Funeral-related industry

A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial, entombment or cremation with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead, from interment, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour. Customs vary between cultures and religious groups. Funerals have both normative and legal components. Common secular motivations for funerals include mourning the deceased, celebrating their life, and offering support and sympathy to the bereaved; a

thumb|upright|American obituary for World War I|WWI death thumb|Traditional street obituary notes in Bulgaria

thumb|Technicians preparing a body for cryopreservation in 1985

thumb|Embalming was popularized in the United States during the American Civil War.|alt=Embalming surgeon at work on soldier's body

thumb|Maitland, Cape Town|Maitland Crematorium, [[South Africa.]]

Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, in particular the death of a person or animal to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, cultural, spiritual, political and philosophical dimensions. While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement refers to the state of loss, while grief is the reaction to that loss.

wax or plaster cast made of a person’s face following death

vigil held over the dead before burial

vital record that documents a death

professional involved in the business of funeral rites

method of body disposal

public organized movement of mourners along a route as a funeral custom

bag designed to contain a human body

funeral process

burial custom

practice and procedure for handling the human remains of a deceased person

A piece of cardboard attached with string to the big toe of a dead person in a morgue, used for identification purposes.