Talk and Act
Funeral directing has changed a lot since it first began to emerge as a profession over two hundred years ago. For a long time, funerals had been arranged through individual people, who often did it just because it had become their family’s traditional role within the community. Funeral were then very simple affairs though, and just involved finding someone to prepare the body (called ‘the layer out’), a coffin maker, and a church minister.
Funerals were strongly community-centered and those preparing the bodies were very often the same people who acted as midwives. Now, the role of the undertaker has evolved into a profession in itself and the majority of those involved in funeral directing today are in firms with a long, established family history.
Coffins used to be made at the home of the undertaker and each coffin was made by hand from solid oak, elm or mahogany. A generous supply of wood shavings was then spread over the inside of the coffin to form a mattress and pillow and it was then lined with a bed sheet.
Once completed, the coffin would be taken back to the house of the deceased by the undertaker and his men. If the doorway was too narrow, as it often was in those days, the undertaker’s carpenter had to remove windows for the coffin to be taken inside. This process then had to be repeated when the coffin was later removed for the funeral.
Families chose the front room or parlor as the last resting place for their loved one, who would be laid out in their best clothes and who would be left with the family until the funeral. This was the norm for many decades. The Chapels of Rest that we are familiar with in funeral establishments these days did not come into use until the late 1950s.
With the coffin placed on trestles in the front room, candles would be arranged either side and a small altar set up at the foot of it. As embalming was too expensive for most families, the undertaker would need to make regular visits to the house to ensure that the body remained in a bearable condition. It was common to place fragrant flowers around the room to hide the unpleasant odors which naturally arose.
On the day of the funeral, which usually took place three or four days after death, the family and friends lined up outside of their homes. Curtains would be drawn as a mark of respect, and they would stand silently as the coffin passed. The body was nearly always buried in the nearest churchyard, as a fee had to be paid to move the body outside of a town’s boundaries.
Nowadays, all this is taken care of by the highly-trained funeral director, which means that the family of the deceased can spend their time grieving for their loved one without any distractions.
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With origins dating back to 1853, E.F. Box are one of the oldest funeral directors within the UK. They offer a range of funeral director services across a variety of faiths, beliefs and ways of celebrating life.
Tags: culture, death, Family, funerals, society
Posted in Dying · February 26th, 2010 · Comments (0)
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