The last three people I've lost have chosen to not have funerals.

Instead they either have a private family gathering or in one cSe a "life celebration"

In addition they all chose cremation.

So basically no opportunity for thr corporation to control the narrative, or to feast on funeral taters or any type of prayers or dressing in baker outfits.

Is this the new norm?

I'm all about cremation and a celebration of life.

I would prefer it to be held outside in nature, weather permitting. Some good music (I'll specify the playlist) playing in the background at a level where people can actually visit and talk to each other. Some good food--a few things that I like or am known for. (Yes, I'll specify the food and beverage menu too.) A variety of sangria (leaded and unleaded) versions. At some point, a message (from me) read out loud by one of my kids. And then, it's open mic time--hopefully filled with memories, loud laughter and good times. We'll finish with a simple video slideshow done right.

I will request donations be made to Encircle in lieu of flowers. As for my ashes, they'll be spread over several places by my family.

Cremation won't be around much longer, because of the current "carbon" obsession. (It's a very inefficient way of getting rid of a body.)

I have been to a lot of these "life celebrations" and I'm not impressed. Some of them were for people I cared about deeply. You get half an hour of someone who never knew them, giving you a summary of their life, plus a PowerPoint slideshow and then someone plays a pop song. That's it. Dismal. Humanists are as bad as anyone else for using it as an opportunity to promote their worldview... get an independent celebrant if you want the same thing without the propaganda aspect.

As for "living funerals", I suggest you watch the last season of "Curb your Enthusiasm" or was it the one before that? There is a pretty funny episode about that nonsense.

Outside of Mormonism, the big thing about traditional funerals is the cost. We paid just over $11,000 last year to bury my mom, much of which was raised from other family members. And that didn't include the grave (that came from the local veterans cemetery for free because her husband, my father, served in Korea). Given the current incomes of many in the U.S., I think that there are a whole lot of people who will be losing loved ones in the future who will be unable to pay for traditional funeral services.

A friend's husband died a lot of years ago. The whole extended family went with her to arrange the funeral. This ended up being about $16,000(would be a lot more now) because everyone choosing had to have "the very best" for grandpa. Problem was grandma was paying and grandma didn't have "the very best" money. But she just couldn't go low budget with all the pressure to "do the best thing" and her meager paycheck went mostly to pay it off for years.

I can't stand elaborate funerals. I do want the funeral potatoes though, but I would prefer them just before I die rather than after.

Best funeral I ever went to was short, sweet and we gave a standing ovation for the deceased----who deserved it in spades.

I've only been to a handful of funerals, three mormon, one Catholic and one that was some type of fundamentalist holy roller...

The Catholic one was weird in that they had the body propped up in her casket so that her head and shoulders were on display for the entire service.  I kept checking...she never moved.

The holy-roller one was in Barstow, CA.  I was the only one in a suit, because that's what I thought people wore to a funeral.  This is the time that I watched two biker chicks move along in the line to view the "difunto" with one of the young ladies wearing a tank top with the song line, "You shook me all night long" written on it.

Based on his golf game, the message was not meant for him.  One memory of him will never leave me: He was tending the pin for his teammate on a long birdie putt.  The teammate's putt tracked straight and true to the pin; Parker was so entranced with it that he forgot to pull the pin and it turned his partner's putt into a double when the putt hit the pin and rebounded and stayed out of the hole.  Poor George went from a birdie to a double bogey.

The three mormon funerals were ... mormon funerals.  Yay, ghawd; thanks for taking the dead guy home cuz you needed him and just couldn't wait...

I've mentioned my funeral plans:  When the time comes, Imma start walking out into the wilderness and see how far I can get...

I don't know if they are a thing OF the past, but I know they are a thing FOR the passed.

Groan. (OK, I laughed.)

There's a really nice cemetery in my town. People are dying to get in there.

> There's a really nice cemetery in my town. People
> are dying to get in there.

