Green Funeral Preplanning

Considerations in Pre-Planning a Green Funeral

Many people, not wanting to burden their families with difficult decisions during an already difficult time, opt to pre-plan their funerals. Because green burials are a relatively new trend in the United States, you may not know what green options are available. With these pointers, you can plan a funeral that is natural, free of toxic chemicals, and minimizes your environmental impact.


Hmong Funeral Customs

Hmong Funeral Service Rituals

The Hmong have a faith and culture that centers around animalistic beliefs. They believe that after death a person’s soul reincarnates as a different form. Generally speaking, the Hmong funeral is seen as a time to mourn, grieve, remember the deceased, and to talk, visit, and even laugh together.


Quaker Funeral Customs

Quaker Funeral Service Rituals

Quick Reference Length of Service 60 - 90 minutes Flowers? Varies Food? Women's group usually supplies Dress Code? (Men/Women) Business


Cross-Cultural Funeral Customs

Cross-Cultural Funeral Service Rituals

By LaVone V. Hazell, MS, FT, LFD For the past two decades, the traditional funeral rite has been in transition for various reasons: changes in social stratification due to a declining economy and shrinking resources; increased immigration to the United States; neo-local spread of the family to many geographic locations; increased demand for cremations; decline in religious practices and increased secular observances; and a shift from ancestral to contemporary funeral rites.


Burying or Cremating a Pet

Pet Cremation and Burial

Just as there are local ordinances that dictate how a person’s death is handled, there are laws regarding how to proceed after a pet dies. Whether you plan a funeral or memorial, one immediate practical issue to address is transporting your pet’s body from the home or veterinary hospital to the final resting place. Your veterinarian is a valuable resource for information on laws and costs pertaining to the options in your area. Burial of a Pet




Making Cemetery Arrangements

How to Make Cemetery Arrangements

A cemetery is the place where the dead are buried or interred -- a "final resting place" for the deceased. A typical cemetery offers various types of grave spaces for earth burial and mausoleum crypts for entombment. Similar options are available for burial or entombment of cremated remains.


Deceased Transportation

Deceased Transportation

Inter-city Transportation of Human Remains In many cases a loved one's body is initially transferred from the place of death to a local funeral home (i.e., the "first call" funeral home) and then subsequently transported to another city for funeral ceremonies and/or burial. If this is your situation, you'll need two funeral homes - one locally to handle the first call, and a second one in the final destination city.


New Orleans Second Line Funeral Procession

New Orleans Jazz Funeral Service Rituals

The tradition of the New Orleans jazz funeral has fallen away somewhat in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but has not been forgotten. Although the wild music and dancing has, historically, flown in the face of prevailing sentiments about the required solemnity of the traditional memorial service, the New Orleans jazz funeral grew throughout the 20th century to achieve its own respected standing among the many ways to commemorate the passage of a loved one.


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