The importance of having a funeral

Why do we need a funeral ceremony?

I can’t emphasise enough how important a funeral is to the grieving process.

Bringing family and friends together in shared love and grief provides so much warmth and support and is incredibly important in helping people in the immediate aftermath of a death.

A good funeral service or memorial service can really help with saying goodbye and bringing some sense of peace as you begin to come to terms with this tremendous loss.

The funeral service gives people the opportunity to show their respect, to honour and pay tribute to the person who has passed away and to celebrate a life well lived.

While there’s sadness and tears, there are also shared memories that bring a smile and even laughter.

All these shared emotions are an important part of saying goodbye to the physical presence of a loved one and should not be underestimated.

The shared experience of remembrance and grief, coming together in community with family and friends is incredibly supportive. It provides some healing as we come to terms with the loss of someone dear.

A good funeral can bring a sense of closure and healing for this early stage of the grieving process.

Direct Cremations

People often ask me, what is a direct cremation?

It’s a good question and so important to understand what your options are.

A direct cremation takes place with no family or friends in attendance.

For an attended direct cremation, close family attend the committal but there is no funeral service.

If you’ve seen the ads for pure cremations or direct cremations, then you’ll know that these are supposed to be ‘fuss free’ and avoid any messy or unwanted emotions.

Sadly, grief does involve messy and unwanted emotions and it really doesn’t help to avoid these feelings.

My own experience of being denied a funeral for someone I loved was that I was devastated.

I’m not alone in struggling with how to mourn someone dear without a funeral.

My personal feeling is that a funeral is a community event. We really don’t know who would want or need to be there.

And we should never underestimate the importance of coming together with love and in shared grief and loss to honour a person’s life.

However, we’re all different. If you decide that a direct cremation is the right decision for you then you can always decide to have a memorial service at a later date and this is something that I am more than happy to help you with.