Traditional Funeral Service
Within the U.S., a traditional funeral has been popular throughout the centuries. Although funeral services are no longer held at the home of the deceased as they once were, not much else has changed in the traditional service. Within a traditional service, the deceased is present in a casket. Usually, a visitation or reviewal is held the night before the service. Funeral services typically take place at a church or at a funeral home. Following the service, the body is then interred into the ground, entombed, or cremated.
If families choose to have public reviewal the deceased would have to be embalmed. Embalming is the process by which the body fluids are replaced by a preservative chemical. Not only a means of temporarily preserving the body, embalming is a protective measure to provide sanitary conditions for the health of the public. There are other cases in which the body, according to Minnesota state law, must be embalmed: if final disposition will not take place within 72 hours from the time of death; if the body is to be transported by public transport; or if the commissioner of health requires it for control of infectious disease. Reviewal is very beneficial, if one was not able to see his or her loved one at the time of death, it may be hard to accept the fact that the death has really occurred. Seeing the body in a state void of life confirms the truth. Once denial, a stage of death that is most often unavoidable by those who mourn, is conquered, it can become a bit easier to move through grief's agonizing steps. Although viewing the body of the deceased, and having the casket open, is helpful, not everyone chooses to have an open casket. Even if the casket is closed, that too can be considered a traditional funeral service.
Although typically, traditional services can still have a non religious ceremony. The ceremony echoes the deceased's wishes, the family's wants and needs, and the clergy's input. We as funeral directors, help coordinate and organize the service. After the ceremony the body in the casket will be buried, entombed, or cremated.