Funeral Customs

by Bertram S. Puckle

Book Description:

"A funeral is a ceremony marking a person's death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor. These customs vary widely between cultures, and between religious affiliations within cultures. In some cultures the dead are venerated; this is commonly called ancestor worship. The word funeral comes from the Latin funus, which had a variety of meanings, including the corpse and the funerary rites themselves.

Funeral rites are as old as the human race itself, as well as other hominids. For example, in the Shanidar cave in Iraq, Neanderthal skeletons have been discovered with a characteristic layer of pollen, which suggests that Neanderthals buried the dead with gifts of flowers. This has been interpreted as suggesting that Neanderthals believed in an afterlife, and in any case were aware of their own mortality and were capable of mourning." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Forword; Acknowledgment; The Provisions Of Nature; Death Warnings--when Does Death Take Place?; Preparation For Burial, Coffins, ''grave-goods,'' Suttee; Wakes, Mutes, Wailers, Sin-eating, Totemism, Death-taxes; Bells, Mourning; Funeral Feasts And Processions; Early Burial-places; Churchyards, Cemeteries, Orientation And Other Burial Customs; Trees, Flowers, Body-snatching; Plague; State And Public Funerals; Cremation, Embalming; In Memoriam; Memorials, Epitaphs, Rings And Mourning Cards

Genres: Nonfiction, Death

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[MKF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being published in 1926 it was a bit surprising to realize a lot of this information is still being used in modern publishings. Mainly it was focused on customs from the United Kingdom but Bertram Puckle does a wonderful job of covering customs from around the world as well. He did a wonderful job of researching the history and it was a fascinating read though some are hard to validiate. Still this is a great book!

[Emily W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why hello, new desert island book. Because I would never get tired of the weirdness (exploding heart reliquary!) and outdated curmudgeonly pagan-sniping. For what it is, it's a gem.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as I can tell this is the only book Bertram Saward Puckle ever wrote. There are tons of interesting tidbits culled from folklore and the classics, giving the impression Puckle was a fairly well-educated, if self-educated, guy. It is fairly encyclopedic, if dated by some of the Victorian-era assumptions. He has some of the Victorian prejudices you'd expect from a British author of the 1920s -- against the "lower classes," against Continentals, against nonwhites, and so on. He has a bit of an axe to grind with the funeral & undertaking industry, which is understandable. He is also very taken with the supposed "discoveries" of the spiritualists and occultists who were having a sort of renaissance between the world wars, which gives some of asides a quaint charm. He also spends a fair amount of time debating the pros and cons of cremation, which was still a subject of controversy in his time.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts were interesting but some dragged on too much especially when referencing royalty.

[s · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange little book. Lots of info about customs in the UK, US, and other places as well. Interesting tidbits.

[Loyalhistorian · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little read. Originally published in 1926. It gave a small taste of various customs and funerary traditions, and how ancient superstitions influenced them. For such a small book, it was pretty good, but it left me wanting to know more. There were many, many times the author would go into a subject and then wouldn't expound on it. I'm definitely going to need a more in-depth book now that my interest is piqued. My other complaint was how opinionated the author was throughout the book. When he didn't like something or thought it was kitsch, he let you know. As a historian, it's not your job to present your opinions, only the facts, and then let the reader decide for themselves. So that bothered me.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anything you wanted to know from the strange and interesting to the outright bizarre history in how we mourn our dead.

[Mary Keroson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A history lesson on funeral traditions through the ages.