Home funerals

[thalassa]

I know we've had the convo about green burials, and how weird modern society is about death, etc here...so I thought I'd share this article on home funerals.

[Ophidia]

Re: Home funerals

I heartily endorse this!

[iflewoverthecuckoosnest]

Re: Home funerals

That sounds like a beautiful way to say goodbye before giving someone's body back to the Earth. This is the kind of funeral I want someday. I'd say that there's a lot of corruption in the funeral home business; pressuring bereaved, emotionally vulnerable people into buying expensive, elaborate caskets and pumping their loved one full of chemicals just to make their paychecks bigger. Of course, there are cases where embalming may be necessary, but that doesn't excuse the greed driven emotional manipulation on the part of many funeral homes.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Home funerals

Both my grandparents on my dad's site requested no funerals. They also wanted to cremated and have their ashes scattered, because burial plots and caskets are so expensive and they thought it was a waste of money. We had memorials for them at home instead, sort of more like skipping the funeral and getting straight to the wake. I really want my family to know that I'd be totally happy with that when I die...if they really need a funeral for closure, that's their business, but it costs a lot of money and if they don't want to or can't spend that, I don't want them to feel they're somehow dishonouring me.

I'm pretty sure my parents also share this attitude.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Home funerals

Many people where I live organise the funeral from home... the hearse goes very slowly, often preceeded by a man in a top hat (the funeral director). It's pretty impressive. Even more impressive here are horse drawn funerals with a glass hearse and black horses wearing black plumes. We Welsh like a good funeral. And I live right by a cemetery....

[Ophidia]

Re: Home funerals

I'd say that there's a lot of corruption in the funeral home business; pressuring bereaved, emotionally vulnerable people into buying expensive, elaborate caskets and pumping their loved one full of chemicals just to make their paychecks bigger.

It isn't corruption, it's an 'emotionally-driven sales business model' - kind of like diamonds. Corruption is the unauthorized organ/body part sales and promising someone you'd treat their remains with respect while actually throwing the bodies in a swamp behind your crematorium.