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Most Irish never experience a wake. I know which island is being discussed in the piece (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achill_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/w

by derriz 9y ago

Most Irish never experience a wake. I know which island is being discussed in the piece (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achill_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achill_Island). My grandparents lived there and I attended their wakes and those of other elderly relatives in the area. But even there, wakes are becoming less and common. And wakes are generally unknown in Ireland outside of relatively isolated rural areas. I suspect in a couple of decades the custom will be gone completely.

dmurray 9y ago
> Most Irish never experience a wake I wouldn't go that far. Both of my grandfathers died in the last 3 years, one in suburban Dublin, one in a large country town. Both had wakes with the body laid out and dozens or hundreds of people coming to pay their respects. I agree it's no longer the universal custom it once was, and it's dying out - or perhaps ebbing, to come back into fashion in another generation.
- derriz 9y ago
  Interesting. I've never been to a wake in a town or city - any funerals I have experienced have used an undertaker's parlour. I guess I was generalizing from personal experience but I reckon the author of the piece did a lot more generalising.
- newirish 9y ago
  Irish American on my mother’s side here. I didn’t realize wakes weren’t a thing that people did until I was an adult. There would always be an open casket, paying of respects, and a party. I find the article to be as much about the preparation for death by the dying as it is about the remembrance of those left behind. The willingness to accept it as a normal thing, a celebration of life.
52-6F-62 9y ago
My grandmother emigrated from Northern Ireland while pregnant with my mother. When she passed she requested that we have a brief wake rather than a funeral. Her brothers came in from Belfast and Kitchener (Ontario), my mom and her sister and immediate families gathered. She was burned and then we shared a meal, drinks, and shared photographs and stories. I wouldn't say it's that far gone. If there's one thing that Irish (and for that matter, Scottish) are good at it's sowing the seed, so to speak.
aidano101 9y ago
Totally disagree..wakes are very common still, at least in Catholic communities.
- protomyth 9y ago
  and with the plains tribes (cannot speak for the rest) The Dakota have a wake that starts with a car procession driving from a meeting point lead by the hearse which drives to the place of the wake[1]. It is generally a community center due to the number of people. The wake starts and goes until the next morning when a mass is held at the church. After the mass, weather permitting, the person is laid to rest in the cemetery or whatever other arrangement was made. One of the facts of life in the north land is the body might have to be stored until winter is over and they can actually dig. A year later the family and close friends have a dinner to mark the end of mourning. 1) just a matter of etiquette, when a hearse with its lights on is followed by a lot of people with their lights on and sometimes preceded by a cop (if available) approaches in the opposite direction, pull your car over to the side of the road and stop until they go by. Its polite and expected in a lot of rural communities.
lucideer 9y ago
I live in Dublin and have been to numerous wakes here, both for elderly relatives, and, unfortunately, young friends. I'm sure there are funerals without wakes, but they seem to be a component more commonly than not.
garrettheaver 9y ago
"And wakes are generally unknown in Ireland outside of relatively isolated rural areas." From where do you get that mad notion? That's not correct at all. Living in Dublin with friends from virtually every county and every single one of them would have been to wakes and not just for people of an elder generation. I'd go so far as to say it's standard practice across the country with a few isolated places where they don't.
- derriz 9y ago
  "Where do I get that mad notion?" From personal experience, that's all. Your personal experieces don't refute it - they just demonstrate that people's experiences can differ. I'm old enough to have been to many funerals all over Ireland and I've never experienced a wake as described in the piece outside of Achill. To be clear, the wake he describes involves having the body laid out in the sitting room for at least 24 hours. Having friends, neighbours, relatives and randomers traipsing in and out of the house at any time of day or night and regardless of the time, food and drink (and in the past cigarettes and tabacco) had to be offerred. Some people would assume the duty staying up all night to ensure the body was never left alone? All funerals I've been too in towns and cities have held a viewing for the deceased in a funeral home. Actually I googled it, to check if my experiences were wildly out of whack and it seem not - the top hit was https://rip.ie/article.php?AID=32 https://rip.ie/article.php?AID=32 - and it concurs with my claim that wakes are becoming less and less common and that they are rarely seen in towns and cities these days. So it seems my notion isn't so mad after all!
topranks 9y ago
It's the standard thing in my family - generations deep in Dublin. What differs is the body is normally in another room. Like everyone sessions in one room and people go in and out to pay their last respects from time to time. I think it's good, for closure and stuff. I do think your man in the article is getting way to misty eyed and being over the top though. Probably different families do it to different extents.
BjorksEgo 9y ago
I'm not sure which Ireland you're living on but its not the same one as I am. My part of the country wakes are still the norm for > 80% of deaths. I've been to dozens and I'm not even half way through my twentys.

by derriz 9y ago

dmurray 9y ago

> Most Irish never experience a wake I wouldn't go that far. Both of my grandfathers died in the last 3 years, one in suburban Dublin, one in a large country town. Both had wakes with the body laid out and dozens or hundreds of people coming to pay their respects. I agree it's no longer the universal custom it once was, and it's dying out - or perhaps ebbing, to come back into fashion in another generation.

derriz 9y ago
Interesting. I've never been to a wake in a town or city - any funerals I have experienced have used an undertaker's parlour. I guess I was generalizing from personal experience but I reckon the author of the piece did a lot more generalising.
newirish 9y ago
Irish American on my mother’s side here. I didn’t realize wakes weren’t a thing that people did until I was an adult. There would always be an open casket, paying of respects, and a party. I find the article to be as much about the preparation for death by the dying as it is about the remembrance of those left behind. The willingness to accept it as a normal thing, a celebration of life.

52-6F-62 9y ago

My grandmother emigrated from Northern Ireland while pregnant with my mother. When she passed she requested that we have a brief wake rather than a funeral. Her brothers came in from Belfast and Kitchener (Ontario), my mom and her sister and immediate families gathered. She was burned and then we shared a meal, drinks, and shared photographs and stories. I wouldn't say it's that far gone. If there's one thing that Irish (and for that matter, Scottish) are good at it's sowing the seed, so to speak.

aidano101 9y ago

Totally disagree..wakes are very common still, at least in Catholic communities.

protomyth 9y ago
and with the plains tribes (cannot speak for the rest) The Dakota have a wake that starts with a car procession driving from a meeting point lead by the hearse which drives to the place of the wake[1]. It is generally a community center due to the number of people. The wake starts and goes until the next morning when a mass is held at the church. After the mass, weather permitting, the person is laid to rest in the cemetery or whatever other arrangement was made. One of the facts of life in the north land is the body might have to be stored until winter is over and they can actually dig. A year later the family and close friends have a dinner to mark the end of mourning. 1) just a matter of etiquette, when a hearse with its lights on is followed by a lot of people with their lights on and sometimes preceded by a cop (if available) approaches in the opposite direction, pull your car over to the side of the road and stop until they go by. Its polite and expected in a lot of rural communities.

lucideer 9y ago

I live in Dublin and have been to numerous wakes here, both for elderly relatives, and, unfortunately, young friends. I'm sure there are funerals without wakes, but they seem to be a component more commonly than not.

garrettheaver 9y ago

"And wakes are generally unknown in Ireland outside of relatively isolated rural areas." From where do you get that mad notion? That's not correct at all. Living in Dublin with friends from virtually every county and every single one of them would have been to wakes and not just for people of an elder generation. I'd go so far as to say it's standard practice across the country with a few isolated places where they don't.

derriz 9y ago
"Where do I get that mad notion?" From personal experience, that's all. Your personal experieces don't refute it - they just demonstrate that people's experiences can differ. I'm old enough to have been to many funerals all over Ireland and I've never experienced a wake as described in the piece outside of Achill. To be clear, the wake he describes involves having the body laid out in the sitting room for at least 24 hours. Having friends, neighbours, relatives and randomers traipsing in and out of the house at any time of day or night and regardless of the time, food and drink (and in the past cigarettes and tabacco) had to be offerred. Some people would assume the duty staying up all night to ensure the body was never left alone? All funerals I've been too in towns and cities have held a viewing for the deceased in a funeral home. Actually I googled it, to check if my experiences were wildly out of whack and it seem not - the top hit was https://rip.ie/article.php?AID=32 https://rip.ie/article.php?AID=32 - and it concurs with my claim that wakes are becoming less and less common and that they are rarely seen in towns and cities these days. So it seems my notion isn't so mad after all!

topranks 9y ago

It's the standard thing in my family - generations deep in Dublin. What differs is the body is normally in another room. Like everyone sessions in one room and people go in and out to pay their last respects from time to time. I think it's good, for closure and stuff. I do think your man in the article is getting way to misty eyed and being over the top though. Probably different families do it to different extents.

BjorksEgo 9y ago

I'm not sure which Ireland you're living on but its not the same one as I am. My part of the country wakes are still the norm for > 80% of deaths. I've been to dozens and I'm not even half way through my twentys.