funerals and body disposition

properties of a coffin/toepincher

-has 6 sides

-toes are positioned close together

properties of caskets

-4 sides

-has either 2 doors or one door

natural burial caskets

-made out of decomposable materials

-in the early 1900s, bodies were kept out in the home

-bodies were put in baskets

funerals address 4 major social functions (Pine)

1. acknowledges and commemorates the dead

2. provides a setting for the disposition

3. assists in reorienting the bereaved

4. demonstrates reciprocal economic and social obligations between the bereaved and the social world

those who have the most expensive funerals

the poor have more expensive funerals

rites of separation

death watch, preparation of the deceased, caring for the living vs the dead

rites of transition

wake, visitation, calling hours, funeral, procession, committal disposal of the corpse

rites of reincorporation

gathering/repast, returning to normal

preparing the dead in the past

-family/community care providers

-women were the caregivers (shrouding women), were eventually pushed out

the first undertakers

merchants and furniture makers took on the role as undertakers

the shift from family care to professional care

-people were living longer lives

-extended family members were moving away

-medical intervention ment that death was occurring more in hospitals than at home

-displaying the dead in the home became less appealing

national funeral directors association (NFDA 188)

still regulates and oversees funeral directors

African American funeral directors associations

independent national funeral directors association (1925) and national funeral directors and morticians association (1957)

changing the name to funeral directors

-undertakers had a negative connotation

-moved to morticians'

-established the professional funeral directors

role of embalming

-main hook to make use of professional funeral services

-embalming schools began 1900-1920

early versions of embalming

wait 3 days then put the body in cooling coffins/containers

numbers of cemetaries/crematories

16.3 billion cemeteries and 4.2 billion crematories

family owned funerals vs corporate owned

75% are family owned

median cost of a funeral

$7,848

service corporation international

dignity memorial brand that owns about 13% of funeral homes

typical characteristics of funeral industry workers

white males

mortuary school changing numbers

in 2021, black african american women were outnumbering men

services provided by the funeral home

-picking up the body

-preparing the body

-providing service format

-disposing the body

unionall:

plastic covering your clothing

trocar:

tool used to embalm the body

other embalming tools

mouth former, eye caps, trocar buttons

sufrace embalming:

liquid chemicals in cotton or gauze for eyelids, mouth, and inside the chest

arterial embalming:

chemicals injected into blood vessels (3-4 gallons)

cavity embalming:

trocar inserted into belly to remove gas or liquids in stomach area

hypodermic embalming

injection of preservatives under the skin in areas that need additional chemicals

4 legal methods of body disposal:

-burial below ground (standard)

-burial above ground in a mausoleum

-cremation

-body donation

cremation statistics

60.5% in 2023, 81% in 2024