4 ms·

I like reading (esp. Observer and Economist) and writing obituaries. When I was working for Reuters, I saw how they have draft obituaries ready for all living

by jll29 2y ago

I like reading (esp. Observer and Economist) and writing obituaries. When I was working for Reuters, I saw how they have draft obituaries ready for all living celebrities, which have to be constantly updated -- until folks actually pass away. The purpose is to be able to post obituaries within seconds after a person's death. At some point I designed an API for them to order people by the "update-worthiness" of their obitary drafts: using features like age, popularity, rate of change. It is a healthy practice not to ignore/block out death but to make it part of one's life; society forgot that in recent decades (e.g. we no longer keep the departed at home for relatives to get used to the fact that they are no longer alive, but still be able to look at them when mourning).

voisin 2y ago
> e.g. we no longer keep the departed at home for relatives to get used to the fact that they are no longer alive, but still be able to look at them when mourning What was this practice called? It sounds interesting.
- r_p4rk 2y ago
  In Ireland, they are called a wake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony)
  - patrickwalton 2y ago
    That Wikipedia page says viewings are basically the same as a wake. Are viewings not common in the U.S? They're common in Utah. When my dad died, before the viewing there was the period right after death where my siblings and I sat in the room with his body and talked until the mortuary picked him up.
    - QuarterReptile 2y ago
      My suspicion is that the proliferation of cremation has significantly reduced the incidence of wakes. That, and US American society has so much functional separation that most of us probably interact very little with the elderly, thus also not ending up at many funerals.
    - prettyStandard 2y ago
      I'm from the Southeastern US. They seem pretty common here.
  - voisin 2y ago
    We have wakes and visitations in Canada too, but they are held at funeral homes for brief periods - not in the home of the deceased or a loved one. I think this might be the same as the Jewish ritual of “sitting shiva”?? But I am not sure.
- QuarterReptile 2y ago
  I couldn't quite follow the wording, but it sounded like open-casket visitation, but at home instead of a funeral home.
  - voisin 2y ago
    Yes I agree. Was this a common ritual anytime recently in North America? I have heard of it back in the 1800s but only ever heard of funeral homes for visitations anytime more recently.
- smitelli 2y ago
  Possibly “visitation” in the American south, unless I’m misremembering or misinterpreting the parent comment.
  - voisin 2y ago
    Are visitations held inside a private home? We have them in Canada but they are invariably (in my experience) held in a funeral home.
- petercooper 2y ago
  One of my dad's oft-told stories is of having his grandmother "in the living room" overnight prior to her funeral. He didn't use a particular term for it but said he found it quite terrifying as a 4-5 year old at the time. (This would be in the 1950s in the UK.)
satori99 2y ago
> draft obituaries ready for all living celebrities, which have to be constantly updated I was responsible for doing this for a news radio network 30 years ago. Mostly I was able to stay on top of things, but Princess Diana really ruined my weekend. No-one was ready for that one.
- MSM 2y ago
  I'm very curious to know if you had an obituary written up for Princess Diana already, or did you only have them written up for celebrities that were "at risk"? Was there any kind of cutoff in terms of age? Were there obituaries maintained for child actors and singers? So many questions but it's a very interesting topic!
  - satori99 2y ago
    Typically, they were managed based on level of fame, health, and age. Any notable persons named in recent news reports for matters of health were kept near the top of the pile. There was nothing pre-prepared for Princess Diana's death as she was just too young and healthy, despite her incredible fame.
Hard_Space 2y ago
My grandfather was a newspaper journalist all his life. When he retired, he took a side-gig back with the paper updating obituaries.
ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
When watching the updated Shōgun, I was struck by how absolutely casual everyone was, about death; both the death of others, and their own. I assume that was a cultural trait of the time. It does not seem to be so much so, these days. I was raised in Africa, and was quite familiar with death -frequently violent death, at an early age. We live in privileged times, where we have the luxury of not thinking about death.
- mbonnet 2y ago
  When I lived in Sierra Leone, a common Christmas carol translated to "Merry Christmas, we didn't die".
bogosmith 2y ago
In Bulgaria walls like this one are really common. https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:ObituariesontheWall.jpg https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%BE...
- keiferski 2y ago
  For anyone interested in these, I visited Bulgaria last year and wrote about them: https://onthearts.com/p/the-necrologs-of-bulgaria https://onthearts.com/p/the-necrologs-of-bulgaria

by jll29 2y ago

voisin 2y ago

> e.g. we no longer keep the departed at home for relatives to get used to the fact that they are no longer alive, but still be able to look at them when mourning What was this practice called? It sounds interesting.

