There is no need to worry that the open casket funeral will be traumatising, the body will only be displayed if it is in good shape. If your loved one died from a traumatic accident or was badly burned, then they will not be displayed in an open casket funeral.
Many people become emotional when viewing the body, and this is normal and acceptable. If you want to view the body but are afraid you will become overwhelmed, you might consider approaching the casket with another person who can support you if you become very emotional.
On the contrary, many people wish to have a closed casket funeral for honoring the deceased, no matter the state of the body. There's also the category of people who see the open casket as an invasion of intimacy. It's disrespectful for both the deceased and the family of the dead.
OPEN-CASKET FUNERAL ETIQUETTE
If they have an open casket viewing, make sure you follow proper funeral etiquette: DON'T touch the body under any circumstances. Sometimes the casket has a glass to prevent this from happening.
Values of Open Casket Viewing : Provides the family and friends with the confrontation that death has in fact occurred to test the reality - seeing is believing. Without viewing it can be difficult for the family and friends to persuade their own mind that their loved one or close friend is gone.
A body may be different in death to life because:
a mortician or funeral director has changed a body's appearance through clothing, or hair arrangement, or cosmetics. Such “dressing” of the body may be very different to how the person in life would have done it. the body smells different.
Necrophobia is a specific phobia, the irrational fear of dead organisms (e.g., corpses) as well as things associated with death (e.g., coffins, tombstones, funerals, cemeteries). With all types of emotions, obsession with death becomes evident in both fascination and objectification.
Everyone can say their final “goodbye.” Allows friends and family members to kiss the deceased goodbye one last time. The family can hold the decedent's hand. Everyone can take comfort in seeing the deceased looking beautiful and at peace.
Benefits of Open Casket
Allows friends and family members to kiss the deceased goodbye one last time. Everyone can take comfort in seeing the deceased looking beautiful and at peace. It can bring closure to close kin, knowing that the loved one is in peace.
If you are afraid, have someone accompany you to the casket. When viewing the body, it is totally okay to touch the hand of your loved one or even give a kiss on the cheek. However, you should avoid attempting to hug the body. The body will feel cold to the touch.
If your child is around four years old and older, it's important to discuss what an open casket is and to see if they feel comfortable seeing it themselves. If they are not comfortable with seeing an open casket, it's important to be supportive of their decision.
"Seeing someone in a casket can be very frightening to them. Children should never be forced to 'view' an open casket if they are frightened," Markham warned. By age 7 or so, most children understand the permanence of death. A school-age child is also old enough to attend a funeral, but only if he wants to.
An open casket allows you to say goodbye to the person you lost. Most people do not get a chance to do this, especially if your loved one died unexpectedly. It is something that can be important for the process of coming to terms with the death and so you want to consider it.
It is a common practice to cover the legs as there is swelling in the feet and shoes don't fit. As part of funeral care, the body is dressed and preserved, with the prime focus on the face. Post embalming, bodies are often placed without shoes; hence covering the legs is the way to offer a dignified funeral.
This means no jeans, shorts, or tank tops. Instead, opt for dark, conservative clothing. Women should avoid wearing anything too revealing or flashy, and men should make sure their clothing is clean and wrinkle-free.
We don't remove them. You can use what is called an eye cap to put over the flattened eyeball to recreate the natural curvature of the eye. You can also inject tissue builder directly into the eyeball and fill it up. And sometimes, the embalming fluid will fill the eye to normal size.
Often Catholics prefer an open casket to allow loved ones to see the person who's died a final time before burial. If the family cannot display the body for any reason, they will choose a closed casket.
The appropriate attire for a funeral or memorial service is simple: dress to show respect for the person whose life you are remembering. This means selecting clothes that are more conservative, not flashy or brightly colored. Darker dresses, suits, pants, jackets and sweaters are appropriate.
If you have an adult with you at the funeral home, it is ok to touch a dead body, and you will not get in trouble. You are naturally curious, and sometimes when you see and touch a dead body it helps you answer your questions. Remember to be gentle and have an adult help you.
For open casket viewings family members are often given private time to view the body to allow them to grieve. Generally, you are not allowed to touch the body or make any comments about the person's appearance.
Researchers studying the process of decomposition in a body after death from natural causes found that, without any external “assistance,” human remains can change their position. This discovery has important implications for forensic science.
The average metal casket is made from stainless steel and the average wood from mahogany or oak. Most caskets are finished with soft interior linings to give the deceased a comfortable place to rest.
When faced with the extreme fear of medical procedures, you might have tomophobia. These irrational fears must interfere with personal relationships, work, and school, and prevent someone from enjoying life. One's functioning must be impaired to meet the criteria of a specific phobia.
The smaller you are, the longer you'll survive.
That leaves 820 liters of air, one-fifth of which (164 liters) is oxygen. If a trapped person consumes 0.5 liters of oxygen per minute, it would take almost 5 and a half hours before all the oxygen in the coffin was consumed.