Obsequies - definition of obsequies by The Free Dictionary Obsequies - definition of obsequies by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Thesaurus , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia . ob·se·quy n. pl. ob·se·quies often obsequies A funeral rite or ceremony. [Middle English obsequi, from Old French obseque, from Medieval Latin obsequiae, alteration (influenced by Latin exsequiae, funeral rites) of Latin obsequia, pl. of obsequium, compliance, dutiful service; see obsequious.] obsequies [C14: via Anglo-Norman from Medieval Latin obsequiae (influenced by Latin exsequiae), from obsequium compliance] obsequial adj [ˈɒbsɪkwɪz] NPL (frm) → exequias fpl obsequies pl (form) → Beerdigungsfeier f, → Leichenbegängnis nt (liter) Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: obsequy References in classic literature ?

In this stage of the obsequies, a warrior much renowned for deed in arms, and more especially for services in the recent combat, a man of stern and grave demeanor, advanced slowly from the crowd, and placed himself nigh the person of the dead. View in context Meeting with Hodgkiss Misfortunes of the Nez Perces Schemes of Kosato, the renegado His foray into the Horse Prairie- Invasion of Black feet Blue John and his forlorn hope Their generous enterprise-Their fate-Consternation and despair of the village- Solemn obsequies -Attempt at Indian trade -Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly-Arrangements for autumn- Breaking up of an encampment.

View in context KING MEHEVI--ALLUSION TO HIS HAWIIAN MAJESTY--CONDUCT OF MARHEYO AND MEHEVI IN CERTAIN DELICATE MATTERS--PECULIAR SYSTEM OF MARRIAGE--NUMBER OF POPULATION--UNIFORMITY--EMBALMING--PLACES OF SEPULTURE--FUNERAL OBSEQUIES AT NUKUHEVA-NUMBER OF INHABITANTS IN TYPEE--LOCATION OF THE DWELLINGS--HAPPINESS ENJOYED IN THE VALLEY--A WARNING--SOME IDEAS WITH REGARD TO THE PRESENT STATE OF THE HAWIIANS--STORY OF A MISSIONARY'S WIFE--FASHIONABLE EQUIPAGES AT OAHU--REFLECTIONS View in context These external manifestations of joy at any good news sometimes proceeded to very great lengths thus, on the death, of Charles the Bold, to the point of vowing silver balustrades to Saint Martin of Tours; on his advent to the throne, so far as forgetting to order his father's obsequies.

View in context Had she been really a queen the public could not have thronged more eagerly to the spectacle; and after the lying in state there was a funeral of as much ceremony as has been observed at the obsequies of many a queen. Rituals Rituals 'Rituals' and 'Ideal behind the Idol'- these two pages complement each other Click on underlined words to open paragraph Rituals of religion, like the husk of a seed preserve its life and make it germinate Philosophy without religion becomes meaningless. Religion without rituals becomes insipid. The rituals of a religion, like the husk of a seed, preserves its life and make it germinate. It is only when the rituals are separated from the faith and assume an independent existence that they become mechanical and lifeless. Human beings have not yet reached those heights where they can dispense with all sorts of symbols and rituals and devote themselves to purely abstract principles. Rituals give a concrete shape to the abstract spiritual ideals and add colour and zest to life.

Worship of God through symbols and images, offering oblations into specially consecrated sacrificial fires, the practice of meditation at sunrise, noon and sunset,- these were some of the rituals obligatory on almost all the Hindus during the ancient days. Even to this day, these have been kept up, though in a modified form, and with lesser intensity. A wisely planned and solemnly conducted ritual prepares the ground, creates the atmosphere, suggests the mood and predisposes the mind so that the spiritual aspirant may easily detach himself from the world and feel the mysterious presence of the Supreme power called God. ________________ The foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa Compiled by Sri G.M.Jagtiani Mythology and rituals The worlds great spiritual giants have all been produced only by those religious sects which have been in possession of very rich mythology and ritual. All sects that have attempted to Worship God without any form or ceremony have crushed without mercy everything that is beautiful and sublime in religion. Their religion is a fanaticism, at best a dry thing. The history of the world is a standing witness to this fact. Therefore do not decry these rituals and mythologies. Let people have them; let those who so desire have them.

