International Funeral Rites And Customs

By Alta Alexander


Making plans for funerals is not something unique to the United States or western cultures. There has always been rites and ways to celebrate and honour the passage of life into death. They have around as long as humans have been in existence. Most of the funeral rites are rooted in various regions. International funeral customs that still exist today have become a means of unique celebrations for various countries and cultures.

Whereas all funeral planning differ in accordance to individuals, there are no culturally universal demands for funerals to be the same. There are differing funeral customs observed internationally. In China, the number of people attending a funeral apparently increases the levels of luck a family will have. It represents how well a deceased will prosper in their afterlife. Professional hired mourners attend some funerals to increase attendance numbers in this regard.

In the Philippines and for the Pilipino around the world, funerals last for days, a minimum of three to as many as seven. Many people in attendance for the ceremony remain until the entire ceremony is over. Concerning Haitians, a deceased persons family members take full responsibility for a large part of the funeral planning. This involves dressing or preparing the deceased body in readiness for burial. Displays or expressions of grief have need suppression until all the possessions a departed owned have left their home.

All the members of the Amish community in a town or village come out to share every aspect of the ceremony. The family takes full responsibility in as far as every traditional plan is concerned and where most rites happen in the funeral home. Simplicity is the basic tenet where even a wooden but simple box is often used. Very little work in cosmetic form happens on the body. Flowers and ornate stones are discouraged. Mourners observe bare minimum mourning dressing codes.

Within the Thai community, cremation is almost universal. Customs include preparing a body for the rites with members of the family placing coins onto a deceased mouth. A white thread ties hands and feet of a deceased. Flowers, money and candles go into the hands. Additional flowers and monetary gifts adorn a deceased pyre as it goes into cremations.

Bolivians have traditional customs that happen to be unique and not seen anywhere else in the world. They include separate ceremonies performed for a deceased clothing. This customary rite releases the deceased soul to the after-world according believes Bolivians hold.

Most funeral rites and customs observed internationally are slight deviations from what many people are aware. For everyone, there is communal reverence for the departed and close attention is given to what they leave behind. For relatives and friends, the ceremony is usually an opportunity to come together in mourning regardless of distance one has to travel to get there.

Incorporating religious or traditional customs is a way to personalize a funeral planning effort. In many cases, this ceremony assists families assent to the beliefs and wishes of the deceased. In efforts at adherence to honoured practices and rites, people often instruct their respective families about how to go about carrying out their funerals. Some incorporate these instructions within their wills.




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