A funeral interment is the burial of the person who has died. In Western cultures, there is a choice of either being buried (or interred) or being cremated. Very often, the person who has died will already have made their feelings clear as to what their preference is, and this is usually carried out.
A funeral is a way of celebrating the life of the person who has died, and gives the mourners an opportunity to say good bye and to pay their respects. Very often people share their memories and so it becomes a way of showing solidarity and support to those closest to the deceased person.
There is a lot of tradition associated with funerals depending on the culture and religion of the person who has died. The rituals can often be a comfort for the bereaved as they mark the occasion properly.
There is some evidence that interment has been used as a way of disposing of the dead since Neanderthal times, 300,000 years ago. Neanderthal skeletons have been found in caves in Iraq and Wales sprinkled with flower petals. This is not conclusive evidence of interment because there are other ways that the flowers could have got there, such as rodents burrowing in the site, but it has been suggested that the Neanderthals were actually interred with some ceremony, and could be indicative that they believed in an afterlife.
Ancient Egyptians are another culture who believed in taking material objects with them on their journey to the next world, as evidence in the very many pyramids has shown (though the poorer Egyptians had the indignity of being thrown into the Nile).
Christians, however, believe that people come into this world with nothing and leave it in the same way; though they too believe in an afterlife.
A funeral is a way of celebrating the life of the person who has died, and gives the mourners an opportunity to say good bye and to pay their respects. Very often people share their memories and so it becomes a way of showing solidarity and support to those closest to the deceased person.
There is a lot of tradition associated with funerals depending on the culture and religion of the person who has died. The rituals can often be a comfort for the bereaved as they mark the occasion properly.
There is some evidence that interment has been used as a way of disposing of the dead since Neanderthal times, 300,000 years ago. Neanderthal skeletons have been found in caves in Iraq and Wales sprinkled with flower petals. This is not conclusive evidence of interment because there are other ways that the flowers could have got there, such as rodents burrowing in the site, but it has been suggested that the Neanderthals were actually interred with some ceremony, and could be indicative that they believed in an afterlife.
Ancient Egyptians are another culture who believed in taking material objects with them on their journey to the next world, as evidence in the very many pyramids has shown (though the poorer Egyptians had the indignity of being thrown into the Nile).
Christians, however, believe that people come into this world with nothing and leave it in the same way; though they too believe in an afterlife.