Do not exhibit that unworthy derisive smile and say, "They are fools; let them have it." Not so; the greatest men I have seen in my life, the most wonderfully developed in spirituality, have all come through the discipline of the rituals. ________________ Anusasana Parva, Section LXXXIV + Sec.XCII Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli Bhishma said: When my father Santanu of great energy departed from this world, I proceeded to Gangadwara for performing his Sraddha. My mother, Jahnavi, coming there, rendered great help. Having with a concentrated mind performed all preliminary rites as laid down in the scriptures, I set myself to duly offer the obsequial cake. Reflecting then, by the light of the scriptures, the conviction soon came upon me that the ordinance does occur in the Vedas that the cake should not be presented into the hand of him whose Sraddha is performed. The Pitris do not come in their visible forms for taking the cake. On the other hand, the ordinance provides that it should be presented on the blades of Kusa grass spread on the earth for the purpose. What I did was perfectly consistent with the scriptural ordinance.

In making offerings at Sraddhas a share is first offered to the deity of fire(Agni). If a portion of the offerings be first made to the deity of fire at a sraddha, Rakshasas of regenerate origin cannot then do any injury to such a sraddha. Beholding the deity of fire at a Sraddha Rakshasas fly away from it. The ritual of Sraddha is that the cake should first be offered to the deceased father. Next, one should be offered to the grandfather. Next should one be offered to the great-grandfather. Even this is the ordinance in respect of the Sraddha. Over every cake that is offered, the offerer should with concentrated attention utter the Savitri Mantra. This other Mantra also should be uttered, viz., unto Soma who is fond of the Pitris. A woman that has become impure in consequence of the advent of her season, or one whose ears have been cut off, should not be allowed to remain where a Sraddha is being performed. Nor should a woman (for cooking the rice to be offered in the Sraddha) be brought from a Gotra other than that of the person who is performing the Sraddha.

While crossing a river, one should offer oblations of water unto one's Pitris, naming them all. One should next offer such oblations of water to one's deceased friends or relatives. From them that cross a river on boats, the Pitris expect oblations of water. Those that know this always offer oblations of water with concentrated attention unto the Pitris. Every fortnight, on the day of the new moon, one should make offerings unto one's deceased ancestors. growth, longevity, energy, and prosperity become all attainable through devotion to the Pitris. Even this is the high ritual in respect of the Sraddha. Through Sraddhas performed on earth the deceased members of ones race become freed from a position of misery. I have thus, O prince of Kuru's race, expounded to thee agreeably with the scriptures, the ordinances in respect of Sraddhas. ________________ "Satisfy the Pitris (departed ancestors) with oblations of Tarpan (water etc.) using the word 'Svadhaa' ". Sanskrit text : Svadhaa Stha Tarpayata Me Pitrin.

Top To top of this page Index Alphabetical [Index to Pages] From Other sources Shraddha & Tarpan/Pitr-Paksha Funeral rites and Shraddha must be distinguished from each other. Funeral rites (antyeshthi) are amangal (inauspicious) while Shraddha are mangal (auspicious). To understand this it should be borne in mind that when a person dies, his or her gross body (sthula sharira) is burnt. This being in fact the Antya ishthi (antyeshthi) the last sacrifice offered in fire, but the soul cannot quit the gross body without a vehicle of some kind. This vehicle is the Linga-sharira or subtle body, sometimes described as angushtha-matra (of the size of a thumb), invested in which the deceased person remains hovering near the burning ground or crematorium. He or she is then in the condition of a simple individual soul invested with a subtle body, and is called a PRETA, i.e. a departed spirit or ghost. Thus an embodied soul (jiva) who has departed from the physical body at death is called a Preta.

He or she has no real body capable of enjoying or suffering anything, and is consequently in a restless, uncomfortable plight. Moreover, while in this condition he or she is held to be an impure being, and all the relations who participate in his or her funeral rites are held to be impure until the first Shraddha is performed. Furthermore, if a person dies away from kindred (relations), who alone can perform the funeral ceremonies, and who are perhaps unaware of his or her death, and unable therefore to perform them, he or she becomes a pishach, a foul wandering ghost, disposed to take revenge for its misery upon all living creatures by a variety of malignant acts.

The object then, of the antyeshthi or funeral rites, which are carried out for twelve days after death, is not only to soothe or give shanti (peace) by libations of consecrated water to the troubled spirit, but to furnish the preta with an intermediate body, between the linga or subtle and the sthula or gross body- with a body, that is to say, which is capable of enjoying or suffering, and which is composed of gross particles, though not of the same kind as the earthly gross body. In this manner only can the preta obtain gati or progress onwards. A brief account of Shraddha and tarpan On the first day after death a pinda or round ball (made from rice flour and milk) is offered with libations of water etc. on which the preta is supposed to feed, and which endows it with the basis of the requisite body. Next day another pinda is offered with water etc. which gives it perhaps, limbs such as arms and legs. Then it receives hands, feet etc. This goes on for twelve days and the offering of the pinda on the twelfth day gives the head.

