Rites Of Relinquishing – What Happens In Christian Funerals?
Death is included in the cycle of life. Nonetheless, if this is the case, we still cannot avoid feeling the grief whenever someone who is very close to us dies. There must be some kind of ritual of ending. Funeral services are rituals that help individuals to relinquish and achieve closure.
Funerals are family or State ceremonies conducted after the death of a person, in his memory. It is essentially a series of associated rites or rituals that are unique to one’s religion or culture.
Generally at the Christian funerals, the rituals can be categorized under three main heads – visitation, funeral and the burial. The funeral and visitation ceremonies have a lot more importance according to the religious aspects and they are detailed below.
The first and foremost ceremony is visitation in which the body is put in a casket for friends and relatives to see and pay their last respects to the deceased. The body is dressed in the finest clothes and adorned with jewelery. Some cultures follow the rite of embalming the body, though not all cultures should compulsorily do it.
Some families prefer displaying memories from the life of the dead person during the visitation in the form of pictures and personal articles that were prized possessions of the deceased. Some families also like to do a slideshow or video from the lifetime of the deceased.
This ceremony is succeeded by a memorial service, also known as a funeral, which is held generally at a church. The coffin with the dead body in it is carried in a vehicle to the church, surrounded by a funeral procession of mourners. Then the coffin is carried with its floral arrangement and housed in the church.
The service normally involves reading of parts from the Holy Scriptures or the Bible and offering prayers for the departed. The mourning groups also sing religious songs in chorus. This is followed by a comforting speech delivered by the priest presiding over the funeral service and eulogies by the family and friends, who then fondly recollect the deceased and his life. Though this is not a custom, but in some communities, people are allowed a final glimpse of the body before leaving the church for final burial. Church bells may be rung both before and after the service.
Once the first two services are over, the body is taken into a vehicle for burial that comprises the last phase of the rituals.
Death is a sensitive time. After all, funeral present the family with a need to transition into moving on with life. Get the best casket for your loved one’s burial.
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