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 most funeral plans are different depending on individual cultures, no strict universal demands for funerals are around. Differing rites, when observed, vary with international localities. In China, how big the number of people in attendance apparently determines the luck levels a family will get. It is a representation of how well the deceased shall prosper in the afterlife. Professionally hired groups of mourners come to funerals to add the attendance numbers as a result.

Where the Philippines is concerned, funeral ceremonies in honour of a deceased, last from three to more than seven days. It is also common to have big numbers of visitors coming and staying for the entire ceremony. In Haiti, the family members have to take responsibility for most of the hands on planning for a funeral. This includes dressing and preparing the deceased body for the burial. Displays and expressions of grief are often set aside until every possession owned by the deceased leaves the home.

In Amish community based funerals, everybody in the town shares everything about the event. The families are responsibility for particular choices as far as traditional funeral plans are concerned and which take place in a funeral home. Simplicity is the theme of focus and a simple wooden box is used. There is very little cosmetic work on a deceased body. Ornate stones, flowers and such things as mourning codes remain at a bare minimum.

Members of the Thai community observe almost universal cremation funeral rites. Their customs have certain distinct actions such as placing of coins on a deceased mouth by their family. White threads tie the feet and hands of the deceased. Money, candles and flowers adorn the deceased hands. Additionally, monetary gifts and flowers go on to a cremation pyre.

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.

In most cases, funeral rites observed internationally are merely extensions of plans most people know about. There also exists a collective reverence for deceased as well as close attention personal items they left behind. The ceremony gives friends and families an opportunity to get together as they mourn despite where everyone shall be respectively traveling.

The incorporation of traditional as well as religious rites offers people a means to personalize plans for funerals. In most instances, the ceremony is a means to assent to the wishes and beliefs of a departed. In a bid to adhere to time honoured practices or rites, people often leave instructions about the manner their families shall handle their funerals. Many people place such instructions in their written wills.




About the Author:



0 comments