No sooner the preta obtains a complete body then it becomes a PITRI, when instead of being regarded as impure, it is held to be a deva or deity, and practically worshipped as such in the Shraddha ceremonies, the first of which takes place on the twelfth day after death. Shraddha is the name of the ceremonies performed by relatives to help the departed soul. The ceremony of Shraddha performed to help the soul at this stage is called PRETA_KRIYA. Hence a Shraddha is not a funeral ceremony but a Pitri-Yajna or worship of departed ancestors, which worship, however, is something different from a puja (ceremonial worship) to a god. It is performed by making offerings of round balls of rice, flour etc. with accompaniments of sacred grass (kusha grass), flowers, and sprinkling of water, and with repetitions of mantras and texts from the SamVeda, the whole ceremonial being conducted, not in a temple, but at any sacred spot such as the margin of a river. It takes many months for the departed soul to reach the abode of the Pitris or the souls of the ancestors.

The word Pitris primarily means the immediate ancestors. Viz. Father, mother etc. This abode of the Pitris is known as Pitri-loka. Shraddha proper is performed for three generations of Pitris (the father, the grand-father and the great grand-father), or to all Pitris. Three cakes are offered to the father, grand-father and great grand-father. Gifts to deserving Brahmins (priests) for the benefit of the Pitris, in the proper time and place and with faith, are known as Shraddha. Shraddha gives satisfaction to the Pitris. Performance of Shraddha and Tarpan (libations of water) relieves the hunger and thirst of the departed soul during its journey to the Pitri Loka. By the offering of the Shraddha, the son helps his father to dwell in joy with the Pitris. The rites that the son should perform for his father are known as Sapindi karana. Shraddha must be performed with faith, devotion and reverence. The son who does not perform Shraddha and Tarpan is an ungrateful son.

The sacred scriptures declare: "He who does not perform Shraddha will lead a miserable life and suffer from poverty". The ceremonies performed during Pitr-Paksha have very special effects. According to a legend, the offerings of libations of water-tarpan, arghya etc. to the departed reach the Pitris immediately, due to a boon from Lord Yama (the God of death). The Bhagavad Gita, which forms a vital and philosophically important part of the great epic Mahabharata, states that on the eve of death the individual soul contracts all its energies and centers these into the subtle body. Our ordinary sight is incapable of perceiving it. How the individual soul inhering in the linga-sharira enjoys the consequences of its needs from one birth to another can only be perceived by the Yogis with their extraordinary cognitive insight. From The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15, Verse 10 The deluded do not see Him Who departs, stays and enjoys; but they who possess the eye of knowledge behold Him.

Related articles: Santi Parva, Section CCLIII Translated by sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli Vyasa said; Those that are conversant with the scriptures behold, with the aid of acts laid down in the scriptures, the Soul which is clothed in a subtle body and is exceedingly subtle and which is dissociated from the gross body. As the rays of the sun that course in dense masses through every part of the firmament are incapable of being seen by the naked eye though their existence is capable of being inferred by reason, after the same manner, existent beings freed from gross bodies and wandering in the universe are beyond the ken of human vision. As the effulgent disc of the sun is beheld in the water in a counter image, after the same manner the Yogi beholds within gross bodies the existent self in its counter image. All those souls again that are encased in subtle forms after being freed from the gross bodies in which they resided, are perceptible to Yogis who have subjugated their senses and who are endued with knowledge of the soul. Indeed, aided by their own souls, Yogis behold those invisible beings.

Those who betake themselves to the science of Yoga for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of that Soul transcending the inanimate and gross body, the imperceptible Linga body (subtle body), and the Karana body that is not destroyed on the occassion of even the universal destruction. [Note: the Karana bodies are the potentialities, existing in the tanmatra of the elemental substances, of forming diverse kinds of linga bodies in consequence of the acts of Jiva (individual soul) in previous periods of existence.] ________________ Aboriginal Culture - Aboriginal Religion and Ceremony Aboriginal Religion and Ceremony Aboriginal Religion Aboriginal Ceremony. Aboriginal religion, like many other religions, is characterised by having a god or gods who created people and the surrounding environment during a particular creation period at the beginning of time. Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual, but rather than praying to a single god they cannot see, each group generally believes in a number of different deities, whose image is often depicted in some tangible, recognisable form. This form may be that of a particular landscape feature, an image in a rock art shelter, or in a plant or animal form. Wandjina bring the Wet Season rains to the people of the Kimberley.

