Funerals throughout the world are governed by many customs, rites and rituals. Funeral offers a chance to the family of the deceased person to pray for his soul and come to terms with their loss and sorrow.
Christian funerals are performed according to the Church rules. However, as there are more than 200 different Christian community offshoots, there are several differences in the way the funeral services are conducted by each community.
The first significant tradition in a Christian funeral is the wake, which is conducted before the actual funeral ceremony and where the dead is watched the entire night and psalms are recited to pray for the dead. According to present day practices, this is the stage where friends and family members see the dead person for the last time and offer their heartfelt homage. The body is carefully preserved and placed either at the house or in a Church with only a specified number of visiting hours. In earlier times, the dead person was sought to be absolved of his sins of this birth by carrying out the process of absolution after wake. This included placing a cross on the deceased’s chest and offertory in the casket, where gifts offered were kept.
The following stage is the real ceremony itself in which the dead person is put into a hearse and taken to the Church, where the clergy and others chant prayers and hymns from the Holy Bible. This is then succeeded by the clergy requesting one of the friends or family to read out a eulogy. Some of the Christian communities follow this by a custom of tolling of the bells, marking the end of the ceremony. After the funeral proceedings, the casket is taken to the burial site where a burial service is held before the act of burial.
Finally, funeral services need a lunch gathering to be held after the burial is done. The main aim of this tradition is to share the sorrow of the family and support them so that they can come to terms with the loss.
Leave the delicate matter of funeral services needs in the hands of caring professional undertakers.
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