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 […]
What Makes Funeral Celebrants Do It?
From a practising funeral celebrant, more opinionated stuff that possibly needs a health warning: it’s only what I think. I’m not really sure why we do it – I’m sure we have many very different conscious reasons and less self-aware motivations. As Freud, Jung, Adler and Frankl all said, or if they didn’t, they should […]
I’m not religious but there’s something about funerals…
Posted by Belinda Forbes From the moment I had booked myself onto a course to become a secular funeral celebrant, it started happening. Like when you get married, get pregnant or get a puppy. Suddenly everywhere you turn, it’s about weddings, what the expectant mum shouldn’t eat or drink, and how you should never play […]
The bitter spice that sweetens the dish
Posted by Jonathan A celebrant said today: “Even when funerals are designed to be a celebration of life, I nearly always begin by acknowledging people’s grief and sadness.” Jose (see his thought provoking blog post of 19th September), ever enquiring and studiously leaving no stone unturned, wants to know about incorporating grieving and celebration of life […]
Words, words, words
First posted by Charles on 9 Feb 2010 I’m putting this back up as a contribution to recent debates started by Jose and Richard. Following my post about the ineptitude and ineffectiveness of words, I stumbled on this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald. It’s actually about citizenship ceremonies, but you’d never guess it from […]
Oh bits from obits
Posted by Jeanne Rathbone Noel Coward said funerals were the cocktail party of his set. James Joyce called them funforals and GB Shaw said ‘ Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh’. I am a Humanist celebrant and have conducted hundreds of […]
What do atheists profess?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson, religious correspondent Vale makes interesting points in the thread beneath my Beyond the Abyss post, which discusses the gap between secularist individuality and religious communal ritual: We (I) believe that community and the communal celebration of key events is important – yet secularism, at least as it finds expression in the […]
On the map?
Posted by Vale Are you on the map? On the 1st August a new information service for consumers was launched. It’s called ’Funeralmap’ and it aims to make it easier for someone to find out about funeral related businesses in a locality. You enter a postcode or the name of a town, select the type […]
What You Need to be a Celebrant (the unofficial version)
Posted by Gloriamundi Health warning: this will be opinionated – it’s only my view 1. Ask yourself why you want to do it, and listen to the answers. The motivations of celebrants are varied, and not necessarily clear to themselves at first. It’s a role that reveals yourself to yourself. That can be quite a tough […]
Shooting the messenger
Posted by Nicola Dela-Croix When I meet grieving families in my role as a celebrant, I always try hard not to judge them if their behaviour is less than polite. For example, the initial phone call where you gently introduce yourself, but are made to feel as welcome as a pre-recorded “Do not hang up… […]
