Funeral

[1] Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead, from interment, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour.

[8][9] Funeral customs tend to be characterized by five "anchors": significant symbols, gathered community, ritual action, cultural heritage, and transition of the dead body (corpse).

[2] Funerals in the Bahá'í Faith are characterized by not embalming, a prohibition against cremation, using a chrysolite or hardwood casket, wrapping the body in silk or cotton, burial not farther than an hour (including flights) from the place of death, and placing a ring on the deceased's finger stating, "I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate."

[12] Congregations of varied denominations perform different funeral ceremonies, but most involve offering prayers, scripture reading from the Bible, a sermon, homily, or eulogy, and music.

[21] The soul (Atman, Brahman) is believed to be the immortal essence that is released at the Antyeshti ritual, but both the body and the universe are vehicles and transitory in various schools of Hinduism.

[19][21] The roots of this belief are found in the Vedas, for example in the hymns of Rigveda in section 10.16, as follows: Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered, O all possessing Fire, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.

[19] The dead adult's body is carried to the cremation ground near a river or water, by family and friends, and placed on a pyre with feet facing south.

While the discovery of ossuaries in both eastern and western Iran dating to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE indicates that bones were isolated, that this separation occurred through ritual exposure cannot be assumed: burial mounds,[34] where the bodies were wrapped in wax, have also been discovered.

The Byzantine historian Agathias has described the burial of the Sasanian general Mihr-Mihroe: "the attendants of Mermeroes took up his body and removed it to a place outside the city and laid it there as it was, alone and uncovered according to their traditional custom, as refuse for dogs and horrible carrion".

[40][41] Burial rites should normally take place as soon as possible and include: In Sikhism death is not considered a natural process, an event that has absolute certainty and only happens as a direct result of God's Will or Hukam.

[43] In Sikhism, birth and death are closely associated, as they are part of the cycle of human life of "coming and going" (Punjabi: ਆਵਣੁ ਜਾਣਾ, romanized: Aana Jaana) which is seen as a transient stage towards Liberation (ਮੋਖੁ ਦੁਆਰੁ, Mokh Du-aar), understood as completely in unity with God.

[44] On the day of the cremation, the body is washed and dressed and then taken to the Gurdwara or home where hymns (Shabadads) from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Sikh Scriptures are recited by the congregation.

An important part of the Greek tradition is the epicedium, the mournful songs that are sung by the family of the deceased along with professional mourners (who are extinct in the modern era).

The Roman orator Cicero[49] describes the habit of planting flowers around the tomb as an effort to guarantee the repose of the deceased and the purification of the ground, a custom that is maintained until today.

According to archaeological findings – traces of ash, bones of animals, shards of crockery, dishes and basins – the dinner during the classical era was also organized at the burial spot.

[55][56] In ancient Rome, the eldest surviving male of the household, the pater familias, was summoned to the death-bed, where he attempted to catch and inhale the last breath of the decedent.

During this nine-day period, the house was considered to be tainted, funesta, and was hung with Taxus baccata or Mediterranean Cypress branches to warn passersby.

However, this step is foreign to Judaism; Jewish funerals are held soon after death (preferably within a day or two, unless more time is needed for relatives to come), and the corpse is never displayed.

In Eastern Orthodox funerals, the coffins are reopened just before burial to allow mourners to look at the deceased one last time and give their final farewells.

[77] The funeral where the priest blessed the recently deceased, which after the Reformation came to be called a reading, was forbidden in the church order of 1686, but was taken over by lay people instead.

Believing that it was wrong to bury a corpse, and thereby pollute the earth, Price decided to cremate his son's body, a practice which had been common in Celtic societies.

[85] Such ceremonies may be held outside the funeral home or place of worship; restaurants, parks, pubs and sporting facilities are popular choices based on the specific interests of the deceased.

As a concept, the idea of uniting an individual with the natural world after they die appears as old as human death itself, being widespread before the rise of the funeral industry.

Furthermore, individuals may choose their final resting place to be in a specially designed park or woodland, sometimes known as an "ecocemetery", and may have a tree or other item of greenery planted over their grave both as a contribution to the environment and a symbol of remembrance.

[90] In the twenty-first century, humanist funerals were held for well-known people including Claire Rayner,[92] Keith Floyd,[93][94] Linda Smith,[95] and Ronnie Barker.

For example, the humanist ceremony for the aforementioned Keith Floyd, a restaurateur and television personality, included a reading of Rudyard Kipling's poetic work If— and a performance by musician Bill Padley.

In recent years however, alternative methods of disposal have become more popular, including scattering of the ashes, burial in outer space, and conversion of the cremated remains into a diamond that can be set in jewelry.

Other funerals in Ghana are held with the deceased put in elaborate Fantasy coffins colored and shaped after a certain object, such as a fish, crab, boat, and even airplanes.

[133][134] The 2003 award-winning Philippine comedy Crying Ladies revolves around the lives of three women who are part-time professional mourners for the Chinese-Filipino community in Manila's Chinatown.

This requires the will to become available in time; aspects of the disposition of the remains of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran contrary to a number of his stated wishes, which were found in a safe that was not opened until after the funeral.