Low hanging fruit!

With that joke another EOD is born.

I suppose we really shouldn't encourage dad jokes here, knowing how some of the posters get.

I concur.

We must join forces to stop the fatherly contagion at EOD and El Roy, who has obviously succumbed to an acute infection and should be quarantined before he passes the malady to others.

In short, society must be protected until Mr. Gates develops another vaccine. All hail the Holy Microchip!

I stand all amazed at EOD's profundity as of late. Maybe he is bucking for GA.

Yes, but there's a downside. He'd have to stop dialing M and talking about his novel object.

You can’t spell funeral without fun.

My family sang a chorus of Forest Lawn n the way to the cemetery when Mom died.

My memorial service will serve tamales and play Jenga.

I think it depends on the person who has passed. I've been to religious funerals for people who attended church on a regular basis. For those who are not religious, there are a variety of options. We chose not to have a funeral or memorial service for my mother because most of her close friends and siblings had already passed. We had a private burial. I mourned her greatly, and just because we chose to keep things private does not mean that she wasn't missed.

I will not need any sort of funeral or memorial service for myself. I just want the people who care about me to be notified. I will request my younger family members to scatter my ashes over any open body of water, preferably my beloved Chesapeake Bay.

Mormons have Silly ideas regarding what happens with the deceased, but funeral directors love it.

I knew of a funeral home in Everett that went out of business, perhaps bc of cultural changes/cremations. Not a growing industry methinks...

I have yet to hear or read of cremation providers / processes being examined for carbon emissions, but I guess it could / might happen...

If you could make corpses radioactive, they could power homes and buildings ... maybe even vehicles!!

What a bright future mankind has!!!

are you saying or suggesting they're Not already???

My son is worried my daughter will try to have an LDS funeral. I DOUBT THAT. I am to be buried in jeans and a turtle neck with things from each of my dogs and also my kids. Bury me and if they want to hang around the graveside and talk about me and tell all the dirt again amongst my siblings and their kids, to do it.

A lot of people aren't doing obituaries and I'd prefer not to have one either.

My wife chose cremation, as will I. My dad was anti-burnt offering. I know he'd understand my decision...and why I left his church.

I was surprised that my mom chose cremation, since she grew up in an era and a faith in which burial was the most common option. But she wanted her descendants to have the money, not the funeral home.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-new-burial-technique-turns-a-corpse-into-a-tiny-pile-of-freeze-dried-fertilizer-1788824/

This makes sense. Freeze dry, shake and use as fertilizer. At the very least you can drill a small hole and put it into the ground at the family plot. Means much smaller burial grounds.

I see some cemeteries that are in such horrible locations (by busy highways or roads, or adjacent to commercial areas,) that I don't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to be buried there.

My parents' burial site, by contrast, is by a lovely river with extensive, grassy grounds and mature trees.

I like it!
I wonder about the cost and environmental impact of setting up vats of liquid nitrogen all over the place.

The chemicals from embalming leaching into the ground and the huge waste of resources for vaults and coffins seem destructive to me.

dagny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like it!
> I wonder about the cost and environmental impact
> of setting up vats of liquid nitrogen all over the
> place.
>
> The chemicals from embalming leaching into the
> ground and the huge waste of resources for vaults
> and coffins seem destructive to me.

You can already be liquefied by so called "liquid cremation" (a misnomer). It's reminscent of acid bath murderers, snd they will flush you down the sewers at the end if you wish. The chemicals are corrosive so who knows what they'll do to the environment?

BoydKKK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-new
> -burial-technique-turns-a-corpse-into-a-tiny-pile-
> of-freeze-dried-fertilizer-1788824/
>
> This makes sense. Freeze dry, shake and use as
> fertilizer. At the very least you can drill a
> small hole and put it into the ground at the
> family plot. Means much smaller burial grounds.

It will be great for producing plant based food.

"Soylent Green is people."