From death to funeral?

Anastacio

Banned
Feb 22, 2010
2,965
235
0
Usually when someone dies in the UK the vicar visits the family within a couple of days and the dead are buried or cremated within the week, what is standard after death here?
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
next day funeral is the norm. sometimes even the same day, if death happens very early in the morning or at night. suspicious deaths, of course, take longer as pm is performed. in very few cases the funeral may be halted so that distant family members can arrive.
funeral is just about the only thing dominicans can organize swiftly and well. body is taken to the funeral home where it is put on a display. that seems to cover nearly all dead as i have seen pictures of open caskets of folks shot, burned and badly injured in accidents. family and friends visit. rich people are dressed in white or black. poor people wear normal clothing. burial is very quick and requires quite some skill from men who handle the casket due to the lack of space in dominican cemeteries. i have witnessed the coffin being held in all possible directions including upside down before it finally arrived to its shelf.
 

AndyGriffith

New member
Mar 11, 2010
326
15
0
Sometimes they take a hammer to the coffin before covering it with dirt. Then cover the plot with cement. This is when the coffin is not locked up in one of those fancy little houses you see a the cemeteries in DR. This is due to thieves stealing the coffin if it is in new condition.
 

bachata

Aprendiz de todo profesional de nada
Aug 18, 2007
5,341
1,246
113
Sometimes they take a hammer to the coffin before covering it with dirt. Then cover the plot with cement. This is when the coffin is not locked up in one of those fancy little houses you see a the cemeteries in DR. This is due to thieves stealing the coffin if it is in new condition.
Yes that is sad but true Dominican reality...
I know of a rich guy who asked his family to put all his money in the coffin so he will be rich in the heaven and for the thief reason the wife decide to write a check on his name and keep the cash day of his funeral just in case of the thieves to break in his mausoleum...

JJ
 

La Mariposa

Bronze
Jun 4, 2004
1,843
60
0
next day funeral is the norm. sometimes even the same day, if death happens very early in the morning or at night. suspicious deaths, of course, take longer as pm is performed. in very few cases the funeral may be halted so that distant family members can arrive.
funeral is just about the only thing dominicans can organize swiftly and well. body is taken to the funeral home where it is put on a display. that seems to cover nearly all dead as i have seen pictures of open caskets of folks shot, burned and badly injured in accidents. family and friends visit. rich people are dressed in white or black. poor people wear normal clothing. burial is very quick and requires quite some skill from men who handle the casket due to the lack of space in dominican cemeteries. i have witnessed the coffin being held in all possible directions including upside down before it finally arrived to its shelf.

The people between the RICH AND THE POOR dress in white and black too..
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
Embalming is very rare in DR so the funeral is fast, usually within 24 hrs of death. When my father-in-law died they embalmed him to wait for our family to get to SD. There were flowers at the funeral home from family members. Unusual coffin, it had a glass window over his face, and his hat was placed next to his head. A mass followed the viewing, then we all went to the cemetery where there was a ceremony and more prayers. I was taken aback to watch the coffin being placed in the mausoleum with everyone there watching [no smashing], and a man came forward to place a stone at the opening and cement it closed, then cement a plaque with his name and dates over that. Masses followed for [if I remember correctly] 9 days. Each year on the anniversary of his death family and friends attend a Mass in his honor in SD.

AE
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
P.S. My husband's aunt wore only white from the day of her husband's death until she herself died.

My sister-in-law's father died, and it's been about 6 years now, she still wears only drab colors, mostly greys, white or black.

AE
 

Anastacio

Banned
Feb 22, 2010
2,965
235
0
I've never seen a funeral here, are they sad events or do they do the crazy party thing? I always found the celebration of someones life a better way of marking their death. Personally I attend as few funerals as possible as I am follower in tears, once one starts my entire family goes and we proably look a bit nuts trying our best not to catch each others eyes or we know we're next to start the waterworks. I have thought for a while I would deal with death a lot better if we could have the celebration party funeral, as opposed to the typical Brit sad and dark gathering that they are.
 

Anastacio

Banned
Feb 22, 2010
2,965
235
0
I'm saying I don't know but if what I see on the news after sons and husbands are murdered etc and the crazy screaming women having fits in the hospital I expect they are more like the Brit dull and sad event.
 

bachata

Aprendiz de todo profesional de nada
Aug 18, 2007
5,341
1,246
113
Dominican funeral

Cuquin, Anthony Rios and Boruga - Comedy..
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b38npntVK0k?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b38npntVK0k?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
JJ
 

Celt202

Gold
May 22, 2004
9,099
944
113
Wake in Santo Domingo

I went to a wake in Cristo Rey (the 'nice' part west of Ortega y Gasset).

The wake was in the family house and the body was set up in the sala for viewing.

With the exception of chairs all the family possessions that had been in the area accessible to the viewers had been put in a bedroom which was padlocked shut.
 
E

engineerfg

Guest
Yes that is sad but true Dominican reality...
I know of a rich guy who asked his family to put all his money in the coffin so he will be rich in the heaven and for the thief reason the wife decide to write a check on his name and keep the cash day of his funeral just in case of the thieves to break in his mausoleum...

JJ

bad timing, but that is just hilarious!!
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
I've never seen a funeral here, are they sad events or do they do the crazy party thing? I always found the celebration of someones life a better way of marking their death. Personally I attend as few funerals as possible as I am follower in tears, once one starts my entire family goes and we proably look a bit nuts trying our best not to catch each others eyes or we know we're next to start the waterworks. I have thought for a while I would deal with death a lot better if we could have the celebration party funeral, as opposed to the typical Brit sad and dark gathering that they are.

The Dominican funerals I've been to have been very somber and respectful.

AE
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
I went to a wake in Cristo Rey (the 'nice' part west of Ortega y Gasset).

The wake was in the family house and the body was set up in the sala for viewing.

With the exception of chairs all the family possessions that had been in the area accessible to the viewers had been put in a bedroom which was padlocked shut.

This post reminded me about my husband's grandmother's funeral in 1979. She was originally a midwife from the Cibao, I don't know if this is typical of there or not. She was 100 when she died, and for years before that she had purchased her own coffin and it was in a corner of her bedroom. [The first time I met her, maybe around 1976, I was quite taken aback at that. ]

She died the day we got there, she was waiting to meet her first great-grandson, our son Franco, who had been born on her 100th birthday. It wasn't meant to be unfortunately.

The entire wake was held in her house, she was laid out in her own bedroom, in the coffin and clothing she had chosen years before.

AE
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
13,884
495
83
Most funerals I've been witness to here have been with the person being viewed in their home, with everything locked up in a bedroom.

For the most part, very somber and quiet, until the procession hits the cemetery, then all hell breaks loose. By that I mean, crying, screaming, folks going though anxiety attacks, being restrained by other relatives.

Not something I particularly enjoy. I haven't been to a funeral in decades, not even for my own immediate family.

My experience is that the hysterics don't always wait until the cemetery

It makes me very uncomfortable. Never sure if some of the hysterics are not over done because this is expected here, the custom.