At funerals in ancient China, when the lid of the coffin was closed, mourners took a few steps backward lest their shadows get caught in the box.
For the ancients, the burial of the fallen in the aftermath of battle was an important factor in army morale. The historian, Livy , related the story of Philip V of Macedonia (238-179 BC) who gave a number of fallen cavalrymen a public funeral in the hope that this would make his army more amenable to fight.
When Alexander the Great’s dearest friend Hephaestion died, Alexander threw him a lavish funeral worth around £1,500,000,000. Alexander himself drove the funeral carriage part of the way back to Babylon with some of the driving entrusted to Hephaestion's friend Perdiccas. At Babylon funeral games were held in Hephaestion's honor.
The Greeks, Egyptians and Romans used celery in funerals where it was made into garlands.
When Jewish people wanted to express their sympathy at the death of someone they loved, they didn't send flowers or wreaths to the funeral, but instead they had glass bottles, about four inches high, which they would hold under their eyes and weep into. They would then send the bottle of tears to the bereaved relatives as an expression of sympathy.
In parts of medieval Europe, it was customary to let bread dough rise on a dead person's chest, then serve the baked bread at their funeral.
The 1700s American businessman Lord Timothy Dexter faked his own death, but after attending his own funeral and not seeing his wife cry, revealed himself and caned her for not grieving hard enough.
Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of a widow's self-immolation on her husband's pyre, was prohibited in parts of British India on December 4, 1829. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a prominent Indian social reformer and the founder of the Brahmo Samaj in the early 19th century, played a crucial role in campaigning against the practice of Sati. Roy had argued that sati was not only a cruel and inhumane practice, but also that it was not sanctioned by Hindu scriptures. He had also pointed out that sati was often forced upon widows by their families, who feared the social stigma and financial burden of having a widow in the household.
For the ancients, the burial of the fallen in the aftermath of battle was an important factor in army morale. The historian, Livy , related the story of Philip V of Macedonia (238-179 BC) who gave a number of fallen cavalrymen a public funeral in the hope that this would make his army more amenable to fight.
When Alexander the Great’s dearest friend Hephaestion died, Alexander threw him a lavish funeral worth around £1,500,000,000. Alexander himself drove the funeral carriage part of the way back to Babylon with some of the driving entrusted to Hephaestion's friend Perdiccas. At Babylon funeral games were held in Hephaestion's honor.
The Greeks, Egyptians and Romans used celery in funerals where it was made into garlands.
When Jewish people wanted to express their sympathy at the death of someone they loved, they didn't send flowers or wreaths to the funeral, but instead they had glass bottles, about four inches high, which they would hold under their eyes and weep into. They would then send the bottle of tears to the bereaved relatives as an expression of sympathy.
In parts of medieval Europe, it was customary to let bread dough rise on a dead person's chest, then serve the baked bread at their funeral.
The 1700s American businessman Lord Timothy Dexter faked his own death, but after attending his own funeral and not seeing his wife cry, revealed himself and caned her for not grieving hard enough.
Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of a widow's self-immolation on her husband's pyre, was prohibited in parts of British India on December 4, 1829. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, a prominent Indian social reformer and the founder of the Brahmo Samaj in the early 19th century, played a crucial role in campaigning against the practice of Sati. Roy had argued that sati was not only a cruel and inhumane practice, but also that it was not sanctioned by Hindu scriptures. He had also pointed out that sati was often forced upon widows by their families, who feared the social stigma and financial burden of having a widow in the household.
The first motorized hearse was built by the Daimler Motor Company. It was used for the first time to transport the body of the company's employee, Dr. John Henry Knight, to his final resting place on April 14, 1901. The hearse was powered by a 6 horsepower engine and was capable of reaching speeds of up to 16 miles per hour.
Martha Wise (1884–1971) was an American woman who confessed to poisoning seventeen family members with arsenic, killing three, in 1924. She was convicted of one of the murders. Wise said she poisoned them because she was irresistibly drawn to funerals and there weren't enough in her town.
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| 1907 Hearse. http://www.daimler.co.uk/html/Cars/daimler/commercial.html |
Martha Wise (1884–1971) was an American woman who confessed to poisoning seventeen family members with arsenic, killing three, in 1924. She was convicted of one of the murders. Wise said she poisoned them because she was irresistibly drawn to funerals and there weren't enough in her town.
Finland used a lot of resources and logistics during World War II to bring the fallen to their home parishes for a proper funeral, instead of using mass graves in the battlefield.
Rock singer Janis Joplin's will stipulated that $2500 go to throwing a hard-partying funeral for her. The funeral was held at the Lion’s Share, a popular rock venue in San Anselmo, California, which had hosted many of Joplin’s gigs at and many of her musician friends performed. The 300 attendees got drunk and partied hard.
The funeral scene in Richard Attenborough’s 1982 movie Gandhi lasted just 125 seconds but involved more than 300,000 extras to play the mourners.
The Queen Mother once turned up unannounced to watch a top-secret rehearsal of her own funeral.
A robot that can be hired to recite funeral rites was unveiled in 2017 at Tokyo’s Life Ending Funeral Expo.
The funeral scene in Richard Attenborough’s 1982 movie Gandhi lasted just 125 seconds but involved more than 300,000 extras to play the mourners.
The Queen Mother once turned up unannounced to watch a top-secret rehearsal of her own funeral.
A robot that can be hired to recite funeral rites was unveiled in 2017 at Tokyo’s Life Ending Funeral Expo.
In the Netherlands, if you die and have no next of kin, friends or family to attend your funeral, they will send a poet who shall read a custom poem for you at your funeral so that you won’t be alone that day. It was started by Dutch poet and poet and prosaic F Starik and is named "The Lonely Funeral" project.
The Arlington Ladies are a group of volunteers that attend funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery to ensure that no Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Coast Guardsman is buried alone.
Magpies have been observed taking part in elaborate grieving rituals, which have been likened to human funerals, including laying grass wreaths.
The Arlington Ladies are a group of volunteers that attend funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery to ensure that no Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Coast Guardsman is buried alone.
Magpies have been observed taking part in elaborate grieving rituals, which have been likened to human funerals, including laying grass wreaths.
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