History of Funerals
Why do we bury our dead? How do we honor their memory? We bury our dead to give their body a “resting” place which is usually in a cemetery in the ground or in a mausoleum. How did this concept come about with burying the body of a deceased person?
The following comes from a midrash. A midrash is an early Jewish interpretation of or commentary on a Biblical text, clarifying or expounding a point of law or developing or illustrating a moral principle. Every culture has different ways of taking care of the deceased this is only one of many.
“When Adam sat in front of his dead son Hevel (Abel) – the first dead human in history, he did not know what to do with the lifeless body. A raven flew near him carrying a dead raven in his beak. The raven proceeded to scrape the ground until a furrow was dug – large enough to place the dead bird in and then the raven covered and literally buried the dead bird. Adam saw this instinctive act of the raven and proceeded to do the same for the body of his son.”
At the time Adam and Eve didn’t have a funeral director to assist them with all of the questions they had so nature provided an answer. Today we have the advantage of meeting with a caring professional to help guide each of us through the funeral planning process. Our caring funeral directors have many years of combined experiences in assisting families at their time of need.
The funeral service can be as unique as the individual person, being able to celebrate their life in a way that is tailored to the life they lived.
