521 | How the Corpse Should be Placed and taken Out Yoreh Deah sect . 332 ) , the explanation is that this is a hint to the resurrection of the dead, who will be able to return to their original abodes . He also specifies that the feet should face the door . Compare Leonard r . N . ashley, The Complete Book of Superstition, Prophecy and Luck, Bury St . Edmunds 1996, p . 55, where quite a different explanation is offered : The corpse must be taken from the house feet first ; if it is able to look back at the family, it may beckon someone else to follow . Yet another explanation appears in robert Garland, the Greek Way of Death, second edition, Ithaca 2001, pp . 138 - 139 : Feet facing the door . Cf . Hom . Il . 19 . 212 and J . Boardman ( “Painted Funerary Plaques and some remarks on Prothesis”, ABSA50, 1955 . pp . . 55 et seq . ) . a . V . Gennep ( The Rites of Passage, London 1960 p . 151 ) records that in the case of the funeral ceremonies of the Kol of India, ‘the corpse is placed o...
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