The Unitarian Universalists call it a 'memorial service', not a funeral, and mention of God to the bereaved is considered inappropriate. There is no mourning at the death of a Sikh since they believe the soul never dies. Buddhists hold that one enters a new incarnation immediately after death.
A new book in two volumes attempts to give readers a comprehensive survey of the vast variety of religious voices in their perspectives on death and grieving; and gives useful tips on the etiquette to be observed and what to expect when attending other people's religious ceremonies - not only funerals but also baptisms, weddings, initiation ceremonies and home celebrations. In the process, it celebrates a multi-ethnic, multicultural social diversity which helps to redefine positively what globalisation and cosmopolitanism is, or should be, all about.
The following summaries aim to indicate some of the wonderful variety of approaches to death and grieving by over 35 different faiths and denominations that are addressed in this practical and generous book. The summaries give only a very generalised account of bereavement in different religions; individual variations and characteristics, do, of course, exist.
One enters a new incarnation right after death and although the resulting being is not fully realised for nine months, a new incarnation can be interpreted as entering the womb of a woman. The three components of any Buddhist funeral ceremony are: sharing; the practice of good conduct; and developing a calm mind, or meditation.
A funeral ceremony in several Japanese Buddhist traditions resembles a Christian ceremony in the west, with a eulogy and prayers at a funeral home. It lasts about one hour and 15 minutes. Cambodian, Thai, and Sri Lankan traditions may have up to three ceremonies, each lasting about 45 minutes. In the first, which is held within two days after death, monks hold a ceremony at the home of the bereaved. In the second, which is held within two to five days after death, monks conduct a service at a funeral home. In the third, which is held seven days after the burial or cremation, monks lead a ceremony either at the home of the bereaved or at a temple. This last ceremony, called a 'merit transference', seeks to generate good energy for the deceased in his or her new incarnation. There is always an open casket housing the body of the dead person at the main ceremony and the guests are expected to see the body - Buddhism deems viewing the body to be a valuable reminder of the impermanence of life. Guests are expected to bow slightly toward the body as a sign of appreciation for its lessons regarding impermanence. All Buddhist traditions and sects quote from the Sutras, which are the collected sayings of the Buddha.
The format and content of a Christian Science funeral service are determined by the family or whoever conducts the service. However, the service typically consists of readings from the King James Bible and from Science and health with key to the scriptures or some other writing by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. The service usually includes no personal remarks or eulogy, but the family's wishes are taken into account. Christian Scientists have neither a prescribed period of mourning nor specific customs of mourning.
The Greek Orthodox Church believes that death is the separation of the soul (the spiritual dimension of each human being) from the body (the physical dimension). Upon death, we immediately begin to experience a foretaste of heaven and hell. This experience, known as the partial judgement, is based on the general character of our lives regarding behaviour, character, and communion with God. The Greek Orthodox funeral ceremony lasts 30 to 60 minutes and is not part of a larger service.
It is traditional for Greek Orthodox to say to the bereaved, 'May you have an abundant life', and 'May their memory be eternal'. There is usually an open casket at the ceremony. Traditionally, when Greek Orthodox view the body, they bow in front of the casket and kiss an icon or cross placed on the chest of the deceased. At the graveside, there is a five-minute prayer ceremony and each person present places one flower on the casket. A memorial service is held on the Sunday closest to the 40th day after the death.
It is customary to wear white clothing at the funeral. Since there is no concept of a 'funeral home', the body remains at the home until taken to the place of cremation, which is usually 24 hours after death. The major officiants at the ceremony are Hindu priests or senior (male) members of the family. Special books containing mantras for funeral services are used, but only by the priests. At the cremation, a last food offering is symbolically made to the deceased and then the body is cremated. The cremation ceremony is called mukhagni. shraddha ceremony, which occurs ten days after the death for members of the Brahmin caste and 30 days after the death for members of other castes, is performed at home and is intended to liberate the soul of the deceased for its ascent to heaven.
The Reform movement rejects all notions of bodily resurrection and of a physical life after death. Instead, it believes in the immortality of every soul, which will eventually return to God. True immortality resides in memories treasured in this world by those who knew and loved the deceased.
The Reconstructionist movement does not believe in bodily resurrection either. It believes that, upon death, the soul rejoins the universe.
The Conservative movement talks about the resurrection of the dead, but does not specify whether this will be a physical or a spiritual resurrection. The former would occur upon the coming of the Messiah; the latter would occur by those remaining on earth sensing and remembering the deceased.
Orthodox Jews believe in bodily resurrection and a physical life after death. This would occur upon the coming of the Messiah. In the meantime, there are rough equivalents to heaven and hell, with righteous souls enjoying the pleasures of olam ha'bah, 'the world to come', which has a Garden of Eden-like quality; and the wicked suffering in the fiery pits of Gehenna.
Traditional Jewish law forbids cremation but cremation is allowed among Reform Jews. Flowers are never appropriate for Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist funerals, but are sometimes appropriate for Reform funerals. Contributions in memory of the deceased are customary. Small contributions are often given to a charity or a cause favoured by the deceased and which may be listed in an obituary in a local newspaper; to a special fund established by the bereaved family; or to a Jewish organisation, particularly the Jewish National Fund which plants trees in Israel and which will send the bereaved family a letter informing them that you have 'planted a tree in Israel' in memory of the deceased.
There is never an open casket and the officiants are a rabbi, who delivers a eulogy, a cantor, who sings, and family members or friends who may also deliver a eulogy or memorial. No books are used and the service is led entirely by the rabbi, with no lay participation other than eulogies or memorials by relatives or friends. The service at the graveside will vary, depending as much on the family's background as on its religious affiliation. At the simplest graveside service, the rabbi recites prayers and leads the family in the mourner's kaddish, the prayer for the deceased.
