Themed funerals are becoming more of a thing and i attended one's where everyone was asked to wear Christmas jumpers and you walked in behind the coffin to the sounds of Mariah Carey singing she wishes it could be Christmas everyday and as solemn and miserable an occasion it was, it did seem to make it more of a celebration of the persons personality than a staid and conventional funeral.
It wasn't to everybody's tastes, the traditional view amongst some is that funerals are meant to be sombre, austere and joyless but it seems the days of the traditional funeral may be coming to an end, the last one i went to actually called it a FUN-eral and stipulated no black clothing and bring along your funniest antidote for the wake afterwards.
It may not please the church and it was apparently quite a job to get a vicar willing to oversee the proceedings that insisted no tears, no dwelling on loss and it was a gathering to rejoice and have a good laugh at what happened when she was alive but if vicars are not happy donning a Snowman jumper then they are really going to struggle with wearing a Darth Vader mask and doing the sermon in the voice of the Dark Lord of the Sith which was one request revealed in the funeral directors list of the funerals they are being asked to facilitate.
Some of the deceased's wished their funerals to have a sci-fi and fantasy theme, with others asking mourners to show up in suspenders and stilettos for a Rocky Horror-themed ceremony.
There was a request by a naturist for everyone to be naked and there are a growing number of requests for 'Santa' to officiate and to conga out of the ceremony.
Mark Screeton, CEO at SunLife said: 'Over the past 20 years we have seen more and more great examples of how people make their loved ones funerals really personal' and i think it is a great idea because the last funeral was certainly a celebration of my friends personality, i have never laughed so much at a funeral but it is hard not to raise a smile when a coffin made to look like a mobile phone disappears behind a curtain to the sounds of Celine Dion singing 'My Heart Will Go On'.
Friday 5 April 2024
Putting The Fun Into Funerals
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3 comments:
funerals are for the living, not the deceased. if the deceased wants a party, why not have a party.
back in 1995, a co-worker got pancreatic cancer (sudden death). he was famous for wearing outlandish clothing at work - lime green shirt, lime green pants, and lime green patent leather shoes. this was at a financial services company (conservative) where the other men were wearing dark suits and red ties.
he wanted people to dress casually (jeans in texas) and bright colors at his service, so I wore a bright green shirt and blue jeans. i really stood out as the others generally ignored his request.
people are people.
I like the idea of saying goodbye in the manner the deceased would have wanted to reflect their personality. I know some people don’t like it and prefer the traditional but I am all for it.
yeah, agree with you on this one.
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