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.

Amish Funerals: Simplicity, Community Support, and Hand-Dug Graves (What to Expect)

Amish Funerals: Simplicity, Community Support, and Hand-Dug Graves (What to Expect)

If you’ve been invited to an Amish funeral—or you’re trying to understand what an Amish neighbor’s family may be experiencing—one of the first things you’ll notice is how quickly the...

Rastafarian Views on Death: Why Some Avoid the Word ‘Death’ and What They Believe Instead

Rastafarian Views on Death: Why Some Avoid the Word ‘Death’ and What They Believe Instead

The first time many people encounter Rastafari language around loss, it can feel like stepping into a room where the usual vocabulary no longer fits. You may hear a family...

Koliva (Kollyva): The Orthodox Wheat Memorial Food and What It Symbolizes

Koliva (Kollyva): The Orthodox Wheat Memorial Food and What It Symbolizes

In the days after a death, families often move through two worlds at once. One world is made of paperwork, phone calls, and decisions that arrive faster than grief can...

The Kiss of Peace in Orthodox Funerals: Meaning, Practice, and Guest Etiquette

The Kiss of Peace in Orthodox Funerals: Meaning, Practice, and Guest Etiquette

The first time you attend an Orthodox funeral, the room can feel both unfamiliar and deeply human. The candles, the chanting, the steady rhythm of prayers—everything seems to say that...

Novenas for the Dead: Nine Days of Prayer, Meaning, and How Families Observe Them

Novenas for the Dead: Nine Days of Prayer, Meaning, and How Families Observe Them

In the first days after a death, time does a strange thing. Hours stretch, phone calls blur, and the house can feel both crowded and unbearably quiet at once. Many...

Paddle Out Ceremonies: Hawaiian Surfer Memorials and How to Plan One Respectfully

Paddle Out Ceremonies: Hawaiian Surfer Memorials and How to Plan One Respectfully

There are some goodbyes that don’t belong in a room. For surfers and ocean people, grief often has a tide to it—quiet at first, then sudden, then steady again. A...

Bardo Thodol (The Tibetan Book of the Dead): What It Is—and What People Often Misunderstand

Bardo Thodol (The Tibetan Book of the Dead): What It Is—and What People Often Misunderstand

There are moments in grief when time feels strange—when the world keeps moving, yet your inner life slows to a careful, listening pace. In those moments, families often reach for...

The 49 Days After Death in Buddhism: Understanding the “Intermediate State” and Memorial Practices

The 49 Days After Death in Buddhism: Understanding the “Intermediate State” and Memorial Practices

In the first days after a death, time becomes strange. A family can move through paperwork, phone calls, and meals brought by friends, yet still feel as if nothing has...

Akhand Path After a Death: Sikh Scripture Reading, Timing, and What It Means for Grief

Akhand Path After a Death: Sikh Scripture Reading, Timing, and What It Means for Grief

The first days after a death can feel like a blur—phone calls, relatives arriving, decisions that can’t wait, and a quiet ache that doesn’t fit neatly into a schedule. In...

Antam Sanskar in Sikhism: Funeral Customs, Cremation, and a Focus on Simplicity

Antam Sanskar in Sikhism: Funeral Customs, Cremation, and a Focus on Simplicity

In the first hours after a death, families often find themselves holding two realities at once: the spiritual weight of goodbye, and the practical questions that don’t pause for grief....

The 13 Days of Mourning in Hinduism: What the First Two Weeks Can Look Like for Families

The 13 Days of Mourning in Hinduism: What the First Two Weeks Can Look Like for Families

The first days after a death can feel like you are living in two worlds at once. In one world, you are grieving—staring at a familiar pair of shoes by...

Asthi Visarjan: Immersing Ashes in the Ganges and Other Sacred Waters (Meaning and Logistics)

Asthi Visarjan: Immersing Ashes in the Ganges and Other Sacred Waters (Meaning and Logistics)

After the cremation is finished, grief often becomes surprisingly practical. The calls slow down. The house gets quiet. And then you’re holding a container that feels both ordinary and profound,...

Antyesti in Hindu Tradition: Cremation Rites—and Why Varanasi Holds Special Meaning

Antyesti in Hindu Tradition: Cremation Rites—and Why Varanasi Holds Special Meaning

When a family is grieving, the hardest moments are often the ones that arrive quietly: a phone call to the funeral home, a form that needs a signature, the question...

Ghusl for the Deceased: Muslim Ritual Washing, Who Performs It, and Why It’s Sacred

Ghusl for the Deceased: Muslim Ritual Washing, Who Performs It, and Why It’s Sacred

In the first hours after a death, families often describe the same feeling: everything is suddenly urgent, and yet nothing feels simple. There are phone calls to make, relatives to...

Celtic Wakes: Keening, Games, and Community Mourning Traditions

Celtic Wakes: Keening, Games, and Community Mourning Traditions

In the older Irish imagination, a wake was never only a night beside the dead. It was a threshold moment—part grief, part guarding, part community care—when neighbors crossed the road...

Janazah Explained: Islamic Funeral and Burial Rites in Plain Language (What Families Can Expect)

Janazah Explained: Islamic Funeral and Burial Rites in Plain Language (What Families Can Expect)

In the hours after a death, families often move through two realities at once: the emotional shock of losing someone they love, and the practical urgency of what must happen...