Funerals provide family members and friends a caring, supportive environment in which to recognize the death of a loved one, and to share thoughts and feelings about that person. Funerals are the first step in the healing process. The ritual of attending a funeral service provides many benefits including:

• Providing a social support system for the bereaved
• Helping the bereaved understand death is final and that death is part of life
• Integrating the bereaved back into the community
• Easing the transition to a new life after the death of a loved one
• Providing a safe haven for embracing and expressing pain
• Reaffirming one’s relationship with the person who died
• Providing a time to say good-bye

It is possible to have a full funeral service even for those choosing cremation. The importance of the ritual is in providing a social gathering to help the bereaved begin the healing process.

Embalming sanitizes and preserves the deceased, retards the decomposition process and enhances the appearance of someone disfigured by traumatic death or illness. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, thus allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.

As more people are choosing cremation, funeral service professionals are striving to give consumers a true sense of what their many options are for a funeral service. Often funeral directors find that people have a preconception that they have fewer choices for a ceremony when selecting cremation for themselves or a loved one. Therefore, they request direct cremation and deny the surviving friends and family an opportunity to honour them with a memorial service. In actuality, cremation is only part of the commemorative experience. In fact, cremation can actually increase your options when planning a funeral. Cremation gives people the flexibility to search for types of tributes that reflect the life being honoured. But this doesn’t mean that aspects of traditional funeral services have to be discarded. Even with cremation, a meaningful memorial that is personalized to reflect the life of the deceased could include:

• A visitation prior to the service
• An open or closed casket
• Special music
• A ceremony at the funeral chapel, your place of worship or other special location
• Participation by friends and family

Commonly, cremated remains are placed in an urn and committed to an indoor or outdoor mausoleum or columbarium; interred in a family burial plot; or included in a special urn garden.

Cremation also gives families the option to scatter the remains. This can be done in a designated cemetery garden or at a place that was special to the person. Today, cremated remains can even become part of an ocean reef or made into diamonds.

In 2006 the average charge for an adult, full service funeral was $5,771.73. This includes a professional service charge, transfer of the deceased, embalming, other preparations, use of viewing facilities, use of facilities for ceremony, hearse, limousine, and coffin. The coffin included in this price was a Rosewood Mahogany craftwood flat lid coffin supplied with fitted plastic handle and thumb screws with satin interior which may or may not be the most common casket chosen. Vault, cemetery and monument charges are additional. (Source: 2006 NFDA Survey of Funeral Home Operations)