# Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony connected with the burial, cremation, or interment of a corpse, or the burial (or equivalent) with the attendant observances.

## Quotes

* In the city a funeral is just an interruption of traffic; in the country it is a form of entertainment.
** George Ade, Cosmopolitan Magazine, February 1928.
* She was a soprano of the kind often used for augmenting grief at a funeral.
** George Ade, Fables.
* FUNERAL, n. A pageant whereby we attest our respect for the dead by enriching the undertaker, and strengthen our grief by an expenditure that deepens our groans and doubles our tears.
** Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Word Book (1906); republished as The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
* We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
* Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.
** The Book of Common Prayer (1662), "The Burial of the Dead"
* I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 5037) to amend titles 38 and 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain demonstrations at cemeteries under the control of the National Cemetery Administration and at Arlington National Cemetery, and for other purposes….Prohibition.—No person may carry out— (1) a demonstration on the property of a cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration or on the property of Arlington National Cemetery unless the demonstration has been approved by the cemetery superintendent or the director of the property on which the cemetery is located; or (2) with respect to such a cemetery, a demonstration during the period beginning 60 minutes before and ending 60 minutes after a funeral, memorial service, or ceremony is held, any part of which demonstration— Each family of the United States military now attends to their loved ones funeral with a wrenching worry that it will be met possibly with a protest or a demonstration. With the approach of our Nation's annual day of remembrance, it is altogether fitting that we approve this bill to protect the sanctity of our military funerals at our national cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery.
** Steve Buyer, Congressional Record 109th Congress (2005-2006) (The Library of Congress, 24 May 2006)
* When selecting music for a service meant to proclaim the hope of eternal life, why include a song that denies the very concept of eternal life in its opening words? …As Christians, our funerals shouldn’t be celebrations of our accomplishments, hobbies, or interests because, as Christians, we aren’t primarily statesmen or sports fans or Parrotheads with a little bit of Jesus dust sprinkled on top.
** Hans Fiene, "Eight Funeral Hymns That Would Be Infinitely Better Than Jimmy Carter’s ‘Imagine’", The Federalist (January 14, 2025)
* Beneath our feet and o'er our head Is equal warning given: Beneath us lie the countless dead, Above us is the heaven! Death rides on every passing breeze, And lurks in every flower; Each season has its own disease, Its peril every hour.
** Reginald Heber, "At a Funeral", No. I.
* Thou art gone to the grave; but we will not deplore thee, Though sorrows and darkness encompass the tomb.
** Reginald Heber, "At a Funeral", No. II.
* Why then thy flowing sable Stoles, Deep pendant Cypress, mourning Poles, Loose Scarfs to fall athwart thy Weeds, Long Palls, drawn Herses, cover’d Steeds, And Plumes of black, that as they tread, Nod o’er the ’Scutcheons of the Dead?
** Thomas Parnell, "A Night-Piece on Death"
** Poems on Several Occasions (1722)
* Cold is that breast which warm’d the world before, And those love-darting eyes must roll no more. Thus, if eternal Justice rules the ball, Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall; On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, And frequent herses shall besiege your gates. There passengers shall stand, and pointing say (While the long fun’rals blacken all the way), ‘Lo! these were they whose souls the Furies steel’d And cursed with hearts unknowing how to yield.’
** Alexander Pope, "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" (1717; 1720)
* Shylock: I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin!
** William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, III. i.

## See also

* Cemetery
* Cremation
* Death
* Epitaph
* Grave (burial)
* Immortality
* Last words
* Undertakers

## External links

* Media related to Funeral on Wikimedia Commons
* Encyclopedic article on Funeral on Wikipedia
* Funeral travel travel guide from Wikivoyage
* The dictionary definition of funeral on Wiktionary