Special Dossier: DEATH - The Funeral I

A society's funerary ritual, or lack of ritual, is fundamental to its character. The history of funeral practices reveals a series of shifts in its collective understanding of the nature of human existence.

The funeral traditions, which had persisted through the previous centuries, served to diffuse grief within the community. When this possibility no longer existed, the grief of the family was diverted into outward, symbolic expression. The investment in funerary accoutrements, both financial and emotional, is considerable.

In addition to the customary tasks associated with the funeral and burial, the undertaker also assumed the entirely new functions of embalming the body and of applying cosmetics to restore the appearance of life.

The great problem for survivors in all cultures is to convert "homeless souls," particularly those of the recently dead, into comfortably enshrined or immortalized souls. Funeral ceremonies are rites of passage precisely for this purpose. What is involved is the symbolic transformation of a threatening, inert image (of the corpse) into a vital image of eternal continuity (the soul) or of death as absolute severance to death as an aspect of continuous life.

Painting: THE ORDER OF RELEASE
Sir John Everet Millais
Tate Galery London