Funerals

Funeral rites are as old as the human culture itself, everybody wants to be remembered and a funeral is a way to ensure that. Most Funerals consist of visitation, funeral, and burial service.

Visitation Also known as a wake or viewing, visitation consists allowing guest the chance to have one last look of the deceased person before being buried in a casket. The viewing often takes place on one or two evenings before the funeral allowing plenty of time for those coming from far and wide time to see the body. Attendees to a visitation usually sign a book kept by the deceased's survivors as record of who attended. In addition, a family may choose to display photographs taken of the deceased person during his/her life. Prized possessions and other items representing his/her hobbies and/or accomplishments may also be displayed during this time in accordance with the deceased wishes. The viewing is either "open casket", in which the embalmed body of the deceased has been clothed and treated with cosmetics or "closed casket", in which the coffin is closed. Depending on custom the casket may also be closed for religious reasons.

Funeral A funeral may take place at either a funeral home or church and is often officiated by clergy from the deceased persons church or religion. Funerals may be open casket. At this stage the open casket usually starts with the immediate family (siblings, parents, spouse, children); followed by other mourners, after which the immediate family may file past again, so they are the last to view their loved one before the coffin is closed. Funeral services commonly include prayers, readings from a sacred text, or music being played or sung. Relatives or close friends of the deceased will be asked to provide a eulogy often detailing happy memories shared with the deceased. Funeral services vary from person to person and can be customized to allow the personality of the deceased to shine through.

Burial Burial service generally follows the Funeral. A procession travels from the site of the memorial service to the burial site. In other cases, the burial service is the funeral, in which case the attendees might gather together at the cemetery office and then proceed to the grave site together. Pallbearers (friends or relatives of the deceased) will carry the casket from the chapel to the hearse, and from the hearse to the grave. As with Funerals, Burials vary from person to person. There are no set rules of what must happen.