Death and fragrance - an unlikely duo.
how death is preventing me smelling this unique fragrance note.
This post won’t be morbid - but will be interesting so listen up! (Plz😭) I’ve been learning about all types of religion lately including my own and being a fragrance fan I just couldn’t help tie in and research the foundations of fragrance within religion.
Camphor. A white solid crystalline block - used as a base note in a lot of fragrances. It has a strong menthol, green musky smell that is sweet and oddly sticks around your nose for a while. A ingredient so popular in perfumery but I absolutely despise it. I have Pavlov dogged myself into hating it. I know your like “wtf… is it ever that deep?’ Well oddly enough… yes.
Image: camphor in its solid form (image taken from GOYA from google search)
Whilst learning about my own religion islam through practise, I got to learn the funeral preparations- including preparing the body for burial. Islam holds scent to something of its core, this is echoed throughout history with other scholars too, such as Hippocrates emphasising the importance of good smell and how it is tied into our well-being.
When someone dies, it is important to bury the body immediately - within 72 hours, whilst a spiritual explanation is given in the Hadith (spoken traditions/event) , I can also suggest this is to maintain dignity of the dead (the Quran was revealed in a time where morticians, fridges and embalming services did not exist) and to prevent any miasma emitting from the body during the funeral.
However preparing the body for burial itself involves the fragrance note that I mentioned earlier: camphor. But how? I asked my uncle who is a funeral director and he deals with getting the body’s ready for burial. Apparently these are the steps:
Place body upon wash table
Rinse and cleanse the body from head to toe (ghusl)
Ablution can only be done by relatives or trusted confidants of the deceased
Repeat process x3
Before wrapping the body in the shroud, place camphor on forehead, palms and feet and knees.
Wrap body in x2 pieces of white shroud
So, going back to step 5 - what happens in detail? The camphor is crushed and mixed with water and applied from a sponge to the areas detailed above. When I asked my uncle why (these places) he told me it was the areas that touch the ground whilst going into “sajadah” - a prayer position with the forhead resting on the ground with the arms lifted and hands placed on the floor. It also may go back to the point mentioned earlier, islam emphasising good smells. As soon as someone passes the body starts it’s decay process immediately- this would have been important, especially long ago when the Quran was released due to the lack of medical advancements, the use of this strong fragrance note would cover up the scent of decay - and perhaps making it easier for family members - remembering their loved ones in peace. The use of camphor is still carried on today.
The use of camphor is also translated in the next life too, according to Islam people who are in heaven “will drink wine from a cup seasoned with kafur (camphor)” 76:5. But there are debates on what camphor in this context means.
However, there’s a reason why I don’t really like fragrances that contain camphor, if it’s very easily detectable by the nose. It just reminds me off funerals and death. Everytime I read a fragrance note list on fragrantica and it contains camphor it makes the hairs in the back of my neck stand up. I won’t go near it. lol