Types of funerals - test 3 Flashcards
- Typically held in the presence of a body
- Involve a visitation person/ or wake
- Take place over approximately a three-day period
Common, traditional characteristics of American funerals today
- Cremation can occur immediately following a death, with no accompanying ritual or ceremony. (immediate disposition)
- Cremation might follow the normal activities of traditional visitation and funeral service, but instead of taking the body to a cemetery, the family accompanies it to a crematorium.
- Cremate the body first, then follow up with a memorial service at the funeral home or a designated chapel at a later date.
Handling cremation
- Inurnment
- The urn can be maintained privately, or buried or placed in a type of mausoleum called a columbarium.
- Ashes might be strewn or scattered at a location that is meaningful or appropriate to the deceased or the survivors, according to legal permissions or prohibitions enacted by individual state governments.
Methods of handling cremated remains
Ashes are placed in a container made or metal or stone.
Inurnment
- Assists in recognizing the finality of the death.
- Quick, clean, and inexpensive, affording the sanitary aspect of fire, as opposed to the decaying (and lingering) aspect of burial.
- Contains an important element of “naturalness” (Bible, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”)
Positives of cremation
- allow grievers a quick avenue to “escape” grief and try to ignore their real need to mourn. (psychologically dangerous)
- Might provide an angry mourner a way to “act out” at the deceased. (suggests destruction)
- Might be chosen in direct opposition to the wishes of the deceased, in another attempt to display anger or rebellion.
Negatives of cremation
When expressed wish of the deceased, becomes an important element of the total funeral process.
Performs much the same function as a funeral service where a burial is involved, except that it tends to be more positively focused on the life and values of the dead person, rather than focusing on the dead body.
Memorial service
One where the deceased has planned in advance by him- or herself.
Includes preselected readings, music, and even decisions regarding the people who will perform these activities.
Also includes entertainment, recordings, readings, or refreshments prearranged by the person who has died, or someone chosen to act on his or her behalf.
Pre arangements
When the deceased has ties or history in more than one location.
- more than one gathering in more than one place.
Multiple services