Covid-19 is the nail in the coffin for traditional funerals – UnHerd

1 thought on “Covid-19 is the nail in the coffin for traditional funerals – UnHerd”

1. I was struck by “What is a funeral for? My very last interviewee — the spokeswoman for a funeral educational charity — said it was, first, to dispose of the body… And it suddenly occurred to me that not one person had said that before.”
   When I was at theological college training, pretty much the first thing we were reminded about was that a funeral is firstly to dispose of a body.
   And there is a lot of importance about recognising loss and coming to terms with absence which can be strengthened by being a witness to burial or cremation. I recognise the social and practical pressures which have tended to separate out that first thing from things like ‘celebrating a life’, and gathering mourners for mutual condolence. But I wonder whether finding ways not to lose that first thing entirely might be an important bit of cultural responding?

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