Change happens over time

 There has been an evolution of the American funeral and also the role of the funeral directors also known as undertakers or morticians. There has been a shift away from family parlors in the home to Funeral Parlors that have been more commercialized. It has become a business that seeks to profit from the death of others.
Funeral rituals in the 20th century seemed much more personal than commercialized as they are today.
Most funerals in the 1900's were held at home instead of a funeral home like we have today.

As soon as possible after the person died, the body would be prepared, or laid out. Women would lay out the women and men would lay out men (Brelowski,1975). The individuals preparing the dead body began with taking off the nightgown and washed the body from head to toe with soap and water. The hair was washed and combed the way the deceased usually wore it. Make-up was not used until bodies were embalmed (Brelowski,1975). Usually quarters  were put on the eyes to keep them closed and later they were often kept by the family as keepsakes (Brelowski,1975). Most times the best dress or suit would be put on the body. If there was not a suitable option, neighbor women would sometimes quickly make a dress for the deceased. As long as the clothes were clean, they did not have to be new (Brelowski,1975).
For clothing for women, they had underwear, an undershirt, petticoat, chemise, dress, and stockings. Men usually wore underwear, shirt, tie and suit.

After the deceased was dressed, they were then laid out on the cooling board. The body of the deceased was also covered with a white sheet and in some cases a pillow may have been put under the head. Because the pillow prevented the body from cooling out as fast, some did not do this. 
Wet soda cloths were laid on the face and hands to help preserve the skin color and texture. These cloths were kept on the body except for when someone came  to view the body.
After the body cooled out, it was then placed in the coffin, covered with a sheet until the funeral. 

In the early twentieth century coffins were homemade but as time went on, it became normal that a coffin/casket was bought from a local carpenter or an undertaker in town. If the family of the deceased did not have any money for the coffin/casket,  the neighbors used whatever lumber they had available to help build a coffin. The neighbors helped dig the grave as soon as possible because the dead body could usually not be kept very long.  Have you ever heard the phrase six feet under?  The grave was typically six feet long, four feet wide and six feet deep.  If the ground was frozen or there were lots of rock in the soil, men would sometimes use dynamite to help dig the hole. Quite different than today when we use machines like a backhoe. 

Because the body of the deceased was often laid out for a few days, flowers were utilized to help mask the smell of the decomposing body.  Embalming was not an option most American families could afford at the time and was not widely available in rural areas.  It was not until the funeral home started to offer funerals and wakes and the tradition of the funeral at home was eventually abandoned. 

Are the significance of flowers at a funeral the same today as they were in the past? Since the utilization of embalming to preserve the body, they are mostly used as decorations and people use them to send their condolences.

Whether our deceased are buried in the ground or cremated, the essential main elements of a funeral have remained somewhat unchanged.  The deceased body is prepared for the funeral, then either burned or placed in the ground,  then those of us that remain alive return to our daily lives and may mourn for a period of time while we eat the casseroles from after the funeral.

Does the funeral have the same meaning as it to our ancestors? Do we honor our dead and treat their bodies with loving care? In our society today, the cleaning and preparing of the body for the funeral is done at the funeral home instead of being handled by family members.

Would you feel comfortable handling and preparing the corpse of a loved one?  I would not be.


Brelowski, D. (1975). Springfield-Greene County Library -- Bittersweet. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/fa75f.htm