Do Funerals Matter

Do Funerals Matter? is a creative interweaving of historical, sociocultural, and research-based perspectives on death rituals, drawing from myriad sources to create a picture of what death rituals have been; and where, especially in the Western world, they are going. The Classic Edition includes a new preface from the author reflecting on changes in the field since the book’s initial publication. Death educators, researchers, counselors, clergy, funeral-service professionals, and others will appreciate the book’s theory- and research-based approach to the ways in which different cultural groups memorialize their dead. They will also find clear clinical and practical applications in the author’s exploration of the five ritual anchors of death-related ceremonial practice and help for professionals counseling the bereaved surrounding funerals. Based on nearly four decades of research and teaching on funeral rites, this volume promises to fill an important gap in the cross-cultural literature on bereavement, while answering an important question for our generation: Do funerals matter?

A longstanding annual favourite has a new editor and a new, refreshed look. What hasn’t changed is its year-long reliability as a resource for preaching at the principal and the second service (for which preaching resources are scarce) every Sunday of the coming year. Ideal for preachers in all churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary, it also includes sermons for holy days, major saints’ days and special occasions such as Mothering Sunday, harvest, rogation and Christmas services. If preparation time is short, the sermons are complete and can be used as they are, but they will also act as a framework for creating your own sermon texts. It also includes: - an introductory essay for preachers - all-age talks for special occasions - hymn suggestions throughout the year - an index of topics and names A boon for hard-pressed clergy, readers and local preachers everywhere.

Contemporary forms of living and dying in Swaziland cannot be understood apart from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to anthropologist Casey Golomski. In Africa's last absolute monarchy, the story of 15 years of global collaboration in treatment and intervention is also one of ordinary people facing the work of caring for the sick and dying and burying the dead. Golomski's ethnography shows how AIDS posed challenging questions about the value of life, culture, and materiality to drive new forms and practices for funerals. Many of these forms and practicesnewly catered funeral feasts, an expanded market for life insurance, and the kingdom's first crematoriumare now conspicuous across the landscape and culturally disruptive in a highly traditionalist setting. This powerful and original account details how these new matters of death, dying, and funerals have become entrenched in peoples' everyday lives and become part of a quest to create dignity in the wake of a devastating epidemic.

Creating Meaning in Funerals is a book about the ways in which bereaved families and communities create meaningful ceremonies against a backdrop of what is culturally appropriate, even when their choices might make little economic sense to those outside the culture. The culmination of these customs and practices, this book maintains, is how bereaved individuals, families, and communities are drawn into significant meaning making in early bereavement. Readers will be repeatedly challenged to suspend their own biases, observe the customs and beliefs of others thoughtfully, and provide counseling support and encouragement to bereaved individuals for whom funerals were or were not effective means of coping with their loss. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make the book useful for educational settings such as funeral service classroom instruction, thanatology classes, and grief counseling courses. Each chapter is also accompanied by its own reference list to make chapters more useful individually.

★ “A heartfelt and expertly written tale of loss, family, and friendship that will have readers blinking back their tears...Beautiful and sincere.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review Evie Walman is not obsessed with death. She does think about it a lot, though, but only because her family runs a Jewish funeral home. At twelve, Evie already knows she’s going to be a funeral director when she grows up. So what if the kids at school call her “corpse girl” and say she smells like death? They’re just mean and don’t get how important it is to have someone take care of things when your world is falling apart. Evie loves dusting caskets, polishing pews, and vacuuming the chapel—and on funeral days, she dresses up and hands out tissues and offers her condolences to mourners. She doesn’t normally help her parents with the grieving families directly, until one day when they ask her to help with Oren, a boy who was in a horrific car accident that killed both his parents. Oren refuses to speak and Evie, who is nursing her own private grief, is determined to find a way to help him deal with his loss. Praise for previous books by Joanne Levy: “Levy's narrative is spot on.”—Booklist review for The Sun Will Come Out “The story gives voice to the experience of Jewish preteens; chronic illness and disability are also sensitively tackled in this complex tale about difference, acceptance, and self-confidence. A heartfelt tear-jerker about love, friendship, and courage.”—Kirkus Reviews review for The Sun Will Come Out “Uplifting, gentle...Exudes inter-generational warmth, family love, and friendship.”—Association of Jewish Libraries review for Fish Out of Water “Though brief, this text masterfully connects the toxic masculinity to its roots in deep misogyny, making Fish a hero people of all genders can stand up and cheer for. All readers will appreciate this book’s nuanced messaging around gender roles and trusting yourself.”—Kirkus Reviews, review for Fish Out of Water

Delivers the collective wisdom of foremost scholars and practitioners in the death and dying movement from its inception to the present. Written by luminaries who have shaped the field, this capstone book distills the collective wisdom of foremost scholars and practitioners who together have nearly a millennium of experience in the death and dying movement. The book bears witness to the evolution of the movement and presents the insights of its pioneers, eyewitnesses, and major contributors past and present. Its chapters address contemporary intellectual, institutional, and practice developments in thanatology: hospice and palliative care; funeral practice; death education; and caring of the dying, suicidal, bereaved, and traumatized. With a breadth and depth found in no other text on death, dying, and bereavement, the book disseminates the thinking of prominent authors William Worden, David Clark, Tony Walter, Robert Neimeyer, Charles Corr, Phyllis Silverman, Betty Davies, Therese A. Rando, Colin Murray Parkes, Kenneth Doka, Allan Kellehear, Sandra Bertman, Stephen Connor, Linda Goldman, Mary Vachon, and others. Their chapters discuss the most significant facets of early development, review important current work, and assess major challenges and hopes for the future in the areas of their expertise. A substantial chronology of important milestones in the contemporary movement introduces the book, frames the chapters to follow, and provides guidance for further, in-depth reading. The book first focuses on the interdisciplinary intellectual achievements that have formed the foundation of the field of thanatology. The section on institutional innovations encompasses contributions in hospice and palliative care of the dying and their families; funeral service; and death education. The section on practices addresses approaches to counseling and providing support for individuals, families, and communities on issues related to dying, bereavement, suicide, trauma, disaster, and caregiving. An Afterword identifies challenges and looks toward future developments that promise to sustain, further enrich, and strengthen the movement. KEY FEATURES: Distills the wisdom of pioneers in and major contributors to the contemporary death, dying, and bereavement movement Includes living witness accounts of the movement's evolution and important milestones Presents the best contemporary thinking in thanatology Describes contemporary institutional developments in hospice and palliative care, funeral practice, and death education Illuminates best practices in care of the dying, suicidal, bereaved, and traumatized

Examines the embalming process and the impact the standard funeral has on the environment while also discussing alternative eco-friendly burials.

'Wonderful, thoughtful, practical' - Cariad Lloyd, Griefcast 'Encouraging and inspiring' - Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of Amazon bestseller With the End in Mind End-of-life doula Anna Lyons and funeral director Louise Winter have joined forces to share a collection of the heartbreaking, surprising and uplifting stories of the ordinary and extraordinary lives they encounter every single day. From working with the living, the dying, the dead and the grieving, Anna and Louise reveal the lessons they've learned about life, death, love and loss. Together they've created a profound but practical guide to rethinking the one thing that's guaranteed to happen to us all. We are all going to die, and that's ok. Let's talk about it. This is a book about life and living, as much as it's a book about death and dying. It's a reflection on the beauties, blessings and tragedies of life, the exquisite agony and ecstasy of being alive, and the fragility of everything we hold dear. It's as simple and as complicated as that.