The Burial Process
Mourners are often invited to attend the burial, which may include short readings and prayers, depending on religious beliefs.
- In making the decision to bury a loved one or when choosing burial during pre-planning, you will need to make a number of decisions. You must select a casket and burial vault, and choose the cemetery where the casketed remains will be interred. You will also need to select a headstone and arrange for its installation by the cemetery groundskeepers.
- Regardless of the service selected, the first step of the burial process is bathing and disinfecting the body. Doing this helps protect the funeral staff, visiting friends, and family, and it provides a measure of dignity and respect for the deceased.
Before service
The family or friends in charge of the funeral arrangements determine the next steps. The body can be embalmed for a traditional funeral service or placed in refrigeration if being transported to another state.
- If the decedent died while out of town or the family chooses a burial in a different location, arrangements must be made to transport the body to its final resting place. Typically, a funeral provider will make transportation arrangements because of their understanding of the specific requirements for transporting bodies.
Before-burial
If embalming is required or chosen by the family, a licensed embalmer is used to perform the service. In most cases, the funeral director is the licensed embalmer, which makes organizing these arrangements easier.
- Embalming occurs when the staff replaces the body’s blood with chemical preservatives through the circulatory system. Some services such as immediate burial don’t require embalming.
- If a viewing is part of the service, the family will need to select clothing and mementos (such as jewelry and glasses) for the decedent. Anything worn by the decedent during the viewing can be returned to the family before the burial takes place (or left with the deceased). Cosmetics are applied, and the hair is styled according to the family’s wishes.
After service
What happens next depends on the type of funeral performed. Traditional funerals typically include transporting the body to a cemetery or other gravesite. In some cases, an official will perform a graveside service.
- Making all those decisions alone may be difficult that’s why you Need Executive Funeral services to assist you. Our caring professionals will make sure that all necessary paperwork is completed and submitted. You can choose whether you’d like a public or private Burial or a combination. It is entirely up to you how you wish to pay your respects. The burial plot will typically be prepared in advance, making sure it is the correct size to accommodate the coffin and also in the right location, ready for when the Burial takes place.
What happens when a body is embalmed?
Embalming is the process of introducing a disinfectant solution to the internal environment of the body when someone passes away. It delays changes to the body that occur after death, giving the deceased a more restful appearance and, in some situations, removing some visible effects of the cause of death.
How Long Does an Embalmed Body Last?
Some people think that embalming completely stops the decay of the body, but this isn’t true. If you plan on having an open-casket funeral, then you should not leave the embalmed body out for more than a week. Otherwise, the embalmed body can last two more weeks.
How long does it take a body to decompose in a casket?
By 50 years in, your tissues will have liquefied and disappeared, leaving behind mummified skin and tendons. Eventually, these too will disintegrate, and after 80 years in that coffin, your bones will crack as the soft collagen inside them deteriorates, leaving nothing but the brittle mineral frame behind
What does it mean when someone is embalmed?
Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them (in their modern form with chemicals) to forestall decomposition. Performed successfully, embalming can help preserve the body for a duration of many years.