I’ve never been to an open casket funeral. But those of you who are calling it ghoulish must be delicate little flowers.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.
Anonymous wrote:Most (all?) Protestants do not do this.
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.