There are several rituals and traditions that govern funerals across the world. Funeral offers an opportunity to the relatives of the deceased to pray for him and come to terms with their loss and sorrow.

Christian funerals adhere to the rites of the Church. However, considering the fact that there are more than 200 denominations of Christian communities, the traditions can change according to the particular allegiance of the family.

The very first ritual in a Christian funeral that is organized before the actual ceremony relates to assembling around the deceased for a night and chanting prayers for the departed soul. This important tradition is called wake. According to the present day customs, this is when the family and acquaintances pay a last visit to the dead person and offer homage for the last time. The body is preserved and placed either at the house or in a Church with only a specified number of visiting hours. In old times, the wake was succeeded by the ritual of absolution, which involved purgation of the person of all the sins he or she committed in the present life, and placing a cross on the chest and performing offertory where visitors put gifts in the casket.

Then begins the actual ceremony itself, where the deceased is first transported to the Church in a hearse and prayers from the Bible are recited and prayers are sung in the church. Following this, the priest asks a family member or a friend to give a eulogy before the burial. Some Christian communities have chiming of the bells as a part of the proceedings that marks the end of service. Then the casket with the dead person in it is transported to the burial place for the final set of rituals, called the burial service which precedes the burying.

Lastly, the family members arrange for a lunch for everyone who has attended the funeral. The main objective of such customs is to give support to the mourning family and assist them to overcome their grief and resign themselves to the fate.

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