Dying a bad death

The manner of death may, especially in certain cultures, determine whether it is considered "bad". Dying a bad death may then be held to determine the fate of the deceased in the other world and thus determines whether rites can be accorded to the dead.

The list of deaths regarded as bad is not identical all over the world, although suicide is widely included, as is death by lightning (held to be the direct action of a god, as in any accidental death, or through some diseases). Death by drowning may be held to be seizure by a water-demon. Those killed by a poison ordeal, common in animistic societies in Africa, are held to be killed by the fetish.