Funeral History

Every culture and civilization has attended to the proper care of their dead. The history of funeral traditions and rituals indicates that they have been an important part of how communities and individuals externalized grief for thousands of years.

National Museum Of Funeral History Tour Texas

In early america home funerals were the practice everywhere and each community had a group of women who came in to help with the laying out of the dead visitation was held in the front parlor followed by a procession to the church and cemetery.

Funeral history. The term undertaker refers to the person who under took responsibility for funeral arrangements. Every human culture ever studied has three common threads for death and the disposition of their dead. Societal norms and religious customs usually influenced these rituals.

As communities became larger and more established common cemeteries began to be used. A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse such as a burial or cremation with the attendant observances. The national museum of funeral history is an educational experience like no other and offers something for everyone.

Customs vary between cultures and religious groups. Funeral rites are as old as the human race itself. They are understood as an important means of taking care of the deceased as well as those that are coping with the loss of someone they care for.

The oldest funeral home which started as a cabinet manufacturer by anthony hay who made coffins as side line business began in 1759 in williamsburg virginia. Discover americas largest collection of authentic historical funeral service items. History of funerals in the us.

Hay turned the company over to benjamin bucktrout in the late 1700s. Until the mid 1800s most families cared. In the united states funerals have historically followed a prescribed religious ritual or had at least some religious element as part of the service.

Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead from interment to various monuments prayers and rituals undertaken in their honor. Funeral homes were later established to relieve the family of the logistical problems presented by a death. Members of a society have cared for their dead as long as history has been recorded.

1 some type of ceremony funeral rite or ritual 2 a sacred place for the dead 3 memorials for the dead. Funeral homes or parlors have been around for nearly as long as weve been a country.

National Museum Of Funeral History Houston Texas Celebrati Flickr