What 4 common elements related to death and disposition has every culture always participated in?
- Some type of ceremony or ritual
- Having a special place for the dead
- Memorialization of the dead (ways to honour them)
- Having someone to care for the dead
Dr. Alan Wolfelt suggests that if the current modern-day funeral meets which 6 purposes, it will be meaningful and promote healing:
- Reality - helps us accept that someone we love had died.
- Recall - helps us remember who died. (eulogy, tributes…etc.)
- Support - helps us gather with those who knew the deceased.
- Expression - opportunity to express thoughts and emotions.
- Meaning - a way to answer questions and give us peace.
- Transcendence - to publically mark a change in status, and make us think about how we want to live our lives
When did the first embalming schools in North America begin teaching?
The late 1800’s
(taught by doctors/physicians who understood human anatomy)
What are grave goods?
Items and personal possessions that are interred with the deceased
List some reasons why we as a society tend to the dead?
- fear
- religious beliefs
- beliefs about life after death
- superstitions
- social status of the deceased
- connections between the living and the deceased
What are some ways that current funeral customs were created out of superstition/fears?
Wakes/funerals - held to make sure the person was in fact dead and wouldn’t be buried alive.
Mourning clothing - was used to hide their identity from spirits, now it is just typically black clothing.
Holy water - used to cprotect the dead from demons.
Closing of the eyes - so the deceased doesn’t make eye contact with you (seen as a threat to life)
How did the modern day funeral director come to be?
The earliest accounts of those taking on the role of disposing of the dead were:
Cabinet makers/Carpenters - made coffins
Liverymen - has carts/wagons to transport the dead to the cemetery.
Funeral homes became add on to furniture stores, before becoming its own stand alone business.
Where did the preparation of the deceased used to take place?
In the home where the body was laid out in the parlour for viewing and wake.
Undertaker would then remove the body from the home and transport it to its final resting place.