Landscape features may be the embodiment of the deity itself, such as a particular rock representing a specific figure, or they may be the result of something the deity did or that happened to the deity in the Creation Period, such as a river having formed when the Rainbow Serpent passed through the area in the Creation Period, or a depression in a rock or in the ground representing the footprint or sitting place of an Ancestral Being. Aboriginal people do not believe in animism. This is the belief that all natural objects possess a soul. They do not believe that a rock possesses a soul, but they might believe that a particular rock outcrop was created by a particular deity in the creation period, or that it represents a deity from the Creation Period. They believe that many animals and plants are interchangeable with human life through re-incarnation of the spirit or soul, and that this relates back to the Creation Period when these animals and plants were once people. The Lightning Brothers in the Victoria River District, Northern Territory. There is no one deity covering all of Australia. Each tribe has its own deities with an overlap of beliefs, just as there is an overlap of words between language groups.

Thus, for example, the Wandjina spirits in the northern Kimberley of Western Australia belong to the Ngarinyin, Worora and Wunambal tribes. These Wandjina are responsible for bringing the Wet Season rains, as well as laying down many of the laws for the people. As one travels east, this function is taken over by Yagjagbula and Jabirringgi, The Lightning Brothers of the Wardaman tribe in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory, then by Nargorkun, also known as Bula, in the upper Katherine River area, and by Namarrgun, the Lighning Man in the Kakadu and western Arnhem Land regions. Aboriginal deities have many roles and no single description or term can describe all of these. Based on their primary role, they fall into three main categories, and any one deity may belong to one, two, or all three of these categories: Namarrgun, the Lightning Man in the Kakadu region. (a) Creation Beings (also: Creation Figure).

Many are involved with the creation of people, the landscape, and aspects of the environment, such as the creation of red, yellow or white pigments, so can be called “Creation Figures” or “Creation Beings”. (b) Ancestral Beings. In many examples, these deities are regarded as the direct ancestors of the people living today and so they are “Ancestral Figures”, “Ancestral Beings”, “Ancestral Heroes”, or “Dreamtime Ancestors”. Here, the one term “Ancestral Being” is used to describe these deities. Ancestral Beings have taught the first people how to make tools and weapons, hunt animals and collect food, they have layed down the laws that govern their society, and the correct way to conduct ceremonies. Even though regarded as ancestors of the people, such deities may not appear in a human form, but may be plant or animal, for example. In Aboriginal religious belief, a person’s spirit may return in human, animal or plant form after death. So an Ancestral Being may have the appearance of a plant or animal, but have done deeds similar to a human in the past. (c) Totemic Beings. / Totemic ancestors.

A Totemic Being represents the original form of an animal, plant or other object (totem), as it was in the Creation Period. The concept of a Totemic Being overlaps with that of a Creation Being and an Ancestral Being because the Totemic Being may create the abundance of species, and people see themselves as being derived from the different Totemic Beings. Society is divided into two groups, called moieties, each with specific Totemic Beings belonging to it. Every person belongs to one or the other moiety. These moieties are further divided into sections or subsections, sometimes based on totemic beings. Every individual has come from at least one Totemic Being, and these help define a person’s origins and connections with the world, their relationships with the past, present and future. For example, a person connected with a yam (native potato) totem might believe that he was a yam in a previous life, that some yams are his relatives, and that a particularly prominent rock feature in his clan estate represents the embodiment of his yam ancestor. This, or another area nearby, might also be an “increase centre” where rituals are performed to ensure the maintenance of this food supply.

Each clan will have several totems, so this person will have a close human relative living on the same clan estate who is not of the yam totem. That person might belong to the kangaroo totem and similarly be related to kangaroos and have another feature of the landscape representing their kangaroo totem. Ancestral Beings In order to keep the terminology manageable, the term “Ancestral Being” is used here to describe all Aboriginal deities, rather than including the terms “Creation Being” and “Totemic Being”. There are hundreds of Ancestral Beings throughout Australia, recorded by Aborigines in their stories, songs, body paintings and art. This includes recordings in the rock paintings and petroglyphs (rock carvings) dating back thousands of years. Some Aboriginal stories relating to Ancestral Beings were recorded by early Europeans and published as children’s story books. Ancestral Beings are an intrinsic part of Aboriginal belief and everyday thought. As one moves through the day, walking past a particular rock or creek, spearing a particular animal, catching a goanna (large lizard), or collecting other bush foods, the Ancestral Beings who created these places and things come to mind.

