How Funeral Traditions Link Us to Our Past

With funeral traditions at funeral homes in Beltsville, MD, there are links to our past and there is a familiarity that is warm and supportive, which is exactly what a bereaved family and the mourners who join them when a loved one dies needs.

While some people are eschewing funeral traditions and substituting them with alternative rites, the reality is that funeral traditions fulfill the emotional needs of both the family that is grieving and the mourners who are grieving with them. This is an important step in both the grieving process and in moving forward without somebody that you love.

The ceremony, whether it’s a funeral service or a memorial service, to honor a deceased loved one is composed of familiar words, symbols, music, and actions. It is predictable. In fact, it’s the only thing that’s predictable after someone dies. It helps us to know what to do when we don’t know what to do.

In the 1800s, English Prime Minister William Gladstone said, “Show me the manner in which the nation cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, the respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.”

Funeral rituals care not only for the dead, but also the living. They have a rich tradition that goes centuries back and generations back, and they are the thread that connects us to those who’ve gone before us.

Some people say they don’t want a funeral or a memorial service. The reality is that the funeral service or the memorial service is less about the person who has died and more about the people they leave behind. It is an essential part of helping a bereaved family to accept the loss of the loved one and take the first step forward toward a life that won’t have that person as a part of it.

Without a funeral service, there is no closure. Funeral rituals, which include communal support, consolation, comfort, and encouragement, give a grieving family the closure they need to emotionally move forward. When those funeral rituals aren’t done, the family of the person who has died, as well as their friends and associates, is left with unfinished emotional business.

This can take years to sort out and to make peace with. This can place a heavy burden on everyone because the funeral rituals were skipped or were replaced with a substitute that did not take care of nor address the emotional needs that a grieving family has.

One of these emotional needs is to be able to say goodbye to a loved one. This practice is embedded in the funeral ritual of visitations. The family gets to spend time alone with their loved one before other mourners come through to pay their respects and to offer consolation. This time gives the family an opportunity to say goodbye. There may be tears. There may be small mementos that are placed in the casket. There may be speeches from the heart, not said were not able to be said when the loved one was alive, but said now as part of the goodbyes.

If you’d like to know more about funeral traditions at funeral homes in Beltsville, MD, you can talk with our knowledgeable team at Donald V. Borgwardt Funeral Home, P.A. You can visit our funeral home at 4400 Powder Mill Rd., Beltsville, MD, 20705, or you can call us today at (301) 937-1707.