Search Results for: Funeral Songs (26 Found)

Funerals in Greece from Past to Present

Atheist funerals — usually quite similar to humanist funerals — are becoming more and more common. They are appropriate memorials to those who lived their lives without religious affiliation and reject the typically religious views associated with life and death.

Pentecostal funeral customs are similar to other Christian funeral traditions. The service traditionally takes place at the church, but it may also be conducted at a funeral home or at the site of the grave. In the past it has been the custom to wear black at Pentecostal funeral services. However, white is more frequently being used to symbolize the Pentecostal belief in the resurrection of the body.

Members of the Salvation Army refer to death as a “promotion to glory” for fellow Christians. They believe that although the physical body dies, the spirit or soul of a Christian continues living in another dimension with God called heaven or “glory.” Because of these beliefs, Salvation Army funerals are characterized by sadness and grief but have underpinnings of hope and joy.

Moravian funerals are similar to many other Christian traditions in that they are characterized by both grief and joy. Members of this faith grieve the loss of loved ones, but they believe that through salvation eternity is ever hopeful. Moravian believers are often heard saying that the deceased has “entered into the immediate presence of the Savior.” This is an indication of their belief that life and death are both blessings.

Because Ásatrú (meaning “belief in the Gods”) is an ancestral polytheistic religion focused on deeds, the religion’s funeral customs involve remembering the deeds of the deceased and retelling fond memories. Followers do not fear death, because they do not believe in a painful or torturous afterlife. When a loved one passes, they are believed to enter a place of joy, rest, and healing.

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.