Paging
Where a funeral director walks ahead of a hearse in a slow, measured walk. In traditional dress, often a top hat and tails, the funeral director may also use a cane. A throwback to the era where they led a cortege through crowded streets at a slow pace to allow communities to pay their respects.
Embalming
Also known as hygienic treatment, embalming is a process that replaces natural fluids with a preservative to slow down natural decomposition. It allows funeral directors to present, dress and care for the person who’s passed so their families have best opportunity and time to say goodbye safely.
Interment
Another term for burial where a coffin or ashes receptacle is buried in the earth within a cemetery, burial ground or other place of significance.
Ashes or Powder
Following a cremation, ashes is the term given to the cremated remains which includes the person who’s died and their coffin. Powder is the equivalent of ashes after hydrolysis, also known as a water funeral. Like ashes, powder is lighter in colour and sometimes finer.
Both ashes and powder can be stored in an urn or casket, used in jewellery, art or other keepsakes, or transported in a scatter tube for dispersing. It’s possible to repatriate ashes to a person’s home and some funeral directors, including William Purves, offer storage in an Ashes Library.
Catafaulque
In churches or crematoria, coffins are placed onto a structure known as a catafalque. Designed to support the coffin during a ceremony, service or a period called “lying in state”.
Hydrolysis
A greener alternative to burial or cremation, hydrolysis is a water-based funeral. The person who’s died is placed into a chamber where an alkaline solution is applied with pressure to accelerate the natural process of decomposition. A powder, similar to ashes, is created for families to store, inter or disperse.
Pallbearer
A pallbearer is someone who carries or directs a coffin during a funeral. This can be using a trolley or as part of a group that carry a coffin on their shoulders.
Cortege
The funeral procession in full is known as a cortege. Usually led by the vehicle that carries the coffin, this could be a hearse, horse and carriage or other transport accompanied by a funeral director. Families travel behind the coffin in limousines, other transport or on foot. The cortege usually travels between the place or burial or cremation and the service venue.
Committal
When the coffin is lowered into a grave or the crematorium, this is called the committal. During this stage of a funeral, songs may be sung, a verse or reading given or a blessing applied. Scottish burials feature cord bearers where family or friends hold a symbolic cord as the coffin is lowered.
Funeral Favours
In some funerals, a favour may be offered to mourners as they leave a service or at a graveside. From flowers to drams of whisky, seeds or books to commemorate a loved one, they are personal and kept as a memento for mourners to take away.
Orders of Service
This is the name given to the printed tribute sheets or booklets used at service. Featuring photographs of the person who’s died, these tributes can include words to hymns or songs played at the service, readings, messages and are used both during the funeral and as a memento for both those on the day and others who could not attend.
Celebrants, Humanists and Officiants
The person who leads a funeral can be a minister, priest, pastor, or other faith leader. For those who do not want a religious funeral, a celebrant is able to conduct services blending elements of faith and not as required. Humanists offer a celebration of life that does not include songs. All officiants will spend time with families to learn about the person who’s died to honour their life in a style that is personal to them.