Editing Burial (section)

=== Body positioning ===
[[File:Desert Cemetery Merzouga.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A [[Muslim]] cemetery in [[Sahara]], with all graves placed at right angles to distant [[Mecca]]]]

Burials may be placed in a number of different positions. Bodies with the arms crossed date back to ancient cultures such as [[Chaldea]] in the 10th century BC, where the "X" symbolized their sky god. Later ancient [[Egyptian gods]] and royalty, from approximately 3500 B.C. are shown with crossed arms, such as the god [[Osiris|Osiris, the Lord of the Dead]], or mummified royalty with crossed arms in high and low body positions, depending upon the dynasty. The burial of bodies in the ''extended'' position, i.e., lying flat with arms and legs straight, or with the arms folded upon the chest, and with the [[Human eye|eyes]] and [[Human mouth|mouth]] closed. Extended burials may be ''supine'' (lying on the back) or ''prone'' (lying on the front). However, in some cultures, being buried face down shows marked disrespect like in the case of the Sioux.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thornton Parker|first=William|title=Concerning Indian Burial Customs|url=https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1420&context=ocj}}</ref> Other [[ritual]] practices place the body in a ''flexed'' position with the legs bent or ''crouched'' with the legs folded up to the chest. Warriors in some ancient societies were buried in an ''upright'' position.  In [[Islam]], the body is placed in [[supine position]], hands along the sides and the head is turned to its right with the face towards the [[Qibla]]. Many cultures treat placement of dead people in an appropriate position to be a sign of respect even when burial is impossible.

In nonstandard burial practices, such as [[mass burial]], the body may be positioned arbitrarily. This can be a sign of disrespect to the deceased, or at least nonchalance on the part of the inhumer, or due to considerations of time and space.

====Orientation====
Most often, a burial will be oriented to a specific direction for religious purposes, as are the case for persons of the [[Abrahamic faiths]]. Standard Jewish burials are made supine east–west, with the head at the western end of the grave, in order to face [[Jerusalem]]. In other cases, the body may be buried on a north–south axis, or, simply facing towards the exit of the [[cemetery]] or burial grounds. This is done in order to facilitate the return to Israel foretold of all those who are resurrected at the [[Jewish eschatology|end of time]] following the coming of the [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]].  Historically, Christian burials followed similar principles, where the body was placed east–west, to mirror the layout of Christian [[Church (building)|churches]], which were themselves oriented as such for much the same reason; to view the coming of Christ on [[Judgment day]] ([[Christian eschatology|Eschaton]]). In many Christian traditions, ordained clergy are traditionally buried in the opposite orientation, and their coffins carried likewise, so that at the General Resurrection they may rise facing, and ready to minister to, their people.

In an [[Islamic funeral]], the grave should be aligned perpendicular to the [[Qibla]] (the direction to the [[Kaaba]] in [[Mecca]]) with the face turned to the right along the Qibla.

====Inverted burial====
For humans, maintaining an ''upside-down'' position, with the head vertically below the feet, is highly uncomfortable for any extended period of time, and consequently burial in that attitude (as opposed to attitudes of rest or watchfulness, as above) is highly unusual and generally symbolic. Occasionally [[suicide]]s and assassins were buried upside down, as a post-mortem punishment and (as with [[#Burial at cross-roads|burial at cross-roads]]) to inhibit the activities of the resulting [[undead]].

In ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'', the [[Lilliputian]]s buried their dead upside down:
{{Blockquote|They bury their dead with their heads directly downward, because they hold an opinion, that in eleven thousand moons they are all to rise again; in which period the earth (which they conceive to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this means they shall, at their resurrection, be found ready standing on their feet. The learnèd among them confess the absurdity of this doctrine; but the practice still continues, in compliance to the vulgar.|Jonathan Swift|[[s:Gulliver's Travels/Part I/Chapter VI|Gulliver's Travels, Part I, Chapter VI]]}}

Swift's notion of inverted burial might seem the highest flight of fancy, but it appears that among English [[millenarian]]s the idea that the world would be "turned upside down" at the Apocalypse enjoyed some currency.  There is at least one attested case of a person being buried upside down by instruction; a [[Peter Labilliere|Major Peter Labilliere]] of [[Dorking]] (d. 4 June 1800) lies thus upon the summit of [[Box Hill, Surrey|Box Hill]].<ref>{{cite book |last1= Lander |first1= J |title= Peter Labilliere: The Man Buried Upside Down on Box Hill |year= 2000 |publisher= Post Press |location= Chertsey |isbn= 978-0-9532424-1-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Simpson |first=Jacqueline |title=The Miller's tomb: facts, gossip, and legend [1]|journal=Folklore |date=August 2005 |jstor=30035277 |doi=10.1080/00155870500140230 |volume=116 |issue=2 |pages=189–200 |s2cid=162322450 }}</ref> Similar stories have attached themselves to other noted eccentrics, particularly in southern England, but not always with a foundation in truth.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Simpson|first=Jacqueline|title=The World Upside down Shall Be: A Note on the Folklore of Doomsday|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=91|issue=359|pages=559–567|date=January–March 1978|doi=10.2307/539574|jstor=539574}}</ref>