Funerals And The Ritual Of Letting Go
Death is part of being alive as a human being. Death is part of the cycle of life. In each dying, there are those who die and there are those who mourn their loss. The faith system that a person belongs to must help in doing a rite of letting go for the people who are left behind. This rite of relinquishing is what is known as the funeral.
Funerals around the world are performed by following several customs, rites and rituals. Funeral provides an opportunity to the family of the deceased to pray for his soul and learn to cope with their loss and sorrow.
Church rules govern funeral rites in Christian communities. However, as there are over 200 different communities of Christians, there are many differences in the manner in which the funeral services are organized by each community.
The first and foremost ritual in a Christian funeral that is conducted before the actual ceremony relates to assembling around the deceased for a night and reciting prayers for the dead. This important tradition is known as wake. According to present day practices, this is the time where friends and family see the dead person for the final time and offer their heartfelt homage. The body is either laid at the house or at Church and the duration of paying visit is fixed according to prescribed norms. In earlier times, the wake was followed by the ritual of absolution, which involved purgation of the deceased of all his or her sins in the present life, and laying a cross on the chest and performing the ritual of offertory where people put gifts in the casket.
The following stage is the real ceremony itself in which the dead person is put into a hearse and brought to the Church, where the priests and others chant prayers and hymns from the Bible. Then, the priest calls upon a friend or family member to give a eulogy or tribute to the departed’s life. Some communities have chiming of the bells as a part of the tradition that signifies the end of ceremony. Then the casket with the dead person in it is transported to the burial site for the final set of rituals, called the burial service which precedes the burying.
Finally, funeral traditions need a lunch gathering to be organized after the burial is done. The main purpose of this custom is to share the grief of the family and help them deal and come to terms with the loss.
Looking for the best casket? Entrust the delicate matter of funeral arrangements in the hands of considerate professionals. This article, Funerals And The Ritual Of Letting Go is released under a creative commons attribution licence.
