Changing our Culture – Funerals

Most of us can appreciate the significant outlay required for a funeral.  There is the cost of the plot, headstone, coffin, the service and the food and drink that is provided for all of the guests that come.  Often times the family is left in a worse financial situation after the funeral than they were in before it.  In these difficult times we now have to reexamine our culture to see if we can find a way to reduce the cost of funerals.

Now I know that this suggestion will not be readily accepted but I am putting it out there anyway.  We have a custom of having a nine night whenever someone dies and for eight days persons come to the house to visit the grieving family.  On the ninth night there is a big celebration and everyone turns up at the house for food and drink and music.  In many cases it is the family that has to find the money to provide for all of these things.  The culture of nine night is merely a tradition and has its roots in superstition and one should consider not having a nine night.

The cost of a coffin is very high and I often see people buying mahogany coffins lined with silk.  Again this is born out of tradition that says that you have to make the person comfortable so that they can rest in peace.  100 years ago persons were buried in a simple wooden box and this was widely accepted by the populace.  Today there is no reason why we cannot do the same especially when one considers that there are many unscrupulous funeral homes or persons who will dig up and switch your coffin. Another point to consider is cremating the body which is significantly cheaper than providing a coffin.  The added advantage to this method is that you can also reduce the size of the plot that you need to bury the ashes.  If you prefer you could alternatively scatter the ashes of the person perhaps somewhere that has a lot of memories of them.

A further point to consider is to buy life insurance which will cover the cost of paying for the funeral and which also can provide resources needed to provide for the future of the remaining family members.  It is always better to have some assistance than to have to find all of the resources on your own.

Many of the things that we do for funerals are based on our traditions or on the belief that one has to demonstrate how much the person who died was loved.  My belief is that one should not wait until a person has died to show how much they were appreciated.  If we were to demonstrate our love for a person while they are still living then that will be more meaningful than to “scatter roses after they are gone”.