How to Wash a Body

It is common to learn about natural body care and bathing rituals through end-of-life doula training. At the time of my training in 2020/2021, I hadn’t washed a dead body yet, so I practiced what I was learning on my partner and later described the event in “How to Wash a Body.” The literary examples I’ve come across so far that recount this act of care often describe the uncanny aspects of encountering the loved one’s body becoming corpse. I wanted to emphasize the reverse: the current aliveness of my partner, awareness and forms of preparedness for my/another’s death, and how learning and performing such acts of care like washing a beloved’s body is an integral part of grieving and reconnection in the chain of events following their death.