The changing face of Irish funerals
By Richard Rawlinson Dublin undertaker Massey Brothers is responding to the changing attitude to religion in Ireland by offering families non-denominational funerals, online advice and motorbike hearses. While these initiatives may no longer be especially novel in Britain, they’re causing a bit of a stir in Ireland’s conservative, competitive and often quite unsophisticated funeral industry. There […]
Funeral mystery
From Swaziland: MAFUCULA – Some mourners at the funeral of Lucky Nhlanhla Sifundza, the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) employee who went missing and was confirmed dead three weeks later, were disappointed that they could not see what was inside his casket. They had hoped that the Sifundzas would open the casket and allow them to see what was inside before taking it to […]
Religious funerals: why Jews bury their dead
Posted by our religious correspondent, Richard Rawlinson The first crematorium to be opened in London, in 1902, is directly opposite Golders Green Jewish Cemetery, opened in 1895. Apart from their Hoop Lane location, they share little in common. Traditional Jews, like traditional Christians and Muslims, believe in burial: and burial only in a Jewish cemetery, […]
Kiwi death rites
From an article in Stuff.co.nz: New Zealanders may be shy and reserved, but we hold long, personalised funerals for our loved ones, and show far more emotion than Norwegians, Swedes, English and Scots. Our funerals lean towards the American style, where everything – down to the cup of tea and biscuits afterwards – is organised […]
Funerals from around the world — South Africa
Francis Rasuge, a police officer, was killed by her lover in 2004. Her body was not found until earlier this year, buried in the yard of her lover’s house. Francis Nyadi Rasuge was finally laid to rest yesterday afternoon at the Horingnestkrans Cemetery in Pretoria North. There was a touch of sad bitterness at the […]
Funerals from around the world – Kathmandu
On the river bank opposite, a small funeral procession arrived, carrying a bright red coffin. A group of men, followed by women in saris, stood around for a while chatting, then opened the coffin and pulled out a body, wrapped in a white sheet. The mourners lugged it down to the river, where they left […]
Funerals from around the world: Buddhism
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Is it uncharitable to start a brief discussion of Buddhist funerals by alluding to Mark Juergensmeyer’s recent book, Buddhist Warfare, which shows another side of a religion widely seen in the West as purely peaceful? This other side includes the recent example of armed monks in southern Thailand defending their communities […]
Green Light For Tower of Silence In English Seaside Town
Posted by Charles In a move which is sending shockwaves through an English tourist resort, council chiefs in Weymouth, Dorset, have given the go-ahead for followers of the Zoroastrian religion to expose the bodies of their dead in the midst of sunbathing holidaymakers. The down-at-heel, bucket-and-spade seaside town has granted the Zoroastrian Council of Great […]
Spoilsport
My father told me that he attended a funeral in the parish of Tuosist, in South Kerry, at the turn of the century. As the coffin was being taken in a cart to the local graveyard at Kilmackillogue, three women keeners sat on top of it, howling and wailing at intervals. The parish priest, on […]
Abusua do funu – The family loves the corpse
Mr Mensah a retired head teacher in Kwahu-Tafo, died in 1995 in Accra, where he was receiving medical treatment. His body was deposited in a mortuary for about a month. During that period, his children organized a full facelift of the house to prepare it for a worthy funeral: the roof and other parts […]
