Death and mourning

What it is for

A funeral does several jobs at once. It honours the person, it carries out the duties required by faith, and it gives mourners a shared structure when they are least able to arrange anything. It also announces the death and brings the community to the family's side. The weeks that follow, with visits, meals and set days of remembrance, let grief be spoken. Many traditions teach that the dead need help to move on, through prayer, food or offerings, and so the funeral is also a work of care for the person who has died.

Common elements across cultures

The body is washed and dressed or wrapped, then watched over until the burial or cremation. Prayers or readings are said, and the community comes to pay respects. Dress is usually dark, though white is worn in many parts of Asia and Africa. A meal follows, often given by friends and neighbours. Mourning rules, such as the Jewish seven days of shiva or the Hindu thirteen days, set aside a time for grief. Anniversaries are marked at fixed points, such as forty days, one year or each year after, with prayers, a meal or a visit to the grave.

Food, dress and music

Food at funerals is often simple and practical, as neighbours bring meals so that the family need not cook. Examples are the Jewish meal of condolence with eggs and lentils, funeral potatoes in the United States, kolyva wheat in Orthodox Christian rites and sweet rice in Japan. Music ranges from the quiet chant of a psalm or sutra to the brass band and second line of New Orleans, or the drums and dance of a Ghanaian funeral. Colour is a strong signal: black in Europe, white in China and India, and in some parts of Africa bright cloth printed with the person's face.

How it is changing

Cremation has become more common in many places, and some families scatter ashes at a place that meant something to the person. Funerals are more personal, with photographs, favourite songs and stories replacing a fixed script. Services are live-streamed for those who cannot travel, and online memorials let friends leave tributes. Many people now plan their own funerals in advance. At the same time there is a renewed interest in older practices, such as home funerals, green burial and the shiva visit, which many people find a comfort in an age of distance.

Death and mourning around the world

Compare all 18 places

Traditions to start with

AntyestiThe Hindu last rites.Jazz funeralNew Orleans music for the dead.WakeThe gathering before the funeral.Sky burialTibetan and Mongolian practice.Fantasy coffinsGhana's shaped coffins.Day of the DeadMexico's yearly remembrance.

Also part of it, and being written: Shiva (Seven days of mourning.), Tangihanga (The Maori funeral at the marae.).

Questions people ask