Another Funeral/Celebration of Life/Whatever

[Mr Guitar]

To keep peace in the family, I was pretty much forced to attend another Southern Baptist "Celebration of Life" today. Just another episode of folks trying to convince themselves of some sort of afterlife and everything will be OK sometime, maybe, and Jesus will fix it all, etc, etc, etc. Another hour gone that I'll never be able to  get back - very hard to sit through. I plan to leave FIRM instructions on what to do with me when I cease to function and it won't involve any of what I was forced to endure today.

[Guyver]

41 minutes ago, Mr Guitar said:

To keep peace in the family, I was pretty much forced to attend another Southern Baptist "Celebration of Life" today. Just another episode of folks trying to convince themselves of some sort of afterlife and everything will be OK sometime, maybe, and Jesus will fix it all, etc, etc, etc. Another hour gone that I'll never be able to  get back - very hard to sit through. I plan to leave FIRM instructions on what to do with me when I cease to function and it won't involve any of what I was forced to endure today.

It only took an hour?  Win.  I have to attend a charity “dancing with the stars” function next Saturday night and considering the one hour each way drive, and some time with the in laws, this shin dig’s gonna take five.  

Although I must admit the baptist hour is way more hard core, and it may have felt like six hours.  You probably wanted to stab yourself in the face after 15 minutes lol.

[Piney]

9 hours ago, Goddess of the Mist said:

Yeah I'm not a fan of all that either.  I plan something like in the article below, pick a pretty spot for the tree to grow. Whoever wants to show up can, and Overkill's "Nice Day For a Funeral" playing in the background. 

We have "green burials" at our Quaker Meeting. We have a large wooded lot where your ashes fertilize a tree and the only marker is on the map in the Meetinghouse. 

[Mr Guitar]

4 hours ago, Piney said:

We have "green burials" at our Quaker Meeting. We have a large wooded lot where your ashes fertilize a tree and the only marker is on the map in the Meetinghouse. 

Pretty cool!

[Tatetopa]

Aw man, I was hoping for a full Viking boat burial; laid out in a drift boat in my armor with my sword, ax,  seax, spear,  and shield.  My box of woodworking tools which also served as a rowing bench at my feet and my head pillowed by fine red silk I picked up in Xian during my foray to the Eastern lands. Alas, not very environmentally conscious I suppose.   Maybe just chunk some of my ashes in the caldera at Mt. St. Helens.  Might lead to a broad future dispersal.

[Podo]

My grandmother's funeral was similar, it was an hour or so of a priest droning on and on about how her death was somehow a positive thing. He didn't talk about her, he didn't talk about her family, he just talked about himself, his deity, and his stupid religion. It was one of the worst, least personal things I've ever had the misfortune of attending. I feel your pain. 

On 2019-03-18 at 5:56 AM, Piney said:

We have "green burials" at our Quaker Meeting. We have a large wooded lot where your ashes fertilize a tree and the only marker is on the map in the Meetinghouse. 

That sounds great! Count me in. Eventually. 

[danydandan]

1 hour ago, Podo said:

My grandmother's funeral was similar, it was an hour or so of a priest droning on and on about how her death was somehow a positive thing. He didn't talk about her, he didn't talk about her family, he just talked about himself, his deity, and his stupid religion. It was one of the worst, least personal things I've ever had the misfortune of attending. I feel your pain. 

That sounds great! Count me in. Eventually. 

In Ireland we have the Wake, it's probably more important than the funeral. 

An Irish wake is the celebration of the loved ones life. It's basically a giant p*** up, where your whole family, community, friends and who ever else comes to celebrate. I love our tradition of this. The family will stay up all night with the family member who died, taking the p*** out of each other, drinking, having the craic, telling stories, seeing people they haven't seen in ages, it's a great craic altogether. 

The majority of Catholic funerals I've been to, involved a tremendous hangover (because of the wake), after the funeral and burial, it was to cure the hangover with more drink. So basically a good Irish funeral isn't a somber, sad or morbid affair. It's a celebration of life. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by danydandan

[Podo]

27 minutes ago, danydandan said:

In Ireland we have the Wake, it's probably more important than the funeral. 

An Irish wake is the celebration of the loved ones life. It's basically a giant p*** up, where your whole family, community, friends and who ever else comes to celebrate. I love our tradition of this. The family will stay up all night with the family member who died, taking the p*** out of each other, drinking, having the craic, telling stories, seeing people they haven't seen in ages, it's a great craic altogether. 

The majority of Catholic funerals I've been to, involved a tremendous hangover (because of the wake), after the funeral and burial, it was to cure the hangover with more drink. So basically a good Irish funeral isn't a somber, sad or morbid affair. It's a celebration of life. 

As it should be! I like the sound of that a lot

[Grandpa Greenman]

Last time I went to a Christian burial I swore never again. .  My Pagan friends hold more of a wake.  We do a circle in the woods with a fire, drumming, dancing, drink and food. Usually put some of the ashes or something that belonged person in the fire pit, so they remain part of the community.  Celebrate the person's life. Y'all come and dance at my funeral.

 

[Mr Walker]

On 18/03/2019 at 1:18 PM, Mr Guitar said:

To keep peace in the family, I was pretty much forced to attend another Southern Baptist "Celebration of Life" today. Just another episode of folks trying to convince themselves of some sort of afterlife and everything will be OK sometime, maybe, and Jesus will fix it all, etc, etc, etc. Another hour gone that I'll never be able to  get back - very hard to sit through. I plan to leave FIRM instructions on what to do with me when I cease to function and it won't involve any of what I was forced to endure today.

Fair enough, but once you are dead your wishes have no legal binding (at least in Australia  ) and your   executors can do as the y wish

You should not feel compelled to attend a funeral, but then again you should want to go if you cared about the  deceased.

  you are lucky it was only an hour.  Secular funerals in Australia often  go for a couple, with music,  media   presentations of the deceased's life, from birth to death, eulogies, poems  and words from  relatives, and friends.

  This is generally  followed by a slap up meal and drinks, which can ease your pain.  

I've given instructions for my own, written my own eulogy (as my mother did for hers) and ordered that most of the expense goes on providing refreshments to encourage people to stay around and chat.  Funerals here can bring people from  thousands of miles away who haven't seen each other for years 

A good one for a few hundred people only costs between 5000 and 10000 dollars, all inclusive, which is a lot cheaper than a wedding  

 

in 2018 the average cost of a funeral in Australia was 7500 dollars. 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Mr Walker