Even making tools and weapons will bring to mind the myths and legends of the Ancestral Beings who taught the Aborigines these skills. Each Ancestral Being has its own creation story, has performed specific activities in the Creation Period, and has played a specific role in relation to laying down the laws for people to follow or in creating the landscape. This information is contained in the body of songs, dances, stories and paintings for each clan or tribe and is revered during certain ceremonies. The Creation Period – The Dreamtime Similar to other religions, there was a time in Aboriginal belief when things were created. This “Creation Period” was the time when the Ancestral Beings created landforms, such as certain animals digging, creating lagoons or pushing up mountain ranges, or the first animals or plants being made. The Aboriginal word for this Creation Period varies throughout Australia and each linguistic region has its own beliefs pertaining to that particular area. For example, it is known as Alcheringa (Aldjuringa) amongst the Aranda of Central Australia, as Lalai in the Kimberley, and as Nayuhyungki amongst the Kunwinjku (Gunwinggu) east of Kakadu National Park.

Aboriginal people often interpret dreams as being the memory of things that happened during this Creation Period. Dreams are also important because they can be a time when we are transformed back into that ancestral time. This linking of dreams to the Creation Period has led people to adopt the general term “The Dreamtime” in order to describe the time of creation in their religion. The term “Dreamtime” in Aboriginal mythology is not really about a person having a dream, but rather, a reference to this Creation Period. All aspects of Aboriginal culture are full of legends and beings associated with this Creation Period, or Dreamtime. Each tribe has many stories, often with a lesson to be learned or a moral tale, about the Creation Period deities, animals, plants, and other beings. These stories are told to children, discussed around campfires, and are sung and acted out in plays and dances during the times of ceremony. When an adolescent progresses through their phases of initiation, they learn the more important, senior and secret parts of these stories, and this knowledge is reinforced by the acting-out of more secret-sacred rituals, songs and dances. Men dancing, holding a boomerang in one hand and a club in the other. Cobar, New South Wales.

Images relating to the Creation Period are a feature in art forms on weapons, utensils, body painting, ground designs, bark paintings, and rock art. The stories of The Dreamtime form the basis of Aboriginal religion, behaviour, law and order in society. How long ago was the Creation Period in the minds of Aboriginal people? What is their concept of its timing, since they had no written chronicle of time? Archaeological studies currently show that Aboriginal people have been in Australia at least 60,000 years. In the 1970s that figure was thought to be 40,000 years, which is the limit of how far back carbon dating can go. This latter figure was widely publicised at the time and many Australian people, including Aborigines, know the 40,000 year figure. So, if you ask an Aboriginal person today, they will tell you the Creation Period / Dreamtime goes back before 40,000 years. But what was their concept before this knowledge? This question was put to people in the past, and the answer was about five or six generations of people previous to the existing time.

In other words, a person would have a knowledge of their father, grandfather, great grandfather, and great-great grandfather, but the next generation or a few more before that was when their relatives lived in the Creation Period and were kangaroo people, plant people, or took on some other form. This shortened concept of time may be universal within the origin of religions. For example, in the religions of Judaism and Christianity, the Bible’s Old Testament tells how God created the entire universe, including the four major rivers local to Babylon (now Iraq and Iran), in 6 days. It then goes to great lengths to describe many of the people who lived following Adam and Eve, the first people. The earliest bible stories may have only been in oral form, later becoming written in Aramaic and Hebrew possibly around 1700 B.C.. and read as though the time of creation was about 4,000 B.C.. However, since modern dating techniques have placed the earth’s age at about 3,600 million years, many people embracing those religions today still believe that God created mankind and the universe, but imagine this happening over a different time scale to that described in the bible.

For all of us, the concept of a million years of humanity and thousands of millions of years of existence for our planet is beyond our comprehension. Ceremonial Life Men decorated for ceremony, holding an object representing an important totem. To this day, ceremonies play an important part in Aboriginal life. Small ceremonies, or rituals, are still practised in some remote parts of Australia, such as in Arnhem Land and Central Australia, in order to ensure a supply of plant and animal foods. These take the form of chanting, singing, dancing or ritual action to invoke the Ancestral Beings to ensure a good supply of food or rain. The most important ceremonies are connected with the initiation of boys and girls into adulthood. Such ceremonies sometimes last for weeks, with nightly singing and dancing, story telling, and the display of body decoration and ceremonial objects. During these ceremonies, the songs and stories connected to each of the Ancestral Beings are told and retold, some being “open” for women and children to see and hear, others being restricted or “secret-sacred”, only for the initiates to learn. Ceremony Funeral ceremonies.

