When my friend's grandmother died, a mass was held for her at her local church; the casket was brought from the funeral home and re-opened for the mass. When the service was over, we were invited to come forward to pay our last respects, before the casket was to be permanently closed.
Two of my friend's aunts, both in their late 50's, were so distraught over the loss of their mother, that they went up to the casket and proceeded to hug the dead woman. In the process, they had pulled her out of the casket by her upper torso. Her head and arms dangled wildly back and forth as the two daughters fought over who was going to hug her next
It was an unusually overwhelming sight. I'm so glad the funeral director intervened at that moment
I thought her tangled body would end up on the floor.
Piffka--
The celts also feel that on Samhain the walls between the worlds are open.
Noddy, I've been taught that all the cross-quarter days were considered to be at a time when the "veil between the worlds" was at its thinest -- which is the reason divination then was supposed to be accurate. I thought the connection of the dead with Samhain was that the Oak King or the King of the Harvest was dying.
When the Aztecs celebtrated their Day of the Dead it was in mid-summer (end of July/beginning of August). I don't know why.
I recently heard about another culture with a similar set of beliefs... the Egyptians?
Colorbook -- Poor corpse! If you ever touched a dead body, you know how weird it feels, more than lifeless... as though it were an empty vessel. <shudder>
hehehehe
i think i just found a great reason to give up pantyhose. "Pantyhose can kill you! I read it on the internet."
Phoenix--
Not only are they an invention of the devil, but with the stock he owns in the company he can finance all sorts of wickedness with the profits.
So much discomfort from garments so fragile!
I think we can decide here and now to never wear pantyhose again and certainly NOT to a funeral. It would be disrespectful to Eva's ma.
Absolutely--unless I have to venture out in sub-zero weather. I'm of the old school. Zero means zero, not -32.
Thank God, it never gets that cold here.
I'll admit, I did feel rather funny about wearing pantyhose to Mom's funeral.
But I was sure she would have approved. Sarah, on the other hand, absolutely refused.
Bodies mixed up at morgue.
Jespa, I note your post above. I am an attorney in South Carolina. I have a case involving bodies being mixed up at a hospital morgue and being sent to the funeral home requested by the other person's family. I would like to talk with you about the case(s) similar to this that you handled while in practice. Thanks!
kayakmon--
Better to post your question in
Legal where it will be seen by the entire membership:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/ask-about55.html
Noddy, this is a fascinating thread--I'm surprised that noone else has thought of starting one on funerals.
Bethie, I sooo agree that funerals should be a celebration of the dead person's life. Good music, drink, food fun and fond memories.
When my sister-in-law died, I went to her casket before the funeral and saw that her lipstick didn't go with the outfit she was wearing. I immediately ttold her daughter to fix it. She nodded and went right over to the casket and changed the color. One of the cousins, a boy of about 12, thought it was disrespectful, but all the women told him that any of us would have been horrified to be wearing a lipstick that wasn't flattering.
This isn't about funerals, but about a friend who was very close to death from breast cancer. She was in and out of a coma, but when I saw her she was lucid. Thankfully, she didn't ask for a mirror, because her facial hair had sprouted. She was always fastidious about her appearance and would have been horrified that all her friends would know that she had so much facial hair.
My request is that, if I am in a bad way, my friends take care that someone plucks the few little hairs that show up every couple of months. Piffka, call Bob and tell him to pay attention!! I want to be a good-looking corpse and I want everybody to have a great party instead of a funeral.
Hi kayakmon, sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. Not much to tell, the toe tags were switched at the morgue so the morgue was a lot more on the hook than the funeral home, if I recall the case correctly.
I've never felt the same way about pantyhose since this thread.
God bless you, Bethie.
I had forgotten I wrote about this.
jespah wrote:Hi kayakmon, sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. Not much to tell, the toe tags were switched at the morgue so the morgue was a lot more on the hook than the funeral home, if I recall the case correctly.
I didn't get the relation between your comments about "open casket" and the mix up in cremation. Did you mean that the person in the casket was the one, who was supposed to be cremated?
I don't think that wakes are held for the cremated. I could be wrong however, as I've attended only 2 wakes in my life.
Eva, I think of you and your mom every time I stand in front of the pantyhose display.
And you buy them anyway? (Mom would grudgingly approve.)
Unfortunately, I have inherited her scoliosis. While my back will never be as bad as hers was, pantyhose can still be very difficult for me. I can't imagine how she managed to do it.
