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.

White Candles in Jewish Traditions: Shabbat Candles, Yahrzeit Memorials & What They Mean

White Candles in Jewish Traditions: Shabbat Candles, Yahrzeit Memorials & What They Mean

When a family is learning Jewish practices for the first time, the candle can feel like the gentlest place to start. A flame asks very little of you. It doesn’t...

How to Pray at a Grave: Simple Approaches for Visits to Cemeteries and Memorial Gardens

How to Pray at a Grave: Simple Approaches for Visits to Cemeteries and Memorial Gardens

If you have ever stood at a headstone and felt the strange mix of love, numbness, and uncertainty, you are not alone. A cemetery can be quiet in a way...

Judaism and Cremation: Beliefs by Tradition and What Families Can Do

Judaism and Cremation: Beliefs by Tradition and What Families Can Do

When a family is facing loss, decisions can arrive faster than grief can catch up. Sometimes the questions come before the goodbye. Sometimes they come after—when a loved one has...

Do Cremation Ashes Attract Spirits or “Hold Energy”? Beliefs, Comfort Tips, and Faith-Based Guidance

Do Cremation Ashes Attract Spirits or “Hold Energy”? Beliefs, Comfort Tips, and Faith-Based Guidance

It’s a question people often whisper, sometimes even to themselves: do cremation ashes attract spirits, or do they hold energy in a way that changes the feeling of a home? The...

Which Religions Prefer Cremation? Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh Traditions and What Families Do With Ashes

Which Religions Prefer Cremation? Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh Traditions and What Families Do With Ashes

When a death happens, families often discover that the hardest decisions aren’t only practical. They’re emotional, and sometimes deeply spiritual. Even if your loved one wasn’t especially religious, faith traditions...

Cremation and Religion in the U.S.: What Major Faiths Allow and Common Rules for Ashes

Cremation and Religion in the U.S.: What Major Faiths Allow and Common Rules for Ashes

When a death happens, families often discover that the hardest questions aren’t only logistical. They’re spiritual. A relative may say, “Mom wanted cremation,” while another asks, “Is that allowed in...

Is Cremation Jewelry Okay for Christians? Faith, Respect, and Wearing Ashes Daily

Is Cremation Jewelry Okay for Christians? Faith, Respect, and Wearing Ashes Daily

It often starts with a simple, tender impulse: you want to keep someone close. Not in a vague, sentimental way, but in the most practical way possible—close enough that you...

Questions to Ask Your Pastor About Cremation, Burial, and Handling Ashes

Questions to Ask Your Pastor About Cremation, Burial, and Handling Ashes

The first time a family says the words “cremation” out loud after a death, it often sounds like a purely practical choice—simple, affordable, flexible. And sometimes it is. But for...

Cremation and Christianity: Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical Perspectives Compared

Cremation and Christianity: Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical Perspectives Compared

For many Christian families, cremation is not a casual decision. Even when it feels practical or familiar, it can stir deep questions about faith, resurrection, and respect for the body....

Faith and Pet Aftercare: How Different Beliefs View Pet Burial, Cremation, and Scattering

Faith and Pet Aftercare: How Different Beliefs View Pet Burial, Cremation, and Scattering

When a beloved pet dies, grief often arrives in two waves. The first is the ache of absence—the quiet food bowl, the leash that still hangs by the door, the...

Cremation in the Bible: Old Testament Stories, New Testament Hope, and Modern Application

Cremation in the Bible: Old Testament Stories, New Testament Hope, and Modern Application

If you’ve found yourself searching for cremation in the Bible, it’s rarely a casual question. It usually arrives in a tender moment—after a loss, during funeral planning, or while you’re...

Frequently Asked Questions About Embalming: Safety, Religion, and the Environment

Frequently Asked Questions About Embalming: Safety, Religion, and the Environment

When someone you love dies, the first decisions arrive fast—often before your heart has caught up. A funeral home may ask whether you want embalming, and the question can land...

Short Bible Verses for Headstones: Faith-Filled Epitaph Ideas for Christian Families

Short Bible Verses for Headstones: Faith-Filled Epitaph Ideas for Christian Families

The day you choose a headstone inscription is rarely the day you feel ready. It might be weeks after the funeral, when the flowers are gone and the house has...

What Is a Wake in Modern Funerals? Origins, Traditions, and How It Looks Today

What Is a Wake in Modern Funerals? Origins, Traditions, and How It Looks Today

If you grew up hearing the word “wake,” you might picture a home full of people who knew exactly where to stand, what to bring, and how long to stay....

Cremation vs Burial for Christians: Key Questions to Ask Your Pastor and Family

Cremation vs Burial for Christians: Key Questions to Ask Your Pastor and Family

Most Christian families don’t begin this conversation because they want to debate theology. They begin because someone they love has died—or because they can feel the reality of death drawing...

What Is Embalming, Really? History, Process, and When Families Can Say No

What Is Embalming, Really? History, Process, and When Families Can Say No

In the first hours after a death, families often feel pulled in two directions at once. Part of you wants time to breathe, to call the people who need to...