Another important time for ceremonies is on the death of a person, when people often paint themselves white, cut their own bodies to show their remorse for the loss of their loved one, and conduct a series of rituals, songs and dances to ensure the person’s spirit leaves the area and returns to its birth place, from where it can later be reborn. Burial practices vary throughout Australia, people being buried in parts of southern and central Australia, but having quite a different burial in the north. Across much of northern Australia, a person’s burial has two stages, each accompanied by ritual and ceremony. Men covered in white clay, preparing the bones of two deceased, which will be placed in the two decorated hollow logs. Yirrkala, Arnhem Land. 1947. The primary burial is when the corpse is layed out on an elevated wooden platform, covered in leaves and branches, and left several months for the flesh to rot away from the bones. The secondary burial is when the bones are collected from the platform, painted with red ochre, and then dispersed in different ways. Sometimes a relative will carry a portion of the bones with them for a year or more.

Sometimes they are wrapped in paperbark and deposited in a cave shelter, where they are left to disintegrate with time. In parts of Arnhem Land the bones are placed into a large hollow log and left at a designated area of bushland. The hollow log is a dead tree trunk which has been naturally hollowed out by the action of termites. Aboriginal rock art records ceremonies dating back tens of thousands of years, yet still continued to this day. A man dances a pose with his arms outstretched, holding a short stick in each hand, this photo being taken in Darwin in about the 1920s. Early Kimberley rock art in Western Australia records the same pose with a person holding short sticks in each hand. Conical and “bucket” headdresses are worn during a public performance ceremony in Alice Springs. Two boomerangs are used as clap sticks to beat time for the singing. The conical headdress and knees bent in a dancing pose appear in the early rock art of the Kimberley. Funeral ceremonies - definition of Funeral ceremonies by The Free Dictionary Funeral ceremonies - definition of Funeral ceremonies by The Free Dictionary Related to Funeral ceremonies: Funeral rituals fu·ner·al n. 1. a.

A ceremony or group of ceremonies held in connection with the burial or cremation of a dead person. b. Archaic The eulogy delivered or the sermon preached at such a ceremony. 2. The burial procession accompanying a body to the grave. 3. An end or a cessation of existence. 4. Slang A source of concern or care: If he doesn't meet the deadline, it's his funeral. adj. Of, relating to, or resembling a funeral. [Middle English funerelles, funeral rites, from Old French funerailles, from Medieval Latin fūnerālia, neuter pl. of fūnerālis, funereal, from Late Latin, from Latin fūnus, fūner-, death rites; see dheuə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] funeral a. a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated b. (as modifier): a funeral service. 2. a procession of people escorting a corpse to burial 3. informal worry; concern; affair: that's your funeral.

[C14: from Medieval Latin fūnerālia, from Late Latin fūnerālis (adj), from Latin fūnus funeral] fu•ner•al 1. the ceremonies for a dead person prior to burial or cremation; obsequies. 2. a funeral procession. 3. of or pertaining to a funeral: funeral services; funeral expenses. Idioms: be someone's funeral, Informal. to have unpleasant consequences for someone. [1505–15; < Middle French funerailles < Medieval Latin fūnerālia, neuter pl. of fūnerālis, derivative of Latin fūner-, s. of fūnus funeral rites] funeral - Once was a torchlight procession, from Latin funis, "torch"—because funerals of the Romans took place at night by torchlight. See also related terms for torch . ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1.

funeral - a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated; "hundreds of people attended his funeral" ceremonial , ceremonial occasion , ceremony , observance - a formal event performed on a special occasion; "a ceremony commemorating Pearl Harbor" burial , entombment , inhumation , interment , sepulture - the ritual placing of a corpse in a grave sky burial - a traditional Tibetan funeral ritual in which the corpse is exposed to the open air to be eaten by sacred vultures funeral state funeral → entierro m or funeral m con honores de estado that's your funeral! → ¡con tu pan te lo comas ! B.

CPD funeral cortège N → cortejo m fúnebre funeral director N → director (a) m/f de funeraria funeral oration N → oración f fúnebre funeral parlour N → funeraria f funeral procession N → cortejo m fúnebre funeral service N → exequias fpl funeral [ˈfjuːnərəl] n → enterrement m; (more formal occasion) → obsèques fpl It's your funeral (= up to you) → C'est ton affaire .funeral director n → entrepreneur m des pompes funèbres funeral home (US) n → funérarium mfuneral parlour n → funérarium mfuneral procession n → cortège m funèbre funeral pyre n → bûcher m, bûcher m funéraire funeral service n → service m funèbre funeral n → Begräbnis nt, → Beerdigung f, → Beisetzung f (form); were you at his funeral?

