Publishing event of the year!
The Natural Death Handbook, Fifth Edition A thoroughly updated and revised edition of the Natural Death Centre‘s celebrated handbook. Now presented alongside a new collection of essays on death, dying and funeral practices by doctors, historians, authors, poets, theologians and artists including Richard Barnett, David Jay Brown, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Charles Cowling, Bill Drummond, Stephen Grasso, […]
Open-air cremation
Buddhist monks and devotees stand around a pyre during a high priest’s cremation ceremony at the Heain-sa temple in Hapcheon, South Korea, on Jan. 6, 2012. The ceremony, called Dabisik, was held for Ji-Kwan, a former head of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The Dabisik ceremony signifies the return of the human body to nature. The […]
Showboating the dead
Intriguing piece here from the Standard, ‘Kenya’s Bold Newspaper’ satirising modern funeral fads in a countrywhere oneupmanship is, according to the author, so rampant and absurd that ‘Even someone who dies in a Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru hospital or at a witchdoctor’s dungeon, is reported to have died in London, Germany or the US.’ and ‘if […]
Priests and secular celebrants
By Richard Rawlinson Today’s elderly, even when not religious, are more likely to choose a funeral conducted by a priest (pastor/vicar depending on denomination) than a secular celebrant. Given the choice between a person in a robe or business suit, they opt for the former. Their decision seems as natural to them as taking the […]
Signs of the times – undertakers as event managers
Funerary customs are on the move in Germany, which seems to be emerging as the country to watch at the moment. Undertakers are becoming a little like event managers. People who are not religious and don’t go to church expect undertakers to organize a ritual for the funeral. In recent years the culture of mourning […]
Funeral spend has plunged in Ireland
From the Irish Independent an alarming trend (if you’re an undertaker) and a familiar issue: Undertakers say the average cost of a funeral has dropped by almost 40pc in the past five years. They say cash-strapped families have had little choice but to compromise on funeral ceremonies by foregoing extras that they once took for […]
Proxy grievers
Presently serving the bereaved of Essex and Suffolk we have a new concept in funeral service, the professional mourner. They’re called Rent a Mourner, we wish them every possible success, and you can find them here. Did we say new? There’s nothing new in Funeralworld. Every innovation is an act of necromancy. In our scholarly […]
Habeas corpse
Funeral arrangements for many Brits must take into account the sometimes violently conflicting wishes, needs and loyalties of the various members of blended families. Compromise can sometimes be hard to reach, the more so when one party sets out to hijack the funeral and do it their way. It’s worse for Ghanaians. There, it’s the […]
Gail Rubin’s 30 funerals in 30 days challenge 2011
Over in the United States the indefatigable and brilliant blogger Gail Rubin has already embarked on her 30 funerals in 30 day challenge. Yes, she is going to cover one day for a month, and today is actually Day Six, so you’ve got some catching up to do. Don’t miss Day Five, when she visited […]
An Alaskan funeral
Writing in the Anchorage Daily News, writer Michael Carey gives this account of an Alaskan funeral. The mourners included half a dozen men scattered throughout the church who looked as if they were on work release: leathers, tattoos, unkempt hair and beards, the aura of hard living, men never domesticated by women. They were in […]
