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.

Lantern Releases: Fire Safety, Legal Restrictions, and Low‑Risk Glow Alternatives

Lantern Releases: Fire Safety, Legal Restrictions, and Low‑Risk Glow Alternatives

There’s a particular kind of hush that settles over a family when the “official” part of the day is over. The service has ended. The last hug has been given....

Dove Releases at Funerals: Animal Welfare Concerns, Ethics, and Better Alternatives

Dove Releases at Funerals: Animal Welfare Concerns, Ethics, and Better Alternatives

At a graveside service, or at the end of a celebration of life, families often want a moment that feels like a gentle “release.” Something visible. Something shared. Something that...

State Funeral Traditions: Caissons, Caparisoned Horses, and What They Symbolize

State Funeral Traditions: Caissons, Caparisoned Horses, and What They Symbolize

There are moments in national life when ordinary time seems to slow. A procession moves down a familiar street, and even people who never met the person being honored feel...

Memento Mori Symbols in Art: Skulls, Hourglasses, and the Reminder to Live

Memento Mori Symbols in Art: Skulls, Hourglasses, and the Reminder to Live

There are seasons of life when “later” stops feeling like a guarantee. A diagnosis. A sudden death. A pet’s empty bed by the door. Or sometimes it’s quieter than that—an...

The Missing Man Table: POW/MIA Symbolism and the Meaning Behind Each Item

The Missing Man Table: POW/MIA Symbolism and the Meaning Behind Each Item

At a military dinner or veterans’ banquet, there is often a moment when conversation softens and the room changes. It might happen during a formal toast, during opening remarks, or...

Ghana’s Fantasy Coffins (Abebuu Adekai): Meaning, Craftsmanship, and Cultural Context

Ghana’s Fantasy Coffins (Abebuu Adekai): Meaning, Craftsmanship, and Cultural Context

In a coastal neighborhood near Accra, the workshop air can smell like fresh-cut wood and paint. A coffin might be taking the shape of a bright fish, a cocoa pod,...

Pet Urn Inscription Ideas: Names, Dates, and Meaningful Symbols

Pet Urn Inscription Ideas: Names, Dates, and Meaningful Symbols

When your home goes quiet after a loss, the practical decisions can feel strangely heavy. You may be choosing an urn, deciding where it will live, and trying to find...

Psychopomp Guide: Shinigami in Japanese Culture—Death Spirits, Modern Media, and Misconceptions

Psychopomp Guide: Shinigami in Japanese Culture—Death Spirits, Modern Media, and Misconceptions

Most of us meet the word shinigami the same way: through a story. A slick, stylized figure in black. A notebook. A scythe. A “Soul Reaper.” A character who appears...

Flag Folding at Military Funerals: What the Ceremony Means (Tradition vs. Official Rules)

Flag Folding at Military Funerals: What the Ceremony Means (Tradition vs. Official Rules)

There are moments in grief that land quietly, without warning. A hand on your shoulder. A familiar hymn. The way everyone stands a little straighter when the honor guard steps...

Masonic Funeral Rites: Meaning of the White Apron and the Sprig of Acacia

Masonic Funeral Rites: Meaning of the White Apron and the Sprig of Acacia

When a family requests Masonic funeral rites, they are usually asking for something very specific, even if they don’t have the words for it yet: a way to honor a...

Psychopomp Guide: The Grim Reaper—How a Personification Became the World’s Most Famous ‘Death Guide’

Psychopomp Guide: The Grim Reaper—How a Personification Became the World’s Most Famous ‘Death Guide’

There’s a reason the Grim Reaper shows up when words fail. In the middle of grief, the mind reaches for images that can hold what feels too big to explain:...

Tachrichim: The White Linen Shroud in Jewish Burial and Its Symbolism

Tachrichim: The White Linen Shroud in Jewish Burial and Its Symbolism

In the days after a death, families often expect choices that look like choices: clothing, jewelry, a favorite suit, a special dress. What surprises many people in a traditional Jewish...

Stopping the Clocks at Death: The “Freeze Time” Ritual and Its Origins

Stopping the Clocks at Death: The “Freeze Time” Ritual and Its Origins

In the first minutes after a death, people often remember the smallest sounds. The hush that settles in a room. The hum of a refrigerator that suddenly feels too loud....

Psychopomp Guide: Hermes—The Greek Messenger Who Escorts Souls to the Underworld

Psychopomp Guide: Hermes—The Greek Messenger Who Escorts Souls to the Underworld

After a death, life can feel split in two: paperwork and decisions on one side, and on the other, the quiet search for language sturdy enough to hold what just...

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: Guard Rituals and the Meaning Behind the Changing of the Guard

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: Guard Rituals and the Meaning Behind the Changing of the Guard

You can feel it before you understand it. The plaza is bright stone and open sky. The city sits in the distance. People drift into place with the gentle uncertainty...

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...