. Yet, just since 2005, life expectancy has yet again risen. Women now enjoy 83 years on average and men can live to 77 years. In 1950, when life expectancy was much lower, the death rates among children less than 1 year old was also high. Out of every 1000 children, 100 deaths would occur, at least among the males of the population. More recently this probability has dropped. Now children 5 years old and younger experience a mortality rate of 4 out of every 1000. The probability of dying between 15 and 60 years old stands at 117 out of 1000 for men and 50 out of 1000 for women.
EXCESS MORTALITY
In the early 1960s, Portugal faced an excess in mortality due to a high death rate among babies, children, and adolescents. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century the country was also found to have excess mortality during the winter months, compared to the rest of Western Europe. This was due to a lack of thermal efficiency in housing and an income inequality. By 2003, the excess amounts of mortality in Portugal were due to endocrine and metabolic diseases, mostly found in those aged 60 to 79.
CAUSES OF DEATH
The study listed the top eight causes of death that make up the biggest proportions of total deaths in Portugal from 1980 to 2003. These include circulatory system diseases, neoplasms, ill-defined conditions, endocrine/metabolic diseases, external causes, infectious diseases, digestive system diseases, and mental disorders. Other leading causes of death in Portugal included cerebrovascular mortality; this type of death was higher in Portugal than all the rest of Western Europe in 2002. In 2005, death caused by HIV in Portugal became higher than anywhere else in Western Europe. Portuguese men are more likely than women to die in accidents, as a result of suicide, or by undetermined causes. This is also true in comparison to Spanish men as well, at least as of 2003.
These facts are still dense, even in this shortened form but they added a new aspect to my project that I had not had before. My focus so far has been on rituals, religious and social, and wills and inheritance. I had not found numbers like this before this week so I feel like they added a new dimension to my project, despite the heaviness of the material. Next I will be talking more about wills and inheritance because I found a few sites that explain the laws a little bit better. There is still a lot of legal jargon to wade through but compared to what I had so far, these will be helpful.
Source
Canudas-Romo, Vladimir, Dana Glei, Rosa Gomez-Redondo, Edviges Coelho, and Carl Boe. "Mortality Changes in the Iberian Peninsula in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century." Population (English Edition, 2002-) 63, no. 2 (Apr.- Jun., 2008): 319-343. http://www,jstor.org/stable/27645349 (accessed November 30, 2013).
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