Next, we travel around various places in the world, from Norway to Japan, passing through Spain, visiting some of those towns where attempts have been made to prohibit death with (more or less) positive results: fewer people have died… or the cemetery has been expanded.
Sellia (Italy)
A little over a century ago, more than 1,500 people lived in this town in Calabria, in the south of Italy. Now only a third of that number survives. It is the drama of depopulation that we know so well in our country. Taking this situation into account, the mayor of the town signed the Administrative Ordinance 11 which literally stated that it is “It is forbidden to die within the municipal area”.
In statements to The GuardianDavide Zichinella pointed out that the measure was no “joke”: anyone who does not take good care of themselves or acquires habits that are contrary to their health will be punished with more taxes.
And that is what it is all about, after all, paying more if you do not take care of yourself in a context in which, at that time in Italy, the Ministry of Health had eliminated many subsidized medical services: the patient had to pay for an MRI or a CT scan.
In opposition to these measures, the mayor of the Calabrian city “signed agreements with specialist doctors and made available to residents a transport service to the province’s spa center” to help the population comply with the ordinance to take care of themselves and, if possible, delay death as much as possible so that Sellia would not be left empty of inhabitants.
Le Lavandou, Cugnaux and Sarpourenx (France)
We go to the French Riviera where the village of Le Lavandou became a pioneer of “deadly irony”: after its planning permission for a new cemetery was refused, the mayor responded by banning death: “an absurd law to counteract an absurd situation”.
In the Haute-Garonne region, the town of Cugnaux also decided that the only alternative was to prohibit people from dying… because there was nowhere to bury them. Sarpourenx, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, was the next to follow suit.
Biritiba-Mirim (Brazil)
In America, they also know how to prohibit death if there is no other option, in order to motivate their citizens to take care of themselves a little. And there are many people who are unable to react until they hear the word “tax.”
But the underlying reason why the mayor of Biritiba-Mirim, 70 kilometers east of Sao Paulo, decided to tax death was, once again, the lack of space for graves: “Of course the bill It is ridiculous, unconstitutional and will never be approved.. But can you think of a better marketing strategy to persuade the government to change the environmental legislation that prevents us from building a new cemetery?
Itsukushima (Japan)
Legend has it that after the Battle of Miyajima in 1555, the only documented battle to have taken place on this mythical little island in Japan, the victorious general ordered all the corpses to be removed. ipso facto, cleaning the blood spilled and removing the blood-soaked earth from the entire territory. It would have been easier not to kill each other, wouldn’t it?
And this island is considered sacred by Shintoism, as well as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and one of the emblems of tourism in Japan. But don’t even think of dying in front of it. torii most famous in the country because the island is “free from the pollution of death.”
Longyearbyen (Norway)
We’re off to another island, but much more remote and less visited, one of those northern enclaves that any intrepid traveler yearns to visit. But if you get to Longyearbyen in Norwegian Svalbard Don’t even think about dying It has been banned since 1950. What’s going on? You’re not going to tell me that there’s no place to bury here either? No, Longyearbyen has another problem: the temperature.
In fact, according to The Guardianlive viruses were extracted from some of the corpses in the local cemetery from the Spanish flu of 1918! So those who are in their final days on this island in the Arctic Ocean are flown to the mainland.
Lanjaron (Spain)
Before several towns in our neighbouring country decided to ban death due to lack of space in the cemetery, José Rubio, mayor of Lanjarón, had already been a pioneer in this bizarre law. And we were already surprised that there was no such case in Spain, given how much we love the bizarre.
In fact, a week after the announcement was published prohibiting death because there was not a single empty space left in the cemetery, A good 91-year-old man flouted the law: He died and (we don’t know how) but he was buried in the municipal cemetery despite the overbooking.
Malaysia
Special mention should be made of this country where death is not prohibited, but rather penalizes suicide, at least until last year in which the country’s new Minister of Justice announced that she would submit a proposal to amend the Penal Code to decriminalise attempted suicide, which until then had been punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine. However, out of courtesy, you were not sent to prison for a year if you actually committed suicide.
