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

Forum Index » Off-Topic

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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. [/quote]

This is how my Irish parents always described it. I think I would have struggled with this. [/quote]

Assuming they died at home, it's a little more natural than you would think.  I was present when my Grandma passed in in-patient hospice.  The hours after her death were very peaceful and I didn't not want to say goodbye to her when the funeral home came.  I can see it being pretty natural to have had her body stay in bed for a few days if that was the local custom.  If you're there for the illness and passing, the body doesn't seem that scary?  OTOH I do still have bad memories of my grandpa's open casket funeral.  And I think I  would have been extremely traumatized if my mother had had an open casket.  But in both of those cases, I was totally uninvolved in the final illness/passing, which happened in hospitals.  I guess ... if the whole process of dying isn't hidden, then the body is less scary.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics