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 most funeral plans are different depending on individual cultures, no strict universal demands for funerals are around. Differing rites, when observed, vary with international localities. In China, how big the number of people in attendance apparently determines the luck levels a family will get. It is a representation of how well the deceased shall prosper in the afterlife. Professionally hired groups of mourners come to funerals to add the attendance numbers as a result.

Where the Philippines is concerned, funeral ceremonies in honour of a deceased, last from three to more than seven days. It is also common to have big numbers of visitors coming and staying for the entire ceremony. In Haiti, the family members have to take responsibility for most of the hands on planning for a funeral. This includes dressing and preparing the deceased body for the burial. Displays and expressions of grief are often set aside until every possession owned by the deceased leaves the home.

All the members of the Amish community in a town or village come out to share every aspect of the ceremony. The family takes full responsibility in as far as every traditional plan is concerned and where most rites happen in the funeral home. Simplicity is the basic tenet where even a wooden but simple box is often used. Very little work in cosmetic form happens on the body. Flowers and ornate stones are discouraged. Mourners observe bare minimum mourning dressing codes.

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.

Most funeral rites and customs observed internationally are slight deviations from what many people are aware. For everyone, there is communal reverence for the departed and close attention is given to what they leave behind. For relatives and friends, the ceremony is usually an opportunity to come together in mourning regardless of distance one has to travel to get there.

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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