At a traditional service, once the mourners have arrived at the cemetery, there is a slow procession to the grave itself, with several pauses along the way. After prayers and kaddish have been recited, each person present participates in filling in the grave by putting one spade of earth into it. As the closest family members leave the gravesite, they pass between two rows of relatives and friends.
The family sits in mourning for seven days after the funeral. This is called the shiva period. There are no ritual objects at the home of the bereaved, but some home traditions during the mourning period may include: covering mirrors in the home to concentrate on mourning and not on vanity; burning a special memorial candle for seven days in memory of the deceased; immediate members of the family sitting on small chairs or boxes; wearing a black ribbon that has been cut and slippers or just socks rather than shoes; and, for men, not shaving. All these symbolise the mourners' lack of interest in their comfort or how they appear to others.
The anniversary of the death is called a yahrzeit, upon which the bereaved attend a service at a synagogue or temple and light at home a yahrzeit candle that burns for 24 hours. An 'unveiling' of the tombstone usually takes place on approximately the first anniversary of the death and involves a simple ceremony at the gravesite.
(1) There is no individual survival, but the good (and possibly the evil, also) that we do lives on in the lives of those who come after us.
(2) The human spirit survives. This belief is not linked to the traditional duality of heaven or hell or to any theory of redemption by a saviour figure. Instead, it sees survival after death as a continuation of this life, but with the possibility of progressing from one stage to another. Some Quakers also believe in rebirth or reincarnation.
(3) An approach closer to the traditional Christian belief which accepts heaven and hell as places where souls go after the death of the physical body. One's destiny depends on the life led whilst on earth.
A Quaker funeral, or memorial meeting, is either 'unprogrammed' or 'programmed'. Unprogrammed meetings are held in the traditional manner of the Friends on the basis of silence. Worshippers sit and wait for divine guidance and inspiration. If so moved, they then speak to the group. This is called 'vocal ministry'.
Programmed meetings are planned in advance and usually include hymn singing, vocal prayers, bible reading, silent worship and a sermon. In many cases, worship is led by a pastor, who is generally paid and is responsible for some other pastoral services in the meeting. Either form of meeting usually lasts an hour.
Baha'i followers understand the spiritual world to be a timeless, placeless extension of our own universe, and not a physically remote or removed place. Heaven is envisioned partly as a state of nearness to God; hell is a state of remoteness from God. Each state is a natural consequence of the efforts of an individual - or the lack of them - to develop spirituality.
The key to spiritual progress is to follow the path outlined by the various prophets of God, who include Adam, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zarathustra, Jesus and Muhammad and Baha'u'llah.
Beyond this, the exact nature of afterlife remains a mystery. While the Baha'i faith is relatively free of teachings regarding the actual rituals of funerals, it does advise that the deceased should not be embalmed, unless it is required by state law. Also, the deceased should be buried within one hour's travel time from the place of death since the Baha'i faith teaches that we are all world citizens and should not be attached to any particular geographical site.
Among the Yuchi, who are politically recognised as part of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma and number less than one thousand, Christian burial customs are occasionally interwoven with Yuchi traditions. These may include placing personal items such as a hunting rifle, a blanket and some tobacco in an adult male's coffin before interment. This reflects the Yuchi belief that one's needs in the afterlife is not significantly different from those in our present life.
While Native beliefs assert that death is not necessarily the termination of life, the bereaved still mourn the absence from this life of the one who has died. Many tribes restrict what bereaved relatives can eat or what kind of activities they can engage in after the death of a loved one. This represents a sacrifice by the living for those who have moved on in the circle of life.
A Sikh tries to be constantly mindful of death so that he or she may be sufficiently prayerful, detached and righteous to break the cycle of birth and death and return to God. Because the soul never dies, there is no mourning at the death of a Sikh. All ceremonies commemorating a death include much prayer to help the soul be released from the bonds of reincarnation and to become one with God again.
After death, Sikhs prepare the body for the funeral with a yoghurt bath whilst reciting prayers. Next the body is dressed in new clothes and with the five symbols of a Sikh - kirpan, the Sikh knife which represents compassion and one's task to defend the truth; kara, stainless steel bracelet; kachera, special Sikh underwear; kanga, small comb; and kesh, or uncut hair.
A short ceremony takes place at the funeral home before the cremation. An ardas, or community prayer, is recited to begin the service. A minister may be present to offer prayers and say a few words, but this is optional. Two Sikh daily prayers, Japji and Kirtan Sohila, are recited and the cremation begins. Although these prayers may be continuously recited throughout the cremation, the basic funeral service ends at this time and guests may leave. This service usually lasts about 30 to 60 minutes.
Afterwards, there may be another service at the gurdwara, the Sikh place of worship, but this is optional. Traditionally, the word 'akal', which means 'undying', is chanted at this service to help release the soul to return to the infinite. This second ceremony, which is a service unto itself, lasts about one hour. For gurdwara services, everyone sits on the floor facing the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy writings, sometimes with the men on the left and the women on the right.
The major officiants at the ceremony are:
Officiating at the service in the gurdwara are:
A Nit Nem, or daily prayer book of the Sikhs, is used to recite the prayers before cremation. Since all prayers are read in Gurmukhi, the original language of the Gurus, it is not expected that guests also recite these.
Memorial services are often held at home, especially when the funeral ceremony has taken place in another city. Sometimes, the family of the deceased sponsors an Akhand Path unbroken reading) or other reading of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. This may take place at their home, at the gurdwara or elsewhere. During the Akhand Path service, the entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib is read in 48 hours in the Gurmukhi language or in 72 hours in English. People take turns reading the text.
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