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.

Sky Burials Explained: Understanding the Tibetan Tradition and Why It’s Rare Elsewhere

Sky Burials Explained: Understanding the Tibetan Tradition and Why It’s Rare Elsewhere

The first time most people hear the phrase sky burial, it can land with a mix of curiosity and discomfort. That reaction is understandable—especially if you were raised around cemeteries,...

Attending a Funeral in Another Culture: Guest Etiquette, Dress, and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Attending a Funeral in Another Culture: Guest Etiquette, Dress, and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Getting an invitation to a funeral outside your own culture or faith can land with a strange mix of honor and anxiety. You want to show up. You want to...

Cultural and Religious Funeral Attire: Head Coverings, Modesty, and What Guests Should Know

Cultural and Religious Funeral Attire: Head Coverings, Modesty, and What Guests Should Know

There’s a specific kind of anxiety that shows up when you’re grieving or trying to support someone who is: you want to do the right thing, and you don’t want...

West African Funerals: Ghanaian and Nigerian Traditions of Music, Dance, and Ancestor Honor

West African Funerals: Ghanaian and Nigerian Traditions of Music, Dance, and Ancestor Honor

In many Ghanaian and Nigerian communities, a funeral is not simply an ending. It is a gathering that carries someone from the visible world into the care of family, faith,...

Japanese Buddhist Funerals: What Happens, Why They’re Common, and Key Rituals Explained

Japanese Buddhist Funerals: What Happens, Why They’re Common, and Key Rituals Explained

Many families first learn about a japanese buddhist funeral in a moment of hurry and heartbreak: a phone call, a flight, a message from a relative saying the wake is...

Mormon Funeral Traditions: What to Expect at a Latter-day Saint Service (and What Not to Send) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Mormon Funeral Traditions: What to Expect at a Latter-day Saint Service (and What Not to Send)

You pull into the church parking lot and pause for a second before you open the door. Maybe you’re coming to support a friend. Maybe you’re family and you’re running...

Buddhist Mourning Rituals: How Tibetan, Thai, and Japanese Traditions Honor the Dead - Funeral.com, Inc.

Buddhist Mourning Rituals: How Tibetan, Thai, and Japanese Traditions Honor the Dead

In many Buddhist families, the first days after a death feel both structured and unreal. Someone calls the temple. Someone finds a photo for the altar. A quiet room becomes...

Afterlife Beliefs Around the World: How Faith and Culture Shape Funeral Rituals - Funeral.com, Inc.

Afterlife Beliefs Around the World: How Faith and Culture Shape Funeral Rituals

After a death, families often find themselves making decisions that feel both deeply emotional and surprisingly practical. Do we hold a service right away or later? Do we bury, cremate,...

Attending a Funeral at a Mosque: Janazah Etiquette for Non-Muslim Guests - Funeral.com, Inc.

Attending a Funeral at a Mosque: Janazah Etiquette for Non-Muslim Guests

You don’t have to be Muslim to be invited to a Muslim funeral. You just have to be someone who mattered to the person who died, or someone who matters...

Working With Clergy or an Officiant: Planning a Service That Honors Religious Traditions (and Still Feels Personal) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Working With Clergy or an Officiant: Planning a Service That Honors Religious Traditions (and Still Feels Personal)

In the middle of grief, “planning a service” can sound like a task you’re supposed to be good at. But most families aren’t. You’re trying to honor someone you love,...

Creating a Home Altar for Remembrance: Secular Ideas and Simple Rituals - Funeral.com, Inc.

Creating a Home Altar for Remembrance: Secular Ideas and Simple Rituals

A home altar doesn’t have to be religious to be real. It can be as simple as a small surface you return to when your mind keeps circling the same...

Feng Shui for Keeping Ashes at Home: Placement Tips, Do’s & Don’ts - Funeral.com, Inc.

Feng Shui for Keeping Ashes at Home: Placement Tips, Do’s & Don’ts

When a loved one’s ashes come home, the question usually isn’t only “Where do we put the urn?” It’s also, quietly, “How do we live with this in a way...

Bird Symbolism Across Cultures: Meanings of Birds in Grief, Hope, and Remembrance - Funeral.com, Inc.

Bird Symbolism Across Cultures: Meanings of Birds in Grief, Hope, and Remembrance

When someone we love dies, the world doesn’t stop offering small, ordinary moments. A cup of coffee still cools on the counter. The mail still arrives. A familiar song still...

Mourning Colors by Culture: What to Wear and Why Traditions Differ Worldwide - Funeral.com, Inc.

Mourning Colors by Culture: What to Wear and Why Traditions Differ Worldwide

If you’ve ever paused in front of your closet before a service and thought, “What is actually respectful here?” you’re not alone. In grief, even small decisions can feel high-stakes....

Butterfly Symbolism and the Soul: Meaning in Grief, Memorials, and Remembrance Traditions - Funeral.com, Inc.

Butterfly Symbolism and the Soul: Meaning in Grief, Memorials, and Remembrance Traditions

In the days after a death, life has a strange way of continuing at full volume. The mail still arrives. The calendar still fills itself. The world still moves with...

Blue Color Meaning & Symbolism: Psychology, Navy Blue, and Emotional Associations - Funeral.com, Inc.

Blue Color Meaning & Symbolism: Psychology, Navy Blue, and Emotional Associations

There are moments in grief when words feel too sharp. Families will tell us, quietly, that they are “fine” while their eyes say something else. And then, almost unexpectedly, the...