Funeral Traditions And Rituals
Funerals around the world are characterized by a many traditions and rituals. Funeral provides an opportunity to the family of the deceased to pray for his soul and learn to cope with their loss and sorrow.
Church rules regulate the rites of funerals in Christian communities. However, there are more than 200 different factions of Christianity that have their own different customs and rituals relating to the funeral service.
The first most important ritual in a Christian funeral is known as the wake, which is conducted before the actual funeral service and where the deceased is watched the entire night and psalms are recited to pray for the dead. According to present-day standards, this is the moment when relatives and close friends can pay their last respects to the deceased person. The body is preserved and placed either at the house or in a Church with only a specified number of visiting hours. In olden days, the deceased used to be absolved of his sins of his earthly existence by carrying out the process of absolution after wake. This involved placing a cross on the deceased’s chest and offertory in the casket, where gifts offered were kept.
Then comes the actual service itself, where the dead is first carried to the Church in a vehicle and prayers from the Bible are recited and hymns are sung in the church. Then, the priest requests a dear friend or family member to give a eulogy or tribute to the departed’s life. Some communities have chiming of the bells as an integral part of the tradition that marks the end of ceremony. After the funeral service, the casket is taken to the burial site where a burial service is held before the act of burial.
Finally, the funeral’s end is marked by a lunch organised for the family members and those present at the funeral ceremony. The primary objective of such customs is to provide support to the mourning family and assist them to overcome their grief and accept the fate.
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Main Responsibilities Of A Funeral Director
The main task of a funeral director is to supervise everything from the pre burial or pre cremation rituals.
The important responsibilities of a funeral director include moving the deceased to a mortuary, making the body ready for the memorial service, making arrangements for the ceremonies where people will remember and pay their final respects to the departed, and carrying out the final procedures on the corpse.
The responsibilities of a funeral director vary from publishing obituaries in the local electronic and print media to arranging for a hearse to shift the deceased, in addition to other essential tasks like choosing the timings and venue for holding the funeral service etc. Moreover, funeral directors also look after things like arrangements of flowers and bouquets for each service, embalming and clothing the deceased, arrangement for shifting of the family and relatives from one service to another etc.
Besides these jobs, a funeral director is also entrusted with the job of doing the essential paperwork formalities needed after a person’s death. He helps the family obtain a death certificate. He also acts as a facilitator for settling insurance claims for the family besides helping them take advantage of facilities like veteran’s burial support. He also aids in clearing pension and annuity money, if any, of the deceased person to the dependants of the deceased and assists the family in assessing the costs of the whole funeral proceedings.
He also has to associate with a wide range of experts to accomplish his jobs in a proper and systematic manner. He should be able to communicate with doctors, florists, casket makers and priests equally well.
Finally, it is essential for funeral directors to be able to offer some comfort to the grieving family on an unofficial level, in order to help them get over the loss of a near and dear one. Though it is a critical aspect of the job, some funeral directors usually consider it a peripheral responsibility.
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What Is The Relevance Of The Rituals In A Buddhist Funeral
Buddhism is one of the most popular religions practised across the world. The basic principles of the religion have been derived from the teachings of Lord Buddha. Buddhism teaches compassion and universal love for all creatures and awareness of the Ultimate Truth.
Buddhist funeral rituals also rely on these fundamental tenets of the religion. When someone dies in a Buddhist family, there are some basic rituals which are practised with the purpose of ensuring that the deceased’s soul can ascend to an elevated level. The positive energies of the deceased are invoked to pray and wish the best for the deceased’s life cycle beyond this birth.
A traditional bath to the deceased marks the start of the Buddhist funeral rites. The next stage entails invitation of monks, who chant from religious scriptures and thereby aid the deceased in finding eternity. The teachings of Lord Buddha, which speak of the value of goodness and compassion in life, are recited aloud. Meanwhile, the body is made ready for the final rites. The relatives normally place some coins in the casket along with the deceased. This is believed to help the dead person cross the River of Three Hells to reach his destination.
The casket is then placed before the altar in the house for friends and relatives to pay their final respects. The relatives and friends give condolences to the dead person’s family, while the visitors pray for his soul. Monks who perform the rituals continue to chant the appropriate sutras. After the chanting is over, people present at the ceremony bow at the altar. After the proceedings, the family members of the deceased distribute gifts to the visitors for sharing their sorrow.
Once these rites are completed, the family can decide to bury or cremate the deceased according to their family customs. These rituals are meant to enable the family to alleviate their sorrow by offering prayers that will elevate the dead to a higher stage of enlightenment and knowledge.
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