I don’t get open casket funerals. Am I the only one?

[Anonymous]

Forget about whether or not you like it
Funeral is not for you, let people grieve how they like
If you think open casket is creepy, don’t look in it, nobody will notice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as an open casket funeral. The wake has the open casket.

Skip the wake and just go to funeral or burial at cemetery.

I have been to open casket funerals. The saddest funeral I was at was for a fairly young father. His wife and children were at the coffin as it was closing. Still makes me teary. It was in a Catholic Church.

That was the viewing in the church not the actual fu real mass. For the funeral mass the coffin has to be covered with a pall so it is closed. But you can have an open casket viewing in a Catholic Church.

Those freaked out by by open casket would be even more freaked out by my rural Ireland upbringing where people were laid out in their bed or on their couch for a few days until their funeral mass. So when my Granny died she was kept at home for two days. People came by at all times to see her and us. Then we would go to sleep in the room next to her, say good morning to her, say a prayer and welcome more people. Eventually the casket arrived and we all helped place her in it then she spent one night at the church and we slept there with her. In the early 2000s a local man opened a funeral parlor but he only does embalming still. So even today when I go back for a funeral the person is embalmed (helps with the smell) then brought back home and laid out in the bed or on their couch for a few days. It is a normal part of life there so kids aren't distressed or freaked out by it. We would talk about it at school but everyone grew up having a body or two in their house for days.

I would not. A natural dead body is not creepy and being exposed to one is an important part of healing. But a dead body treated with $10k worth of formaldehyde to keep it looking "lifelike" longer is a whole other story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.

I come from a very WASPy family and no one has ever had an open casket funeral or a viewing. They'd be horrified if someone said they wanted one, like it's really gauche. Was curious if that was part of a wider tradition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.

I’m the PP who went to several open casket funerals, not sakes but funerals, as a child. I’m an Episcopalian because that’s what my mother was. None of the open casket funerals were Episcopalian but they were my Dad’s older relatives who were Lutheran and my maternal grandmother’s relatives who were Baptists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.

I come from a very WASPy family and no one has ever had an open casket funeral or a viewing. They'd be horrified if someone said they wanted one, like it's really gauche. Was curious if that was part of a wider tradition.

Same in my WASPY, Episcopalian family. Quick cremation and hold the funeral when you can get all the family together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.

I come from a very WASPy family and no one has ever had an open casket funeral or a viewing. They'd be horrified if someone said they wanted one, like it's really gauche. Was curious if that was part of a wider tradition.

Same in my WASPY, Episcopalian family. Quick cremation and hold the funeral when you can get all the family together.

Which, btw, is an advantage of cremation and no requirement to have the funeral within days. You can find a funeral date when the most people can attend.

[Anonymous]

I had the worst nightmares when I was like 6 y/o because my parents made me attend an open casket funeral. So traumatic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.

I’m the PP who went to several open casket funerals, not sakes but funerals, as a child. I’m an Episcopalian because that’s what my mother was. None of the open casket funerals were Episcopalian but they were my Dad’s older relatives who were Lutheran and my maternal grandmother’s relatives who were Baptists.

Protestants warmed up to cremation long before Roman Catholics, who eschewed the practice prior to the 1960s. “Resurrection of the body” and all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.

I’m the PP who went to several open casket funerals, not sakes but funerals, as a child. I’m an Episcopalian because that’s what my mother was. None of the open casket funerals were Episcopalian but they were my Dad’s older relatives who were Lutheran and my maternal grandmother’s relatives who were Baptists.

Protestants warmed up to cremation long before Roman Catholics, who eschewed the practice prior to the 1960s. “Resurrection of the body” and all.

Catholic here and it is still confusing. When my dad died we had him embalmed, beautifully I might add, then open casket wake then funeral in rented casket then cremated.

Depending on the diocese they may require full body for funeral. The funeral director, who I dated in high school (love a small town) was amazing when I was like "um no... I am not doing all that just to have a funeral mass." He says he totally discounts the Catholic funerals because of the local church requirement.

[Anonymous]

Ghoulish as hell. I never view the body. I don't want to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had the worst nightmares when I was like 6 y/o because my parents made me attend an open casket funeral. So traumatic.

Me too, except I was 13.

[Anonymous]

My grandmother and mother died at home and we all got a chance to be near the bodies and say our goodbyes. When my father died in the hospital while I was several states away, I got to say goodbye to him at the funeral home. This is how families in many different cultures have done it for millennia.

I’ve never been to an open casket funeral. But those of you who are calling it ghoulish must be delicate little flowers.

[Anonymous]

You won’t like these people Op. they dig up their dead relatives every year and dress them up. https://www.gulftoday.ae/lifestyle/2020/08/30/indonesian-community-dig-up-graves-to-honour-the-dead-by-dressing-them-up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the ‘worst thing I ever saw’ thread, quite a few open casket funerals listed. Would hate to be responsible for the worst thing someone saw

Between the graphic, horror porn in movies, tv and easily downloaded from the internet, you’re telling me the worst thing people see is a dead body at a funeral?

I agree with the PP poster, the only horrifying thing about an open casket funeral is the cost vs cremation.

[Anonymous]

I’ve never been to an open casket funeral. But those of you who are calling it ghoulish must be delicate little flowers.

Agree