Funerals throughout the world are performed by following many customs, rites and rituals. Funeral is a service in which family and relatives pray for the deceased and resign themselves to the fate of the loss of their beloved.
Christian funerals follow the rites of the Church. However, as there are over 200 different Christian community offshoots, there are many differences in the manner in which the funeral services are conducted by each community.
The first and foremost custom in a Christian funeral that is organized before the actual service is held relates to gathering around the dead person for a night and chanting prayers for the dead. This significant tradition is called wake. According to present day practices, this is the time where friends and family see the deceased for the last time and pay their heartfelt homage. The body is either kept at the house or at Church and the duration of paying visit is fixed according to prescribed norms. In old times, the wake was succeeded by the ritual of absolution, which involved purgation of the person of all the sins he or she committed in the present life, and laying a cross on the chest and performing offertory where visitors placed gifts in the casket.
The following stage is the actual service itself in which the deceased is put into a coach and brought to the Church, where the clergy and others chant prayers and hymns from the Bible. This is then followed by the clergy requesting one of the close friends or family to present a eulogy. Some of the Christian communities follow this by a ritual of tolling of the bells, marking the end of the service. Then the casket with the deceased’s body is brought to the burial place for the last set of rituals, called the burial service which precedes the burying.
Finally, funeral services need a lunch gathering to be organized after the burial is done. The main aim of such customs is to give support to the mourning family and assist them to overcome their grief and resign themselves to the fate.
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