Multicultural Manners : Ten Bells for the Fallen

The main boxing event is about to begin when the ring announcer requests that everyone stand for a moment of silence. Then the timekeeper rings the bell 10 times, echoing the 10 counts of a knockout.

What did that mean?

The incident occurred at the Forum Nov. 6, before the Daniel Zaragoza-Hector Sanchez match. The announcer, Jimmy Lennon, Jr., led the audience in observing the boxing tradition of paying tribute to a champion who had died. Instead of lauding a boxer, the ceremony honored Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had been laid to rest that day.

Following Rabin’s assassination, detailed accounts filled the media describing the ways that people paid tribute to the prime minister’s memory, especially lighting candles, praying, signing memory books, flying flags at half staff. Whether a person is a world leader, relative or friend, or whether the person died violently or naturally, survivors feel compelled to demonstrate their loss and pay respect to the deceased.

Countless customs signify sorrow after a death. Among traditional Cheyenne and other Plains tribes, family members cut their hair. Many Asians of the Buddhist faith wear white headbands for a close family member. In the United States, some people honor the dead with black armbands and black wreaths on doors.