dimanche 3 mai 2015

An Introduction To International Funeral Customs

By Alta Alexander


Making plans for funerals is not something unique to the United States or western cultures. There has always been rites and ways to celebrate and honour the passage of life into death. They have around as long as humans have been in existence. Most of the funeral rites are rooted in various regions. International funeral customs that still exist today have become a means of unique celebrations for various countries and cultures.

Whereas all funeral planning differ in accordance to individuals, there are no culturally universal demands for funerals to be the same. There are differing funeral customs observed internationally. In China, the number of people attending a funeral apparently increases the levels of luck a family will have. It represents how well a deceased will prosper in their afterlife. Professional hired mourners attend some funerals to increase attendance numbers in this regard.

Where Philippines is concerned, funeral rites honouring the deceased take between three and seven days. Many people come for the ceremony and stay for entire ceremony. For the Haitians, the deceased family members have the sole responsibility for the large part of the planning of the funeral. This covers preparing and dressing the deceased in preparation for the burial. Expressions and displays of grief remain suppressed until all possessions the deceased owned leave their home.

During Amish community funerals, the entire town or village shares the event. Most of the families make the choices where traditional funeral planning takes place at the funeral home. They focus on simplicity where a simple box made of wood is used. There is also no cosmetic work done on the deceased. Other things such as ornate gravestones, flowers or even mourning dress codes are a bare minimum.

Members of the Thai community observe almost universal cremation funeral rites. Their customs have certain distinct actions such as placing of coins on a deceased mouth by their family. White threads tie the feet and hands of the deceased. Money, candles and flowers adorn the deceased hands. Additionally, monetary gifts and flowers go on to a cremation pyre.

For the traditional Bolivians customs, there are certain unique traits not seen elsewhere in the world. These include having entirely separate cremation ceremonies for the deceased clothes. This rite releases the soul of the departed deceased into the after world according to Bolivian believes.

In many cases, internationally observed funeral rites are simply extensions of funeral plans most people are familiar about. There is also collective reverence for a deceased and attention to their personal items. It is comes as an opportunity for families and friends to gather together and mourn irrespective of where they are all respectively traveling from.

The incorporation of traditional as well as religious rites offers people a means to personalize plans for funerals. In most instances, the ceremony is a means to assent to the wishes and beliefs of a departed. In a bid to adhere to time honoured practices or rites, people often leave instructions about the manner their families shall handle their funerals. Many people place such instructions in their written wills.




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