Saginaw, Michigan
Pay your last respects from the convenience of your car.
Drive-thru viewing of the dearly departed.
Nothing says me, me, me like a pretend-visit to a funeral home.
"I am still here, and you are not. Nanner, nanner." *Vroom*
7 comments:
Hmmmm...that seems to be a tad heartless. I like the new style--where you have a short wake in the morning, following by a simple mass in the funeral home, then off to the cemetery. It seems to be easier on the family than dragging it out for days.
Do you want fries with that?
Lin, I rather like the wake and the service all in one visit, but I still attend separate visitation and funeral. Wake for the family of the deceased, funeral for me, for we are all going to our long home by and by.
Chuck, pass on the fries, but I have attended wakes where some pretty good coffee and danish was to be had.
Okay - what is the difference between wake/funeral/visitation? I'm very confused.
(I didn't comment before because drive thru funeral homes are not a new thing. Drive through bars & liquor stores in New Orleans rattled me for some reason - "Laissez les bons temps rouler" became literal.)
Grace, wake is traditionally a watch kept by the body of the deceased, might be accompanied by eating and merrymaking. Wake has become more or less synonymous with visitation, which is to call prior to the funeral to pay ones respects to the family of the "honoree." The funeral is a service, usually accompanied by a mass if the departed was Catholic.
I just came from a visitation. I did not attend the funeral. I had another friend who passed this week who chose to have none of the aforementioned ceremonies or activities.
Oh, yeah. Drive through booze aisles in Texas, too. Annoys me for some reason.
I'm still a little confused - where I am from everything takes place at the funeral 'parlor' - usually with an open casket. Various members of the immediate family sit in the front row in front of the casket and receive mourners. Religions rites are also held at the funeral home. Funerals usually lasted 3 days with internment on the 4th. On rare occasions the casket was moved from the funeral home to a church for a service and from there to the cemetery. Only the immediate family went to the cemetery.
Grace, fun discussion about serious matters. Regional, cultural differences, perhaps. In "these parts" there is typically a "visitation" or "calling" probably third day after death. Open casket optional with the family. The family members present at foot of casket, receive callers who, after expressing condolences may stop at the head of casket for a moment. Often these visitors then seat themselves in the parlor, or wander around visiting with one another. This calling usually runs from two to four hours. Many people come and go, some stay the whole time.
The funeral is typically held the next day, and it may be in the funeral home, or the corpse may be transported to a church. This is usually at 10 a.m. the day after the calling. Then family and many, sometimes most, of the funeral attendees form a funeral cortege and follow the hearse to the cemetery where an interment ceremony is conducted, usually including prayer and final words by someone, and military salute if the decedent was a service member.
Following this, it is customary for all to be invited to a noon meal which may be at the home of a relative or at a church social hall.
Okay, tmi, perhaps. Ta ta.
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