3/12 Reading Journal

            This story told us about an outsider visiting the death rituals of another culture.  It is described before the story that it is unknown if the story is talking about Vikings or of the Russians.  I personally do not know enough about either culture to make a guess on which it could be.  This story explained how and why they perform the death rituals that they do.  I found it strange that they kill a slave girl to be cremated along side the man who died.  They justify it by saying that she is to accompany him in the afterlife, but it’s hard to understand why these slaves would choose to be killed.  The outsider describes the people as alcoholics and essentially savages.  He thinks this because they don’t take care to clean themselves properly, their sacrificial practices, and also the way that they treated one another.  It also shows that they had a hierarchy of people in the order that the men were bathed, and by how much jewelry their wives wore.  It is also obvious that this is a patriarchal society as well because of the way they describe the burial of men, and the men show their wealth by giving their wife jewelry.  This story led a lot of insight on how different cultures were viewed.  One point to make is that this outsider seemed tolerant of the other culture, though he didn’t agree with their practices he understood their intentions.  From what we have read in this class before, this case seemed the most modern in the way of thinking.  Although many members of different religions today don’t agree with some of the others beliefs, this doesn’t stop us from understanding their culture.  I think it’s possible that this particular traveler could be atypical of the average person living at the time in terms of his acceptance.