Is a funeral for the living or the dead?

Is a funeral for the living or the dead?

A really beautiful human by the name of Sarah Kerr, who is an end-of-life worker and operates The Centre for Sacred Deathcare, recently went of a Podcast and she was asked “is a funeral for the living or the dead?”Her reply was “My answer is: both. A funeral serves the family as they grieve and begin to integrate the death, and it also helps the person who died cross the river and join the Village of the Ancestors.

It’s important to note that a funeral is a ceremony that needs to accomplish something particular. It doesn’t have to look like a traditional funeral as you may have experienced one, but it does need the ritual power to accomplish its goal”.

Whether you have spiritual beliefs or not in regards to what happens to us after our body dies, I think we can all appreciate that a funeral does serve the family and other people who loved and cared about the person who has died, and that a funeral ceremony meets our needs on a basic human level of honouring the rituals of death.

Ceremony and ritual are so important to us as human beings. Our societies have grown around them, our community and spiritual needs are met by them.Ceremony and ritual are everywhere, in our governments, our schools, our churches and in all the religions and spiritual practices we follow.

As Sarah Kerr said, a funeral doesn’t have to look like a “traditional” funeral, but it must have ritual power to accomplish its goal.

This is where a celebrant is so important. An experienced celebrant can craft a funeral ceremony to beautifully honour the person and to meet the needs of ceremony and ritual, to bring those in attendance into the space and to assist them to start their acceptance of the death and to begin to live their lives in new ways without the physical presence of the person who has died.

It is the start of healing.

If your choice is to have a no-service funeral, you can always hold a memorial service at a later date or create your own rituals to say your own personal goodbyes, whatever brings your peace and soothes your soul and it can be as simple as lighting a candle and standing in remembrance of the person. We all need that peace and comfort.

To find out more about my funeral service offerings, please see my website: www.treeoflifefunerals.com.au or you can call 0493-276-554.

Lauren Newman

Funeral Director, Celebrant, End of Life Doula

Tree of Life Funerals