The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Weighing of the Heart: The Egyptian Judgment Scene and What It Symbolized - Funeral.com, Inc.

Weighing of the Heart: The Egyptian Judgment Scene and What It Symbolized

In some of the most moving ancient Egyptian funerary art, the afterlife is not shown as a vague cloud of mystery. It is shown as a room with a scale....

Viking Funerals and Burning Boats: Myth vs Reality (What Archaeology Actually Shows) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Viking Funerals and Burning Boats: Myth vs Reality (What Archaeology Actually Shows)

The image is cinematic on purpose: a lone figure stands on a shore, a longboat drifts into the dark, and a flaming arrow turns grief into spectacle. It’s the “Viking...

Hanging Coffins in Sagada, Philippines: Tradition, Beliefs, and What Visitors Should Know - Funeral.com, Inc.

Hanging Coffins in Sagada, Philippines: Tradition, Beliefs, and What Visitors Should Know

The first thing many visitors notice in Sagada is not the famous cliffs or the pine-scented air—it’s the quiet. Even in places where people come to hike, to take photos,...

Backyard Burial: Zoning, Health Rules, and How to Record a Home Burial on the Deed - Funeral.com, Inc.

Backyard Burial: Zoning, Health Rules, and How to Record a Home Burial on the Deed

Most families who look up backyard burial laws are not chasing a trend. They are trying to honor a specific person, a specific place, and a very human wish: “Bring...

Can You Bury Cremation Ashes in a Cemetery? Rules, Permits, and Burial Urns - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Bury Cremation Ashes in a Cemetery? Rules, Permits, and Burial Urns

Yes, in most cases you can you bury ashes in a cemetery—and many families do, especially when they want a permanent place to visit and a memorial that feels stable...

Burial Vault Cost Guide: Concrete Vault Prices, Urn Vaults, and What Affects the Total - Funeral.com, Inc.

Burial Vault Cost Guide: Concrete Vault Prices, Urn Vaults, and What Affects the Total

If you are trying to understand burial vault cost, you are usually not shopping for something you ever wanted to shop for. You are trying to avoid a surprise, make...

Can You Bury an Urn in a Cemetery? Burial Urn Rules, Urn Vaults, and Plot Limits - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Bury an Urn in a Cemetery? Burial Urn Rules, Urn Vaults, and Plot Limits

Yes—most families can you bury an urn in a cemetery and do so every day. What surprises people is not whether it’s allowed, but how specific cemeteries can be about...

Entomb Meaning: Definition, Synonyms, and How It Differs From Burial and Inurnment - Funeral.com, Inc.

Entomb Meaning: Definition, Synonyms, and How It Differs From Burial and Inurnment

If you’ve ever heard a cemetery staff member say “entombment” and felt unsure what it meant, you’re in good company. Cemetery paperwork has its own vocabulary, and the words can...

Wicker Caskets Explained: History, Materials, and When a Woven Coffin Makes Sense - Funeral.com, Inc.

Wicker Caskets Explained: History, Materials, and When a Woven Coffin Makes Sense

If you are looking at a wicker casket, you are probably not “shopping” in the casual sense. You are trying to make a choice that feels true to a person’s...

Alternatives to a Traditional Urn: Keepsakes Made From Ashes and Other Memorial Options - Funeral.com, Inc.

Alternatives to a Traditional Urn: Keepsakes Made From Ashes and Other Memorial Options

A traditional urn is a meaningful choice for many families, but it isn’t the only one. Sometimes an urn doesn’t feel like the right fit for the person who died....

How to Arrange Urn Burial: Steps, Permits, Cemetery Policies, and Service Ideas - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Arrange Urn Burial: Steps, Permits, Cemetery Policies, and Service Ideas

If you are trying to figure out how to arrange urn burial, you may be carrying two very different kinds of pressure at once. One is emotional: you want the...

What Is a Burial Urn? Materials, Cemetery Rules, and How Urn Burial Work - Funeral.com, Inc.

What Is a Burial Urn? Materials, Cemetery Rules, and How Urn Burial Work

A burial urn is, in the simplest sense, an urn chosen with in-ground placement in mind. But that definition can be misleading, because the “right” burial urn depends less on...

The History of Memorial Candles: From Ancient Rituals to Yahrzeit and Modern Remembrance Traditions - Funeral.com, Inc.

The History of Memorial Candles: From Ancient Rituals to Yahrzeit and Modern Remembrance Traditions

There is a reason candlelight still shows up in the hardest rooms of our lives. A flame is small, but it changes the feeling of a space immediately. It softens...

Do You Need a Vault to Bury an Urn? Cemetery Rules, Protection Benefits, and Alternatives - Funeral.com, Inc.

Do You Need a Vault to Bury an Urn? Cemetery Rules, Protection Benefits, and Alternatives

If you’re asking do you need a vault to bury an urn, there’s usually a real-life moment behind the question: a cemetery staff member mentions an “urn vault” (or “outer...

Lighting a Candle for the Dead: Meaning, Traditions, and a Simple Remembrance Ritual at Home - Funeral.com, Inc.

Lighting a Candle for the Dead: Meaning, Traditions, and a Simple Remembrance Ritual at Home

When someone dies, the world doesn’t only change in the big ways. It changes in the small ones, too. The chair stays empty. The phone stays quiet. A song comes...

Why Is Black the Color of Mourning? History, Symbolism, and Modern Funeral Etiquette - Funeral.com, Inc.

Why Is Black the Color of Mourning? History, Symbolism, and Modern Funeral Etiquette

There’s a moment many people recognize: you’re standing in front of your closet, invited to a service for someone you cared about (or someone you respected), and you reach for...