Can you help?
Space burial is about sending a portion of cremation ashes into space, then releasing them so that they can orbit the Earth. Up in Glasgow, Tom Walkinshaw is developing his own space burial programme. It’s ambitious stuff. He’s won an award from Glasgow Caledonian University and he has the support of the Prince’s Scottish Youth […]
Different cultures, different customs
Very interesting photo-essay here about the ghats at Varanasi. Good text, too. Sometimes poorer people cannot afford enough wood to completely burn a body. In this case charred body parts are simply flung into the river with the ashes. Certain people, such as small children, pregnant women and holy men, are not cremated at all, but […]
Doctors need to grieve, too
There’s an interesting piece in the New York Times here about the emotional difficulties doctors experience when working with people who are going to die. People often characterise doctors as cold and uncaring when, in fact, they may simply not be coping: We found that oncologists struggled to manage their feelings of grief with the detachment they […]
What do Quakers and atheists have in common?
Posted by our religious correspondent, Richard Rawlinson You’d think Quakers and atheists were poles apart but I’ve been pondering a similarity. On the surface, Quaker funerals are very different from humanist funerals, and that’s aside from faith in God. The former involves silent reflection and prayer, the latter tends to be dominated by words and music […]
Channel 4’s Dispatches set to rumble the undertakers
“Dispatches lifts the lid on the funeral industry. Using undercover filming, Jackie Long investigates what really happens to our loved ones when they die.” Monday June 25 at 8.00pm. Channel 4. In certain districts of Funeralworld, fear stalks the streets. Cancel all other appointments.
Lost in translation
From yesterday’s Guardian newspaper: Everyone in Israel is talking about the British-American BBC comedy Episodes. Not that it is airing there, but the show has recently become famous for its disastrous use of freebie online translation. In episode three, Merc Lapidus, one of the lead characters, attends the funeral of his father. The episode was shown in the […]
Introducing the Last Lullaby coffin
We get a steady trickle of phone calls here at the GFG from people who think they’ve got a brilliant product or service to offer the bereaved. Some have, some haven’t. All have already approached funeral directors in the expectation of whoops, backslapping and high fives. All, even the truly brilliant, have been received by […]
It happens…
Extracted from the Otago Daily Times. New Zealand: A man who disrupted a Balclutha funeral, yelling vulgarities and causing distress and upset, has been remanded in custody. Stephen John Hurring (59), of Balclutha, pleaded guilty to disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence at the Balclutha Memorial Hall. Prosecutor Acting Sergeant Mike Gasson said about 700 […]
Quote of the day
“It is the role of the mortuary staff to pack orifices, not the nurse.” NHS guide to last offices here.
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington After even just a few funerals, remaining focused as a mystery mourner is proving quite a challenge. No wonder some of the vicars sound lacklustre. They must be thinking, ‘Here we go again: everyone looking glum; pretending to listen; miming to the words of the hymn; wishing they were already at […]
