Prepare and dress the body of the person who has died. Prepare for a viewing in a chapel of rest, if this is something you'd like to do. Take care of the paperwork including making the application for the burial or cremation. Arrange the venue for the funeral service and cremation or burial.
The funeral director will then collect the body
The funeral directors will take the body to the crematorium and place it into a very cool storage space. This helps to keep the body preserved until the cremation.
What's the Average Time a Funeral Home Holds a Body? Between the time of death and the funeral service, most bodies remain in a funeral home between 3 and 7 days. However, there are a lot of tasks that need to be completed in this time frame, so it's easy for the service to get delayed by extenuating circumstances.
Each state has different laws and regulations about who can handle dead bodies. In most cases, this process needs to be handled by a funeral director and certified embalmer. Though the body doesn't necessarily need to be embalmed to be dressed, this is the most common situation.
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.
It is always easier to light up the upper half of the body and present the face under the best light. By covering the legs, funeral directors save time by spending lesser time lighting the lower portion of the body.
You are not required to actually view the body at a funeral viewing. Many people are a bit uncomfortable with the idea of attending a viewing, but keep in mind that funeral viewing etiquette does not require you to actually look at or spend time with the deceased if you are not comfortable doing so.
Do they remove organs when you are embalmed? One of the most common questions people have about embalming is whether or not organs are removed. The answer is no; all of the organs remain in the body during the embalming process.
Before the embalming begins, the body is washed in a disinfectant solution. Limbs are massaged to relieve the stiffening of the joints and muscles. Any necessary shaving would also take place at this time. Your loved ones eyes are closed using glue or plastic eye caps that sit on the eye and hold the eyelid in place.
An embalmer is someone who prepares bodies for burial by sanitizing and preserving them. A mortician is someone who works with the bereaved, helps plan funerals, and oversees the burial process.
The only parts of the body that are removed before cremation are artificial ones like a medical device or implant with a battery, silicone, pins, radiation pressurization, pacemakers, and large hip, knee, and shoulder replacements along with any external jewelry.
The bodies of the deceased are usually kept in a refrigeration unit called a mortuary cooler. This keeps the body at a constant temperature and allows the funeral director to prepare the body for viewing and/or funeral services. The body may also be stored in a casket in a funeral home's chapel or embalming room.
The first step in the embalming process is surgical, in which bodily fluids are removed and are replaced with formaldehyde-based chemical solutions. The second step is cosmetic, in which the body is prepared for viewing by styling the hair, applying makeup, and setting the facial features.
The funeral director will then walk in front of the hearse for a short distance. This is a mark of respect to the deceased and also gives following cars an opportunity to join the cortege.
Generally speaking, a body takes 10 or 15 years to decompose to a skeleton. Some of the old Victorian graves hold families of up to eight people. As those coffins decompose, the remains will gradually sink to the bottom of the grave and merge.
Understanding Closed Casket Funeral Protocols
In a closed casket funeral, the body is not able to be seen during the viewing or the funeral service. The casket will be closed the entire time, but that does not mean that people have to distance themselves from the body of their loved one.
How Long Before a Body Must Be Buried? Decomposition begins once death has occurred, but embalming can slow it down for a short period of time. This extends the amount of time you have to plan an open casket viewing to approximately seven days.
The body is washed with a disinfectant solution and massaged to offset rigor mortis. The eyes and mouth are closed and the hands are placed on the chest or the lap. In this method blood is drained out of the veins and replaced with embalming fluids.
After a death
The body will then be laid out and kept in the hospital mortuary until you arrange for the funeral directors, family or whoever you chose to collect it. If you choose, funeral directors will take the body to their chapel of rest until the funeral takes place.
Trimming hair and nails
Generally, this emanates from the belief that nails and hair were given to the children by the deceased as a parent and as such they shouldn't be trimmed during the mourning period and after the burial. At least you should wait for 49 days.
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.
Although death has historically been medically defined as the moment when the heart irreversibly stops beating, recent studies have suggested brain activity in many animals and humans can continue for seconds to hours.
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.
Unless explicitly requested by the deceased's family, it is best to avoid taking photographs at a funeral or memorial ceremony. Taking candid photos of the relatives in their most vulnerable moments of grief might cause stress and destroy the mood during the service.
Preferably no bare legs. Wear dark stockings or ultra sheer nude hose to show respect. Nothing flashy or bright. If your style is to wear colorful clothes, tone it down for a funeral.