5 ms·
> 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 mourni
by 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 agoIn Ireland, they are called a wake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony)
- patrickwalton 2y agoThat 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 agoMy 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 agoI'm from the Southeastern US. They seem pretty common here.
- voisin 2y agoWe 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 agoI couldn't quite follow the wording, but it sounded like open-casket visitation, but at home instead of a funeral home.
- voisin 2y agoYes 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 agoPossibly “visitation” in the American south, unless I’m misremembering or misinterpreting the parent comment.
- voisin 2y agoAre 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 agoOne 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.)