8 February 2013 – The Good Funeral Guide

Close thine eyes

8 February 2013

Charles

2 Comments

Categories: Art and death, Committal

Posted by Vale

I was at a funeral recently when this song by Purcell was played at the committal. We listened to the Treorchy Male Voice Choir, but I couldn’t find their version on You Tube so this is the Kirkintilloch Male Voice Choir instead.

Close thine eyes and sleep secure;
Thy soul is safe, thy body sure;
He that loves thee, He that how to buy a cialis keeps
never slumbers, never sleeps.

The quiet conscience in the breast
Has only peace, has only rest;
The music and the mirth of kings
Are out of tune unless she sings;
Then close thine eyes in peace and sleep secure.

There is a lovely, fuller version too. If you are keen you can listen to it here. Worth it to my mind.

Shrine on you crazy diamond

8 February 2013

Charles

No comments

Categories: memorialisation, Shrine

It’s amazing, really, just how terrifically buttoned-up Brits are when it comes to commemorating their dead. Other cultures offer us examples of observances, duties, rituals and practices which can teach us a thing or two. We really ought to take them up on it.

One of these is the household shrine. We’ve touched on this before here and here.

Up in Scotland, ‘Honest’ Rob Lawrence makes a household shrine (illustrated above). It comes in different sizes, for indoors ones or for outdoors.

Like it?

There’s something else Rob does which you’ll like. Let him explain:

“When I make a coffin, I save and label some off-cuts of the timber used. We then offer the family (only if they want it) a shard of the actual timber used in the coffin as a book mark. It becomes a tangible connection that one can hold and play with. One such book mark was given to a wee lad of 7 years ish by his dad because the wee lad so missed his Grandpa. We understand this helped a little.”

Yes, where were the humanists?

8 February 2013

Charles

6 Comments

Categories: Humanists

We’ve held this over awhile, but the question it asks remains topical. The article is about the aftermath of the Newtown shootings:

The funerals and burials over the past two weeks have taken place in Catholic, Congregational, Mormon and United Methodist houses of worship, among others. They have been held in Protestant megachurches and in a Jewish cemetery. A black Christian youth group traveled from Alabama to perform “Amazing Grace” at several of the services.

This illustration of religious belief in action, of faith expressed in extremis, an example at once so heart-rending and so affirming, has left behind one prickly question: Where were the humanists?

Well worth reading the whole piece in the New York Times here.