r_p4rk 2y ago
In Ireland, they are called a wake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony)
- patrickwalton 2y ago
  That Wikipedia page says viewings are basically the same as a wake. Are viewings not common in the U.S? They're common in Utah. When my dad died, before the viewing there was the period right after death where my siblings and I sat in the room with his body and talked until the mortuary picked him up.
  - QuarterReptile 2y ago
    My suspicion is that the proliferation of cremation has significantly reduced the incidence of wakes. That, and US American society has so much functional separation that most of us probably interact very little with the elderly, thus also not ending up at many funerals.
  - prettyStandard 2y ago
    I'm from the Southeastern US. They seem pretty common here.
- voisin 2y ago
  We have wakes and visitations in Canada too, but they are held at funeral homes for brief periods - not in the home of the deceased or a loved one. I think this might be the same as the Jewish ritual of “sitting shiva”?? But I am not sure.
QuarterReptile 2y ago
I couldn't quite follow the wording, but it sounded like open-casket visitation, but at home instead of a funeral home.
- voisin 2y ago
  Yes I agree. Was this a common ritual anytime recently in North America? I have heard of it back in the 1800s but only ever heard of funeral homes for visitations anytime more recently.
smitelli 2y ago
Possibly “visitation” in the American south, unless I’m misremembering or misinterpreting the parent comment.
- voisin 2y ago
  Are visitations held inside a private home? We have them in Canada but they are invariably (in my experience) held in a funeral home.
petercooper 2y ago
One of my dad's oft-told stories is of having his grandmother "in the living room" overnight prior to her funeral. He didn't use a particular term for it but said he found it quite terrifying as a 4-5 year old at the time. (This would be in the 1950s in the UK.)

satori99 2y ago

> draft obituaries ready for all living celebrities, which have to be constantly updated I was responsible for doing this for a news radio network 30 years ago. Mostly I was able to stay on top of things, but Princess Diana really ruined my weekend. No-one was ready for that one.

MSM 2y ago
I'm very curious to know if you had an obituary written up for Princess Diana already, or did you only have them written up for celebrities that were "at risk"? Was there any kind of cutoff in terms of age? Were there obituaries maintained for child actors and singers? So many questions but it's a very interesting topic!
- satori99 2y ago
  Typically, they were managed based on level of fame, health, and age. Any notable persons named in recent news reports for matters of health were kept near the top of the pile. There was nothing pre-prepared for Princess Diana's death as she was just too young and healthy, despite her incredible fame.

Hard_Space 2y ago

My grandfather was a newspaper journalist all his life. When he retired, he took a side-gig back with the paper updating obituaries.

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago

When watching the updated Shōgun, I was struck by how absolutely casual everyone was, about death; both the death of others, and their own. I assume that was a cultural trait of the time. It does not seem to be so much so, these days. I was raised in Africa, and was quite familiar with death -frequently violent death, at an early age. We live in privileged times, where we have the luxury of not thinking about death.

mbonnet 2y ago
When I lived in Sierra Leone, a common Christmas carol translated to "Merry Christmas, we didn't die".

bogosmith 2y ago

In Bulgaria walls like this one are really common. https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:ObituariesontheWall.jpg https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%BE...

keiferski 2y ago
For anyone interested in these, I visited Bulgaria last year and wrote about them: https://onthearts.com/p/the-necrologs-of-bulgaria https://onthearts.com/p/the-necrologs-of-bulgaria