Pagan roots of Modern Funeral Practice

Question 1

Of a “decent burial” or some reverential form of disposition of a dead human body seems to be a common mores throughout the history of civilized man.

Answer 1

The Basic Right

Question 2

Defined as what people take for granted, the opinions which become firm premises upon which they base their final group thinking and their individual judgements without questioning the broad underlying assumptions.

• The development of these over generations consitutes the core of any social institution.
• The concept of the American funeral is based in the development of these.

Answer 2

Common Beliefs

Question 3

The importance of laws, customs, traditions and fashions (trends) all result in the entrenchment of what has come to be called ______.

Answer 3

Funeral Practices

Question 4

• Embalming
• Preparation of the body
• A waiting period between death and disposition
• These use for everyone of a casket that is attractive and protects the remains.
• Dignified and ceremonious service with consideration for the feelings of the bereaved.
• An expression of the individual and group beliefs.
• Burial in the ground of other disposition in a dignified place and manner that reaffirms those beliefs, insofar as not contrary to public health, express the esteem of the bereaved, and satisfies them that they are acting in accord with their means and that esteem.

Answer 4

Types of Funeral Practices

Question 5

1. Customs, laws and traditions deeply rooted in the history of western civilization.
2. Humanitarianism
3. The development of personal services rendered by an occupational group set apart to serve these functions- mortician.
4. Service based on religious concepts and teachings provided by the clergy of the Judeo/Christian faith.
5. The desire to conform to developing hygenic standards (OSHA & EPA regulations) as they evolved through history, particularly among western culture.

Answer 5

What lies behind the contemporary American beliefs and practices that have developed into our modern funeral customs.

Question 6

The doctrine that man’s obligations are limited to and dependent alone on man and human relations.

Answer 6

Humanitarianism

Question 7

Is a universally accepted part of American thought and life and is generally taken for granted that the funeral director’s services are to be used in the burial of the dead.

Answer 7

The “Decent Funeral”

Question 8

Neither explains nor accounts for the basical social interpretations of life and death in which the funeral customs of our day are anchored.

Answer 8

Humanitarianism Alone

Question 9

• Greek aesthetics and philosophy
• Roman law and administrative genius
• Teutonic (Germanic) vigor superimposed upon the dominant Judeo Christian tradition.
• Pagan cultural and philosophical roots that developed into Hebrew beliefs that became the foundation of the Christian religion.

Answer 9

Composition of western culture today is a result of: