3 ms·

Exactly. Someone I know recently passed away in the UK and they held the funeral service almost two weeks later. This was a surprise to me because where I come

by kijin 8y ago

Exactly. Someone I know recently passed away in the UK and they held the funeral service almost two weeks later. This was a surprise to me because where I come from (Korea), everything is over in 2-3 days. That's long enough for relatives to gather even if they're halfway around the world, but short enough for basic cleaning and a refrigerator to keep the body in relatively good shape. We call it a three-day funeral, but the process can sometimes take as little as 36 hours (death in the evening of first day, burial/cremation in the morning of third day). I think the short funeral also helps the bereaved return to normalcy sooner. There's no time to get used to the funerary mood. You're expected back at work/school/etc. by the fourth day.

dmichulke 8y ago
To support your point - the Grand Duke of Luxembourg just died (April 23) and was buried May 4.
- camelNotation 8y ago
  That's so weird. Consider what is really going on there. 1. They are removing all of this guys body fluids and injecting him with weird preservatives. He's been drained like a hunted animal and is puffed up with fake juices. 2. This person died and they are extending the time between death and burial for the convenience of those attending the funeral, because the death of a human being is somehow a thing we should "work into our schedule" and not expect to be TOO inconvenienced by. Like seriously? What better way to honor this guy than to be like "yeah, I know you died, but can you just hold on a sec because I really need to let my work know I won't be there for that meeting." It's so detached from the reality of what has happened.
  - kijin 8y ago
    I can understand that an exception may be made for monarchs and other prominent individuals. It takes time to organize a funeral on a national scale. For ordinary people, though, the immediate family is all who matters. To continue to Korean example I mentioned above, it is culturally accepted that you can just drop everything and leave if a family member has died. You don't work the funeral into your schedule; the funeral forces itself into your schedule whether you think you can afford to or not. I think this is a result both of the Confucian tradition (filial duty above everything else) and of the practical necessities of public health (you don't want to keep dead bodies around for too long in a hot and humid country). The flip side of being able to drop everything immediately, of course, is that you're expected back at work as soon as it's over. Either way, social norms need to support this kind of prioritizing in order for most people to adopt quick funerals.

by kijin 8y ago

dmichulke 8y ago

To support your point - the Grand Duke of Luxembourg just died (April 23) and was buried May 4.

camelNotation 8y ago
That's so weird. Consider what is really going on there. 1. They are removing all of this guys body fluids and injecting him with weird preservatives. He's been drained like a hunted animal and is puffed up with fake juices. 2. This person died and they are extending the time between death and burial for the convenience of those attending the funeral, because the death of a human being is somehow a thing we should "work into our schedule" and not expect to be TOO inconvenienced by. Like seriously? What better way to honor this guy than to be like "yeah, I know you died, but can you just hold on a sec because I really need to let my work know I won't be there for that meeting." It's so detached from the reality of what has happened.
- kijin 8y ago
  I can understand that an exception may be made for monarchs and other prominent individuals. It takes time to organize a funeral on a national scale. For ordinary people, though, the immediate family is all who matters. To continue to Korean example I mentioned above, it is culturally accepted that you can just drop everything and leave if a family member has died. You don't work the funeral into your schedule; the funeral forces itself into your schedule whether you think you can afford to or not. I think this is a result both of the Confucian tradition (filial duty above everything else) and of the practical necessities of public health (you don't want to keep dead bodies around for too long in a hot and humid country). The flip side of being able to drop everything immediately, of course, is that you're expected back at work as soon as it's over. Either way, social norms need to support this kind of prioritizing in order for most people to adopt quick funerals.