A wide range of rituals are performed at funerals and memorial services.  Some of these rituals seem stranger than others. For example, would you hire a stripper to perform at a loved one’s funeral?

Anthropologist Marc Moskowitz produced a new documentary, Dancing For The Dead: Funeral Strippers In Taiwan, which explores the world of funeral strippers. In Taiwan, some mourners hire women who ride on an Electric Flower Car and perform on a neon-lit platform during a funeral procession. Moskowitz says that full nudity and more risqué behavior have been pushed underground after officials started cracking down on the activities, but scantily clad women dancing provocatively continue to be a part of many Taiwanese funeral processions.

One alleged reason people hire strippers for funerals is to draw a larger crowd. Some believe that more people at a funeral indicates a higher level of respect and honor for the deceased. Moskowitz reports that another explanation is the cultural belief that new ghosts get picked on by older ghosts. So the strippers are supposed to distract the older ghosts while the new ghosts get comfortable. Not everyone in Taiwan appreciates strippers at funerals. Government officials have passed a law against it and are trying to end the practice.

Moskowitz made the film to help people understand the tradition of funeral procession strippers and appreciate the diversity in funeral rituals. A description of the documentary says, “The film does not contain full nudity but it does have one brief scene with self-inflicted bloodshed among men.” It is unclear if funeral strippers provide closure.