A funeral can either be a State or a family ceremony, and it is conducted in the memory of the departed person. It involves a number of rites and rituals that are specific to the culture of the dead person.
Most Christian funerals have rituals that can be divided into three kinds of events – visitation, funeral and in the end, the burial. The visitation and funeral ceremonies have higher significance from the ritualistic point of view and have been discussed here.
The first ceremony is the visitation, when the deceased is placed in a coffin for general viewing by friends and relatives. The body is dressed in the finest clothes and adorned with jewellery. Anointing of the deceased for this occasion is not a mandatory ritual in every community.
At the visitation, a family may also display pictures taken of the departed during his or her lifetime, or some valuable items that were very dear to the deceased. Some families also play a slide show or video of the deceased.
This ceremony is then followed by the funeral ceremony, which is a memorial service that is usually held at the church. The casket containing the body is put in a vehicle and brought to the church along with a group of mourners, who accompany the carriage. Then the coffin is carried with its floral arrangement and housed in the church.
The service generally involves reading of parts from the Bible or the Holy Scriptures and offering prayers for the deceased. Religious songs are also sung in chorus by the attendees. The priest presiding over the ceremony gives a comforting speech, and it is followed by eulogies or tributes given by family and friends of the departed, who speak of the latter’s merits and accomplishments. Though this is not a custom, but in some communities, people are allowed to see the body once before leaving the church for final burial. Church bells may be rung both before the service and after it.
Once the first two parts of the ceremony are complete, the body is taken into a vehicle for burial that comprises the last phase of the rituals.
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