Sunday, October 18, 2009

Ancient Roman Burial Rituals

Today, funerals are performed based on a family's religion and beliefs. If the body is in good shape, then a visitation will take place on a certain day with no more than three different times throughout the day. After the visitation, the actual funeral will take place with family gathering together to say a few words about their dead loved one and then the body is brought to the cemetary in a funeral persession lead by the herse carrying the body. If requested, a grave side ceremony can take place where the family gathers at their loved one's final resting place. This is a normal, basic funeral. A family also has the oppertunity to have their loved one cremated. Cremation is when a body is placed in a furnace and the ashes are gathered and placed in an urn. When a family chooses to have a loved one cremated, the ritual is not much different from a basic funeral. The only difference is instead of a graveside ceremony, a family can gather at a special place and scatter the ashes.

The funeral and burial rituals today are not all that different from acient Roman burial rituals. Cremation was the popular choice of burial rituals for the ancient Romans. When a loved one would pass away, their body would be washed and dressed in thier nicest clothes by family members. The body would then be placed on a couch for eight days for family and friends to pay their last repects to the deceased and family. Next, a coin would be placed either in the mouth under the tounge or two coins would be placed over the eyes so that he can pay the ferry man to row him to the land of the dead. Finally, the body of the deceased would be carried outside to be burned in front of family and friends.

1 comment:

  1. This sounds really interesting! I'd like to find out more about this topic!

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