Dying (and burying) the old-fashioned way

[Marc Chevalier]

You can shove me in one of those coffins, pass me through the incinerator and toss my ashes in the rubbish for all I care.

Ah, but funerals are really for the living.

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[RebeccaDoll]

Ah, but funerals are really for the living.

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So True. I've been to a few Irish Wakes - and they are definetly for the living.

 

[Viola]

I would not want an ostentatious funeral, but I wouldn't choose to be cremated, either.

 

[tuppence]

Ah, but funerals are really for the living.

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Yes that's what my Mum says.
But the tacky funeral parlour funerals we get in Australia are unbearable.

 

[Viola]

What do you get in Australia? I'm intrigued because I'm emigrating there next year... hopefully not use that particular service but y'know.

 

[Lamplight]

I have to wonder if "sitting up" with the dead originally had a very useful purpose, like...um...making sure the recently departed was definitely deceased. It seems this would have been a much more likely scenario long before the days of modern medicine and understanding of the human body.

 

[LocktownDog]

I have to wonder if "sitting up" with the dead originally had a very useful purpose, like...um...making sure the recently departed was definitely deceased. It seems this would have been a much more likely scenario long before the days of modern medicine and understanding of the human body.

We did this with my great-grandfather. He died back in '80 or '81. That would have made me around 11 or 12. Sat up with my Dad and his brothers the entire night. Everyone sat there with the body in the same rocking chair he died in the night before ... drinking coffee and eating homemade donuts. I was completely unnerved by the whole ordeal. I remember we could only finally go to bed after sunrise ... and even then, the darn hens had to be fed first.

Looking back on it, its become a much fonder memory than it should have been. Stories were told that night that I probably wouldn't have heard otherwise. And the fact they wanted me there with them at all was very special.

But I often wondered at the origins. Lamplight might be right. How curious.

 

[Lamplight]

It really is fascinating. I've never been to anything but a regular, modern funeral, which has never quite felt right to me. The different customs I've been reading about in this thread all seem to make more sense from an emotional standpoint, and seem far more intimate and meaningful.

 

[tuppence]

What do you get in Australia? I'm intrigued because I'm emigrating there next year... hopefully not use that particular service but y'know.

Yay, Coming to Australia, Which part?
Don't worry you'll have any number of us, rushing to wise you up on deadly snakes, spiders, sharks and crocs. So you shouldn't die here.

 

[PADDY]

Ireland.

Certainly in the country areas that I am originally from, the body would lie out in state in the home, ususally in a bedroom for all to see over a few days (and people come to visit and see the body). Then the funeral service is held in the house and the body is carried to the church.

 

[Foofoogal]

Lamplight. That actually was a part of this scenario. Alot of superstition surrounded some of these also. In the south mirrors were covered with cloth in some places.
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http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=213&subjectID=2

In looking for this custom on the net I see where they were covered for Lincolns funeral. If you visit some Antebellum homes in the south you may here about the custom. I also found where it was a Chinese custom which is interesting.

 

[scotrace]

OK. I apologize in advance. However:

In the hours following the end of life, a body changes in ways that, frankly, are not to be seen. I cannot fathom anyone sitting around watching a body for three days without coming away from it unnerved. The experience of seeing such a thing unhinged me for more than a year.

What the heck???

 

[Marc Chevalier]

OK. I apologize in advance. However:

In the hours following the end of life, a body changes in ways that, frankly, are not to be seen. I cannot fathom anyone sitting around watching a body for three days without coming away from it unnerved. The experience of seeing such a thing unhinged me for more than a year.

What the heck???

There's a book for you to read: Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies. You can google it. The author is a doctor, and it's well (and sensitively) written. I had read this book before going to Chile, and I must say, it helped prepare me for what happened.


If a doctor injects a small amount of preservative solution into the body, it does a good job of minimizing decomposition for a day or two. (All bets are off on a hot summer, but that's what air conditioning is for. Does wonders.)


Very soon after death, a dark brown, odorless liquid called "purge" begins to slowly seep out of a corpse's nose. The book prepared me for this, so I wasn't surprised when I saw it happening with my godfather's dad. (I took some small pieces of Kleenex and put them deep into the corpse's nostrils. That effectively 'stopped' the purge.) Also, the body begins to noticeably cool after an hour or so, and rigor mortis takes hold. (For this reason, we dressed him as soon as possible after death.) And yes, a bit of gas does come out from time to time. Again, no big deal -- if you're prepared for it in advance. Unfortunately, death is our culture's LAST taboo ... and it shouldn't be at all.


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[Viola]

Yay, Coming to Australia, Which part?
Don't worry you'll have any number of us, rushing to wise you up on deadly snakes, spiders, sharks and crocs. So you shouldn't die here.

Ah yes, but what about the Aussie penchant for ALSO warning about the deadly dangers of drop-bears and the hoopsnakes? lol

Moving to NSW somewhere between Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Haven't narrowed it further than that yet.

I might die there, but only because with my Aussie fiance I could be there a very very long time. Citizenship is a bit of a process but as he so lovingly says "there's a language requirement but you ALMOST speak English..."

Though my family is campaigning to Americanify him instead.

 

[Joie DeVive]

I have to wonder if "sitting up" with the dead originally had a very useful purpose, like...um...making sure the recently departed was definitely deceased. It seems this would have been a much more likely scenario long before the days of modern medicine and understanding of the human body.

It was my understanding that this was precisely the purpose. I was taught that was why a wake had it's name. They were checking to see if the corpse would wake.

There are lots of stories along this vein. I have two in my family. One in which a child had been ill was pronounced dead, and they discovered she wasn't when overhearing people talking and crying about her, tears began to run down the child's cheeks.
In the other, the "deceased" was an older gentleman who got up and walked out into the living room scaring the family half to death.

You have to remember, in the Victorian Era there was a significant fear of being buried alive. There were even coffins constructed with a glass bulb suspended over the body's nose and mouth that were connected to apparatus that would put up a flag and allow in fresh air and light if there was movement. You have to figure there was a reason for this kind of fear. After all, every now and again, you still get a story someone who objects to their own autopsy.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

You have to remember, in the Victorian Era there was a significant fear of being buried alive. ... You have to figure there was a reason for this kind of fear.

Yep. It happened to this poor woman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbazcasper/3350778032/in/set-72157615094478305/



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[Feraud]

You have to remember, in the Victorian Era there was a significant fear of being buried alive. There were even coffins constructed with a glass bulb suspended over the body's nose and mouth that were connected to apparatus that would put up a flag and allow in fresh air and light if there was movement.

I believe there were also contraptions set up with a string and bell to the coffin.

 

[tuppence]

Ah yes, but what about the Aussie penchant for ALSO warning about the deadly dangers of drop-bears and the hoopsnakes? lol

Moving to NSW somewhere between Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Haven't narrowed it further than that yet.

I might die there, but only because with my Aussie fiance I could be there a very very long time. Citizenship is a bit of a process but as he so lovingly says "there's a language requirement but you ALMOST speak English..."

Though my family is campaigning to Americanify him instead.

Oh, That means I can no longer talk to you, because Victorians and N.S Welshman hate each other

 

[tuppence]

Yep. It happened to this poor woman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbazcasper/3350778032/in/set-72157615094478305/



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Thanks for the warning, Marc. That's going to haunt me now.

 

[Viola]

Tuppence, worse than Yanks?