Step 2: Water and Wrapping

Step 2: Water and Wrapping

In the Catholic beliefs, there was to be a pre-burial event where the body was washed, anointed and wrapped in a white textile, which is similar to the Aztec use of water in the burial process. In aztec culture, the water and wrappings signified essentially a 'rebirth' in that it was a return to the 'watery womb' of Earth. A similarity exists in the verse in the Bible, Genesis 3:19 "till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” There is a cyclical nature in both cultures that connects birth, coming from the Earth, to death, returning to the Earth.