Irish Examiner view: A small but perfect motif for our times

Cork City Council recently passed a motion calling for an “eco-graveyard” in the city.

Our culture assures us, with justification, that we do death well. Always a tragedy, the death of a loved one or an admired friend provokes great sorrow but that can be expressed in the most joyous, exuberant ways. Maybe it’s our history, maybe it’s our resilient character but the end of a life can fuse those seemingly incompatible bedfellows, joy, and pain. We may not mark a death, even of a national hero, as passionately as Argentina did when Diego Maradona died in recent days but an Irish death always provokes a mixture of emotions.

A traditional wake, unimaginable in more reserved, staid cultures, was once almost a rite of passage, even if they are more sober affairs today than they were in the old romantic Ireland. If the dead person and their family have endured the slings and arrows of a long, relentless, and isolating illness then it may be easier to celebrate their death — “a relief to them” as it’s so kindly described.