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.

Religious and Cultural Symbols on Urns: How to Choose Respectfully

Religious and Cultural Symbols on Urns: How to Choose Respectfully

When a family is choosing cremation urns, the decision rarely feels like shopping. It usually feels like translation. You are trying to translate a life, a set of beliefs, a...

Ethical Wills: How to Leave Values, Life Lessons, and Blessings (With Examples)

Ethical Wills: How to Leave Values, Life Lessons, and Blessings (With Examples)

An ethical will is not a legal will. It won’t move money, appoint an executor, or decide who receives property. Instead, it’s a personal legacy letter—sometimes called a spiritual will...

Is It Okay to Wear a Deceased Loved One’s Clothes? Comfort, Boundaries, and When to Pause

Is It Okay to Wear a Deceased Loved One’s Clothes? Comfort, Boundaries, and When to Pause

There is a moment that happens quietly in many homes after a death: you open a closet, you slide a hanger aside, and your hand lands on something familiar. A...

Why People Wash Hands After a Jewish Funeral: The Tradition, Meaning, and How It’s Done

Why People Wash Hands After a Jewish Funeral: The Tradition, Meaning, and How It’s Done

You step back into the driveway after the cemetery, and before anyone says much of anything, you notice what’s waiting near the front door: a simple pitcher of water and...

Sitting, Standing, and Kneeling at Services: How to Follow Along Without Stress

Sitting, Standing, and Kneeling at Services: How to Follow Along Without Stress

If you’re unsure when to sit, stand, or kneel at a funeral or religious service, you’re not alone. In a room where grief already makes everything feel heavy, the fear...

Mosque Etiquette at a Funeral Prayer: When to Remove Shoes and What to Expect

Mosque Etiquette at a Funeral Prayer: When to Remove Shoes and What to Expect

Most people don’t walk into a mosque for a funeral prayer thinking about their shoes. They’re thinking about the person who died, the family left behind, and the quiet weight...

Celebration of Life Attire: Are Colors OK? What to Wear When It’s Not a Traditional Funeral

Celebration of Life Attire: Are Colors OK? What to Wear When It’s Not a Traditional Funeral

If you’ve found yourself searching what to wear to a Hindu funeral, it usually means you’re trying to do something very human: show up with respect, without accidentally standing out....

White for Mourning: Why Many Asian Traditions Use White (and What Guests Should Wear)

White for Mourning: Why Many Asian Traditions Use White (and What Guests Should Wear)

If you grew up in the U.S., you were probably taught a simple rule: funerals mean black. Then you receive an invitation from a Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, or other East...

Chevra Kadisha: The Jewish Burial Society’s Protocols and Why They Matter

Chevra Kadisha: The Jewish Burial Society’s Protocols and Why They Matter

A chevra kadisha is not a club or merely an organizational title; it is a sacred volunteer burial society that stands at the heart of Jewish funeral traditions, carrying out...

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...

Tahara: Jewish Ritual Washing—What Happens, Who Performs It, and Its Meaning

Tahara: Jewish Ritual Washing—What Happens, Who Performs It, and Its Meaning

In the first hours after a death, families are often asked to make decisions while they are still trying to understand what just happened. A funeral home may be ready...

Professional Mourners: Moirologists, Paid Weepers, and Why the Role Still Exists

Professional Mourners: Moirologists, Paid Weepers, and Why the Role Still Exists

There’s a moment in nearly every funeral when language fails. The family has done the practical things—called relatives, chosen a time, signed paperwork, decided what to wear—and still, the room...

Does God Care About Animals? Bible Passages That Comfort Pet Lovers

Does God Care About Animals? Bible Passages That Comfort Pet Lovers

If you have ever loved an animal, you already know how quietly life can organize itself around them. The morning routine. The familiar paws on the floor. The way your...

What Does “Ashes” Mean? Cremation Remains, Religious Ashes, and Other Uses

What Does “Ashes” Mean? Cremation Remains, Religious Ashes, and Other Uses

If you’ve searched ashes meaning, you’ve probably noticed the internet can be oddly unhelpful: some results are about cremation, some are about fireplaces, some are about church traditions, and a...

Memorial Candles: Meaning, Symbolism, and How to Use Them in Services (Religious and Secular)

Memorial Candles: Meaning, Symbolism, and How to Use Them in Services (Religious and Secular)

A memorial candle is one of the simplest things you can add to a ceremony—and one of the most powerful. It doesn’t require the “right” speech. It doesn’t require a...

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

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...