Funerals throughout the world are performed by following various customs, rites and rituals. Funeral offers a chance to the relatives of the deceased person to pray for his soul and learn to cope with their loss and sorrow.

Christian funerals are performed according to the Church rules. However, given the fact that there are over 200 denominations of Christian communities, the traditions can vary depending on the allegiance of the family.

An important ceremony of a Christian funeral, known as wake, is the first and foremost ritual that is carried out before the actual funeral and involves a nightly watch over the dead person and recital of Biblical psalms for the eternal peace of his soul. In present days, this is the moment when relatives and acquaintances can pay their last respects to the deceased person. The body is either kept at the house or at Church and the time of paying visit is fixed according to prescribed norms. In earlier times, the wake was succeeded by absolution, which involved purgation of the person of all his or her sins in the present life, and laying a cross on the chest and performing offertory where people placed gifts in the casket.

Then begins the real ceremony itself, where the deceased is first transported to the Church in a vehicle and prayers from the Holy Bible are recited and hymns are sung in the church. Following this, the priest asks a relative or a friend to offer a eulogy before the body is buried. Some of the communities follow this by a ritual of ringing of the bells, signifying the end of the service. Then the casket with the dead person in it is transported to the burial site for the final set of rituals, called the burial service which precedes the burying.

Finally, the family members organize a lunch for everyone who has attended the funeral. The main purpose of such rituals is to give support to the grieving family and help them tide over their grief and accept the fate.

Discover more about the best company that provides high quality casket and best funeral services. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.