Louder than words
I’ve been mentoring a fledgling funeral celebrant. The occasion of her first funeral was quite an event. She had formed a relationship of warmth and trust with the wife of the man who had died and she had written a good tribute, full of personal touches. She is nothing if not a hard worker, and […]
A Happy New Year to the FSJ
It’s a busy business, an undertaker’s, at this time of the year. Jan and Feb are the popular months to die, and why wouldn’t they be? Nature imparts no vitality. The spirit ebbs with the seeping daylight. In between the bagged bodies coming in and the boxed bodies going out there are families to see, […]
Where beauty softens grief
I’m indebted to Pam Vetter for pointing me to an article about post-mortem cosmetic procedures. This is not a big issue in the UK as it is in the US (Pam lives in LA), but it goes on here all the same. Funeral directors earn gratitude for presenting bodies looking as if they quite like […]
The truth, the half truth and nothing of the truth
The dead man’s father, a Jehovah’s Witness, had been estranged from his funny, funloving, humanist son for years. Now that his boy was dead, he wanted to reclaim him and give him a proper Jehovah’s Witness funeral. We talked about this, the dead man’s widow and I; we explored compromises. We wanted to include the […]
Stinker
I’ve blogged about Direct Funeral Services in the past, and it’s worth doing again. He’s still at it, that nice Mr Sage. He’s a blagger, the sort who ought to be horsewhipped. See the recent BBC Watchdog report here. I’ve had a number of emails from his victims. Be warned.
Helluva guy
“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below…”Thus wicked King Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He was speaking of his own spiritual quandary, but in many burial grounds the memorials possibly feel he speaks for them, too. I’m not thinking of those blameless, plain stones whose simple inscriptions testify to sincere, humble faith and assert the […]
In defence of Thomas Lynch
If you follow trends in US funerary practice you’ll know about the work of the Funeral Consumers Alliance. Its aims are laudable: to inform and empower consumers, a cause dear to the heart of the Good Funeral Guide. Its means, sad to say, often demean and discredit it, especially the ill-judged rhetoric of its executive […]
Victory V
A little while ago I posted a blog about online memorial websites. I didn’t post all I wrote. I decided that the second half was grossly offensive and I deleted it.Here’s what I wrote: Do the online memorial sites that are up there presently give visitors enough to do? Possibly not. So, to all entrepreneurial […]
All hail to the Green Street Mortuary band!
The best things in life have a signature tune, a tune forever associated with, and evocative of, a time, a place, a person — a soap. Funerals have signature tunes, too. As a celebrant, every time I hear Oasis’s Stop Crying Your Heart Out I think of the lad who died at Glastonbury: Hold up […]
A celebration of life ceremony
I’ve just enjoyed this blog post. It speaks for itself and it doesn’t want me climbing all over it. Read it here.