→ waren Sie auf seiner Beerdigung ?; well, that’s your funeral (inf) → na ja, das ist dein persönliches Pech (inf), → das ist dein Problem (inf) funeral [ˈfjuːn/ər/əl] n → funerale m; (procession) → corteo funebre ; (state funeral) → funerali mpl that's your funeral! (fam) → è affar tuo! funeral (ˈfjuːnərəl) noun the ceremony before the burying or cremation of a dead body. A large number of people attended the president's funeral; (also adjective) a funeral procession. begrafnis جَازَه погребение funeral pohřeb; pohřební das Begräbnis, Begräbnis-...

begravelse; begravelses- κηδεία funeral matus(ed) مراسم خاکسپاری hautajaiset funérailles לוויה क्रिया कर्म pogreb, sprovod; pogrebni temetés upacara pemakaman útför, jarðarför funerale 葬式 장례식 laidotuvės bēres; bēru- upacara pengebumian begrafenis begravelse , gravferd , jordfesting pogrzeb جنازه، دښخولو مراسم funeral funeralii, înmormântare похороны pohreb; pohrebný pogreb; pogreben sahrana begravning งานศพ cenaze töreni 葬禮 похорон مردے کے تجہیز و تکفین đám tang 葬礼 funeral Funeral | Define Funeral at Dictionary.com funeral [fyoo-ner-uh l] /ˈfyu nər əl/ Spell the ceremonies for a dead person prior to burial or cremation; obsequies.

2. of or relating to a funeral: funeral services; funeral expenses. be someone's funeral, Informal. to have unpleasant consequences for someone: If you don't finish the work on time, it will be your funeral! Origin of funeral Medieval Latin 1350-1400 1350-1400; Middle English (adj.) < Medieval Latin fūnerālis, equivalent to Latin fūner-, stem of fūnus funeral rites + -ālis -al 1; (noun), from early 16th cent., probably < Middle French funerailles < Medieval Latin fūnerālia, neuter plural of fūnerālis Related forms Examples from the Web for funeral Expand Contemporary Examples The miniature man in his 50s who is funding the pageant has his makeup done at a funeral parlor. And Rupert said he would like to go to the funeral, if he may. Moor Fires E. H. (Emily Hilda) Young The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started from. A Modern Cinderella Amanda M.

Douglas We do not weep at a circus or at a pantomime; why should we laugh at a funeral? The Green Carnation Robert Smythe Hichens III.86 the order of his funeral: the course of the funeral ceremonies. British Dictionary definitions for funeral Expand a ceremony at which a dead person is buried or cremated (as modifier): a funeral service 2. a procession of people escorting a corpse to burial 3. (informal) worry; concern; affair: that's your funeral Word Origin C14: from Medieval Latin fūnerālia, from Late Latin fūnerālis (adj), from Latin fūnus funeral Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for funeral Expand n.

mid-15c., from Middle French funérailles (plural) "funeral rites" (15c.), from Medieval Latin funeralia "funeral rites," originally neuter plural of Late Latin funeralis "having to do with a funeral," from Latin funus (genitive funeris) "funeral, funeral procession, burial rites; death, corpse," origin unknown, perhaps ultimately from PIE root *dheu- (3) "to die." Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until c.1700. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper funeral in the Bible Expand Burying was among the Jews the only mode of disposing of corpses (Gen. 23:19; 25:9; 35:8, 9, etc.). The first traces of burning the dead are found in 1 Sam. 31:12. The burning of the body was affixed by the law of Moses as a penalty to certain crimes (Lev. 20:14; 21:9).

To leave the dead unburied was regarded with horror (1 Kings 13:22; 14:11; 16:4; 21:24, etc.). In the earliest times of which we have record kinsmen carried their dead to the grave (Gen. 25:9; 35:29; Judg. 16:31), but in later times this was done by others (Amos 6:16). Immediately after decease the body was washed, and then wrapped in a large cloth (Acts 9:37; Matt. 27:59; Mark 15:46). In the case of persons of distinction, aromatics were laid on the folds of the cloth (John 19:39; comp. John 12:7). As a rule the burial (q.v.) took place on the very day of the death (Acts 5:6, 10), and the body was removed to the grave in an open coffin or on a bier (Luke 7:14). After the burial a funeral meal was usually given (2 Sam. 3:35; Jer.

