I now pronounce you deceased

When a person dies, the family members, friends, neighbors, and even coworkers may respond in various ways to the death. Cultural guidelines can help determine the treatment of the body and also the disposal of the corpse.  Their is typically a period of mourning for close relatives of the deceased. The deceased may leave behind a spouse, children, and physical property such as a house. 

The body of the deceased was usually washed, anointed, trimmed or shaved, hair combed, painted or perfumed by family members or close friends in the past. Today, this is left to the funeral home to prepare the body for the funeral/wake following death. 

Evolution of the Hearse to carry the body

The hearse was used to carry the bodies of the deceased to the grave-site. We did not always have motorized hearses which we are used to seeing today. Sometimes a wagon was used or a horse-drawn carriage.

 This was a horse drawn hearse used in the 19th and early part of the 20th century.


source:Urban Remains (n.d.). very rare 19th century american hand carved horse drawn funeral hearse "eternal flame" wood finial. Retrieved September 22, 2013, from http://www.urbanremainschicago.com/very-rare-19th-century-american-hand-carved-horse-drawn-funeral-hearse-eternal-flame-wood-finial.html#ur-desc


 
Below is a collection of hearses from the National Museum of Funeral History located in Texas. 


A rorse-drawn hearse made in 1900, designed especially to carry a child's casket 




A1916 Packard bus, one of only two that are in existence 




A1921 RockFalls hearse that was manufactured in Sterling, Illinois. The vehicle measures eight feet in height and more than 19 feet in length and is powered by a 29-horsepower Continental Red Seal engine. 




Collection of hearses from 1926 at the National Museum of Funeral History
  


Railway carts were typically used to transport caskets via freight cars. The cart pictured below was used during the 1930s.( this has been restored)




1938 Packard Hearse (National Museum of Funeral History)

National Museum of Funeral History (n.d.). National Museum of Funeral History. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.nmfh.org/exhibits/hearses/gallery.php

A modern day hearse may look similar to this
 
HearseWorks: 2005 Cadillac Landau Coach by Bennett Funeral Coaches. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2012, from http://www.hearse.com/vehicles/motorized/cadillac/2005/bennett/landau_coach/v001_PBandJ/pages/pa.html 

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

Funeral Ritual

What are Funeral Rituals?  They are symbolic activities that help us express our deepest thoughts and feelings about life's important events such as death/funerals. The Funeral ritual is a public, traditional and symbolic means that express an individuals thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about the death of a loved one.
The funeral can help us acknowledge the reality of death and it gives testimony to the life of the person who is now deceased. It also encourages the expression of grief  and provides support those who are mourning the loss of the deceased. 


Why is the Funeral Ritual Important? - Duksa Family Funeral Homes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.newingtonmemorial.com/support/grief-words/why-is-the-funeral-ritual-important

loss of intimacy

I have been reading a book called Rest in Peace by Gary Laderman. It is actually a good book and worth checking out. 
One of the sections Laderman discusses is the loss of intimacy that we have with the deceased. This does not mean that we do not care about the person who is deceased but the relationship has changed. 
The relationship between the dead and the living began to change during the 20th century. It began to become easier to imagine the dead than to actually see them. There was once an intimacy that connected the remains of the deceased to the family members and friends. Three social factors were seen as a dividing factor:
- hospitals became the place of dying
- change in demographic patterns
- the modern funeral home grew in popularity

A mortality revolution was identified during the first part of the 20th century as there was a disappearance of the corpse from American lives.  Death rates began to decline and life expectancy began to increase. 

In regards to demographic patterns, Laderman discusses the aspects of improvements in sanitation and personal hygiene, breakthroughs in the medical field and with technologies, eating habits became healthier, and public health reforms.  As a result of this, the loss of a family member became less and less instead of occurring on a more frequent basis. 
As health needs changed, hospitals became the place to care for those who were sick and it became the place where people died. With the utilization of more hospitals, this also caused the separation of death from the lives of the family. Professionals in the medical field began to assume the power to define death at the beginning of the 20th century. As we moved towards the medicalization of death, the physician became the person in charge of the dying process.

Laderman, G. (2003). Rest in peace: A cultural history of death and the funeral home in twentieth-century America. New York: Oxford University Press.

If you want to check out his book, there is an ebook available: http://books.google.com/books?id=-gnGKq64MP0C&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=funeral+at+home+in+early+20th+century&source=bl&ots=PPs3hu_dyE&sig=xiDSxZRw3ybVHPRunnQ2QexNJgk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cTSpUqHQBY6-qQGHz4HYBg&ved=0CGUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=funeral%20at%20home%20in%20early%2020th%20century&f=false

What's for Lunch?

There is nothing like a morning funeral for sharpening the appetite for lunch - Arthur Marshall

During my research I came across a book called " Death Warmed Over - Funeral Foods, Rituals, and Customs from Around the World" by Lisa Rogak.(2004)


""An elderly man was at home dying in bed when he smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie before he died. He fell out of bed , crawled to the landing, rolled down the stairs, and dragged himself into the kitchen, where his wife was busy baking cookies. WIth his strength waning, he made it to the table and was just barely able to life his withered arm to the cookie rack. As he grasped a warm, moist chocolate chip cookie, his wife suddenly whacked his hand with a spatula. "Why?" he whispered. "Why did you do that?"
"They're for the funeral!" ""
- Thank you Lisa Rogak  for this bit of humor!







Have you ever really thought about the food at funerals?
The act of preparing and delivering food to a neighbor upon the death of a family member has changed over time. Have you ever brought food to a neighbor following a death?

Do we care what is served after a funeral?
Does anyone ever attend a funeral just to have a free meal afterwards?
Some people only stay for the luncheon out of obligation following the funeral.
I do not think anyone would really say, " Hey, lets go to Billy-Jo's funeral because I hear they are going to have an amazing luncheon afterwards or lets skip the luncheon because I hear the family has terrible food!" 

Do you care what is served at your own funeral?  Is that something you would plan out ahead of time?  I am pretty sure that you will not remember the food that is served at your own funeral so does it really matter?

Do you pay attention to the foods served after a funeral?  Do we judge the family by the food served at the funeral? Perhaps it is like food served at weddings.  Those attending really only remember the food if it is really great or if it is just horrible.

It seems as though a funeral ritual of providing food following a funeral has been present at least since the 20th century and is still common in modern times.  People find comfort in food.
The types of food served after a funeral depended on the region, but many times, a tradition was serving casseroles. Today, we may see more hams or fried chicken, but I have still seen casseroles being provided. 
In the past, food may have been prepared by neighbors and family members, but in more modern times, it is often catered by a company/restaurant. This is one change we have seen in the funeral food rituals.
I was at a funeral recently and fried chicken was provided. It was purchased instead of being made by friends/family.
What types of foods have you seen at funerals?

PBS 'Dying Green' Explores Conservation Through Natural Burial VIDEO