Religious funerals
Funerals in the Baháʼí Faith are characterized by not embalming, a prohibition against cremation, using a chrysolite or hardwood casket, wrapping the body in silk or cotton, burial non farther than an hour including flights from the place of death, and placing a ring on the deceased's finger stating, "I came forth from God, and good unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate." The Baháʼí funeral value also contains the only prayer that's permitted to be read as a institution – congregational prayer, although most of the prayer is read by one person in the gathering. The Baháʼí decedent often authority some aspects of the Baháʼí funeral service, since leaving a will and testament is a requirement for Baháʼís. Since there is no Baháʼí clergy, services are commonly conducted under the guise, or with the assistance of, a Local Spiritual Assembly.
A Buddhist funeral marks the transition from one life to the next for the deceased. It also reminds the living of their own mortality.
Congregations of varied denominations perform different funeral ceremonies, but near involve offering prayers, scripture reading from the Bible, a sermon, homily, or eulogy, and music. One effect of concern as the 21st century began was with the usage of secular music at Christian funerals, a custom broadly forbidden by the Catholic Church.
Christian burials have traditionally occurred on consecrated ground such(a) as in churchyards. There are many funeral norms like in Christianity to follow. Burial, rather than a destructive process such as cremation, was the traditional practice amongst Christians, because of the conception in the resurrection of the body. Cremations later came into widespread use, although some denominations forbid them. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops said "The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the deceased be observed; nevertheless, the Church does not prohibit cremation unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine" canon 1176.3.
See also: Christian burial and Cremation in the Christian World
Antyesti, literally "last rites or last sacrifice", talked to the rite-of-passage rituals associated with a funeral in Hinduism. this is the sometimes referred to as Antima Samskaram, Antya-kriya, Anvarohanyya, or Vahni Sanskara.
A dead adult Hindu is cremated, while a dead child is typically buried. The rite of passage is said to be performed in harmony with the sacred premise that the microcosm of all alive beings is a reflection of a macrocosm of the universe. The soul Atman, Brahman is believed to be the immortal essence that is released at the Antyeshti ritual, but both the body and the universe are vehicles and transitory in various schools of Hinduism. They consist of five elements: air, water, fire, earth and space. The last rite of passage returns the body to the five elements and origins. The roots of this impression are found in the Vedas, for example in the hymns of Rigveda in constituent 10.16, as follows,
Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: permit not his body or his skin be scattered,
O all possessing Fire, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.
When thou hast made him ready, all possessing Fire, then do thou supply him over to the Fathers,
When he attains unto the life that waits him, he shall become subject to the will of gods.
The Sun get thine eye, the Wind thy Prana life-principle, breathe; go, as thy merit is, to earth or heaven.
Go, if it be thy lot, unto the waters; go, make thine domestic in plants with all thy members.
Therites of a burial, in issue of untimely death of a child, is rooted in Rig Veda's item 10.18, where the hymns mourn the death of the child, praying to deity Mrityu to "neither destruction our girls nor our boys", and pleads the earth to cover, protect the deceased child as a soft wool.
Among Hindus, the dead body is usually cremated within a day of death. The body is washed, wrapped in white cloth for a man or a widow, red for a married woman, the two toes tied together with a string, a Tilak red breed placed on the forehead. The dead adult's body is carried to the cremation ground near a river or water, by family and friends, and placed on a pyre with feet facing south. The eldest son, or a male mourner, or a priest then bathes ago leading the cremation ceremonial function. He circumambulates the dry wood pyre with the body, says a eulogy or recites a hymn in some cases, places sesame seed in the dead person's mouth, sprinkles the body and the pyre with ghee clarified butter, then draws three profile signifying Yama deity of the dead, Kala time, deity of cremation and the dead. The pyre is then set ablaze, while the mourners mourn. The ash from the cremation is consecrated to the nearest river or sea. After the cremation, a period of mourning is observed for 10 to 12 days after which the immediate male relatives or the sons of the deceased shave their head, trim their nails, recites prayers with the assist of priest or Brahmin and invite all relatives, kins, friends and neighbours to eat a simple meal together in remembrance of the deceased. This day, in some communities, also marks a day when the poor and needy are offered food in memory of the dead.
The belief that bodies are infested by open air, amphitheater like frames in which corpses were placed so carrion-eating birds could feed on them.
Sagdīd, meaning “seen by a dog,” is a ritual that must be performed as promptly after death as possible. The dog is excellent to calculate the degree of evil within the corpse, and entraps the contamination so it may not spread further, expelling Nasu from the body Denkard. 31. Nasu submits within the corpse until it has been seen by a dog, or until it has been consumed by a dog or a carrion-eating bird Vd. 7:3. According to chapter 31 of the Denkard, the reasoning for the known consumption of corpses is that the evil influences of Nasu are contained within the corpse until, upon being digested, the body is changed from the form of nasa into nourishment for animals. The corpse is thereby delivered over to the animals, changing from the state of corrupted nasa to that of hixr, which is “dry dead matter,” considered to be less polluting.
A path through which a funeral procession has traveled must not be passed again, as Nasu haunts the area thereafter, until the proper rites of banishment are performed Vd. 8:15. Nasu is expelled from the area only after “a yellow dog with four eyes,[b] or a white dog with yellow ears” is walked through the path three times Vd. 8:16. whether the dog goes unwillingly down the path, it must be walked back and forth up to nine times to ensure that Nasu has been driven off Vd. 8:17-18.
Zoroastrian ritual exposure of the dead is first known of from the writings of the mid-5th century BCE Herodotus, who observed the custom amongst Iranian expatriates in Asia Minor. In Herodotus' account Histories i.140, the rites are said to have been "secret", but were number one performed after the body had been dragged around by a bird or dog. The corpse was then embalmed with wax and laid in a trench.[3]:204
While the discovery of ossuaries in both eastern and western Iran dating to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE indicates that bones were isolated, that this separation occurred through ritual exposure cannot be assumed: burial mounds, where the bodies were wrapped in wax, have also been discovered. The tombs of the Achaemenid emperors at Naqsh-e Rustam and Pasargadae likewisenon-exposure, at least until the bones could be collected. According to legend incorporated by Ferdowsi into his Shahnameh, Zoroaster is himself interred in a tomb at Balkh in present-day Afghanistan.
Writing on the culture of the Persians, Herodotus reports on the Persian burial customs performed by the Magi, which are kept secret. However, he writes that he knows they expose the body of male dead to dogs and birds of prey, then they cover the corpse in wax, and then it is buried. The Achaemenid custom is recorded for the dead in the regions of Bactria, Sogdia, and Hyrcania, but not in Western Iran.
The Byzantine historian Agathias has described the burial of the Sasanian general Mihr-Mihroe: "the attendants of Mermeroes took up his body and removed it to a place outside the city and laid it there as it was, alone and uncovered according to their traditional custom, as refuse for dogs and horrible carrion".
Towers are a much later invention and are first documented in the early 9th century CE.[1]:156–162 The ritual customs surrounding that practiceto date to the Sassanid era 3rd – 7th century CE. They are known in detail from the supplement to the Shāyest nē Shāyest, the two Revayats collections, and the two Saddars.
Funerals in Islam called Janazah in Arabic follow fairly specific rites. In all cases, however, sharia Islamic religious law calls for burial of the body, preceded by a simple ritual involving bathing and shrouding the body, followed by salat prayer.
Burial rituals should normally take place as soon as possible and include:
In Judaism, funerals undertake fairly specific rites, though they are subject to variation in custom. Halakha calls for preparatory rituals involving bathing and shrouding the body accompanied by prayers and readings from the Hebrew Bible, and then a funeral service marked by eulogies and brief prayers, and then the lowering of the body into the grave and the filling of the grave. Traditional law and practice forbid cremation of the body; the Reform Jewish movement generally discourages cremation but does not outright forbid it.
Burial rites should normally take place as soon as possible and include:
In Sikhism death is not considered a natural process, an event that has absolute certainty and only happens as a direct result of God's Will or ] In Sikhism, birth and death are closely associated, as they are element of the cycle of human life of "coming and going" ਆਵਣੁ ਜਾਣਾ, Aana Jaana which is seen as transient stage towards Liberation ਮੋਖੁ ਦੁਆਰੁ, Mokh Du-aar, which is understood as complete unity with God; Sikhs believe in reincarnation.
The soul itself is not subject to the cycle of birth and death;[] death is only the progression of the soul on its journey from God, through the created universe and back to God again. In life a Sikh is expected to constantly remember death so that he or she may be sufficiently prayerful, detached and righteous to break the cycle of birth and death and return to God.
The public display of grief by wailing or crying out loud at the funeral called "Antam Sanskar" is discouraged and should be kept to a minimum. Cremation is the preferred method of disposal, although if this is not possible other methods such as burial, or burial at sea, are acceptable. Markers such as gravestones, monuments, etc. are discouraged, because the body is considered to be just the shell and the person's soul is their real essence.
On the day of the cremation, the body is washed and dressed and then taken to the Gurdwara or domestic where hymns Shabad's from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Sikh Scriptures are recited by the congregation. Kirtan may also be performed by Ragis while the relatives of the deceased recite "Waheguru" sitting near the coffin. This service normally takes from 30 to 60 minutes. At the conclusion of the service, an Ardas is said previously the coffin is taken to the cremation site.
At the point of cremation, a few more Shabads may be sung andspeeches are made about the deceased person. The eldest son or arelative generally lights the fire. This service usually lasts about 30 to 60 minutes. The ashes are later collected and disposed of by immersing them in a river and preferably in one of the five rivers in the state of Punjab, India.
The ceremony in which the Sidharan Paath is begun after the cremation ceremony, may be held when convenient, wherever the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is present.
Hymns are sung from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
The first five andverses of "Anand Sahib," the "Song of Bliss," are recited or sung.
The first five verses of Sikhism's morning prayer, "Japji Sahib", are read aloud to begin the Sidharan paath.
A hukam, or random verse, is read from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
Ardas, a prayer, is offered.
Prashad, a sacred sweet, is distributed.
Langar, a meal, is served to guests.
While the Sidharan paath is being read, the family may also sing hymns daily. Reading may take as long as needed to complete the paath.
This ceremony is followed by Sahaj Paath Bhog, Kirtan Sohila, night time prayer is recited for one week, and finally Ardas called the "Antim Ardas" "Final Prayer" is offered the last week.