What is a Funeral?

The meaning of the world funeral means celebrating and remembering the life of a person who has died. The funeral and its customs vary in different regions and religions of the world but mostly it refers to a ceremony for paying the final respect and tribute to the person who has died. The achievements and life cycle of the departed is recalled at his funeral and also religious prayers, chanting and eulogies are also performed for a safe afterlife journey of the deceased.

The funeral is normally held when a person dies of a natural or accidental death and the family friends and colleagues of the person gather at the ceremony to show their care and affection towards the deceased and show their sympathy to the bereaved members of the family. However, there are few regions of the world who also have the concept of pre-funeral. This concept relates to organizing the funeral even before death. Most of the people consider it foolish so it is not practiced in many regions.

There is no limited of time which is available to organize a funeral. It is the choice of the family of the deceased when they want to organize the ceremony. They may choose to do it after one day of death or they may prefer the arrangement of funeral after a month. However, some of the regions emphasis upon disposing off the human body within a day after death such as Hinduism and Islam. 

The funeral arrangements include the selection of casket for the corpse, the place of burial and the flowers to be used for the decoration of the funeral home. These services are all provided by the funeral homes. Before funeral, a visitation can also be held which relates to the viewing of the body and the funeral program is followed by either burial or cremation.