16:5, 7; Hos. 9:4). Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary Idioms and Phrases with funeral Expand OBSEQUIES OF COL. ELLSWORTH. - Arrival of the Remains--Services at the Astor House--The Body in State at the City Hall --Ten Thousand Citizens View It--Imposing Civic and Military Display. RESPECT TO COL. ELLSWORTH IN KENTUCKY. REPORTS FROM LEAVENWORTH. THE STATE MILITARY DEPARTMENT. - NYTimes.com Autos OBSEQUIES OF COL. ELLSWORTH.; Arrival of the Remains--Services at the Astor House--The Body in State at the City Hall --Ten Thousand Citizens View It--Imposing Civic and Military Display. RESPECT TO COL. ELLSWORTH IN KENTUCKY. REPORTS FROM LEAVENWORTH. THE STATE MILITARY DEPARTMENT. Published: May 27, 1861 The echoes of the dirges that attended the obsequies of Col.

VOSBURGH had scarcely died away, ere the Metropolis was called upon to participate in funeral solemnities which were simultaneously deplored throughout the North -- so general has been the national mourning at the death of Col. E.E. ELLSWORTH, of the Fire Zouaves. At 3 o'clock yesterday morning, the body of the lamented Col. ELLSWORTH arrived at the Jersey City depot, where it was received by a number of the relatives and friends of the family, together with Sergeant BARNETT and a squad of men from the Fifth Ward Police. The remains were immediately carried to the Astor House, where they were deposited in Room No. 41, in charge of the bereaved family. The Messrs. STETSON had made every preparation to conduct the obsequies with becoming ceremony. An efficient police guard was detailed to take charge of the house, a reserve corps of the Seventh Regiment, under Capt. AWKENBUSH, was present to act as a guard of honor, and over the spot where the coffin was placed a conopy was erected, combining in its colors the sable hues of mourning with the brilliant tints of the national ensign.

Shortly after 9 o'clock a preliminary service was held, at which the family and many of the guests of the house were present. Among others there were the escort of the remains, consisting of Lieut. S.W. Stryker, Lieut. E.F. Coats, Corporal John A. Smith, Privates Joseph More, Michael Brennan, Hiram Smith, Corporal Francis E. Brownell, who shot the murderer of Col. ELLSWORTH; the Zouave Fund Committee, A.F. Ackersham, Chairman; and Messrs. W.H. Wickham, John R. Platt, John S. Giles, and James Y. Watkins, who composed the Committee of Arrangements for bringing on the corpse. The funeral discourse was delivered by Rev. Dr. BURLINGHAM, of the North Baptist Church, who, besides dwelling with touching tenderness upon the many virtues of the deceased, pointed his oration with a moral peculiarly adapted to the occasion. MATTHEW HALE SMITH, who was present, also made a few appropriate remarks. The room was then cleared, and the remains were taken in charge by the Common Council Committee, and the various representatives of City organizations present.

At about 10 o'clock the mournful cortege moved to the City Hall, where the body was deposited in the Governor's Room. Among those present in the room were Maj. Gen. DIX, Gen. HALL, Hon. HAMILTON FISH, Chief-Engineer DECKER, and others of equal note. The remains were encased in a metallic coffin, the lid of which was so arranged that through a glass cover the face and breast could be seen. The body was dressed in the Zouave uniform of Col. ELLSWORTH's corps, but it was generally remarked, did not bear that natural look so often seen in cases of sudden death. The livid paleness of the features contrasted strongly with the ruddy glow of health that always characterized the Colonel in his lifetime. The marked features, and the firm expression of the mouth, were, however, sufficient to remind the beholder of what once was Col. ELLSWORTH.

The cover of the coffin was strewn with freshly-gathered flowers -- evergreens and immortelles -- and at the foot of the case, on either side, were the American colors and the traitor's flag, the reizing of which cost the departed his life. All the preparations being made, the guards stationed so as to secure a speedy exit, the doors were opened, and the crowd poured in to view the remains. From 11 1/4 o'clock, when the stream began to pour in, until 2 1/2 o'clock, when the doors were closed, the mourners filed by the corps at the rate of 2,400 per hour -- and sometimes even faster, so that it is believed that at least 10,000 people viewed the remains. The faces of all were sad, and many eyes were suffused with tears as they gazed upon the rigid features of the noble young soldier. At the head of the coffin there sat a modest young man in the Zouave uniform, who was no unmoved spectator of that touching scene.

In his hands he held the market that carried death to the murderer of his brave commander, and on his breast were pinned scraps of the flag through which the deadly ball had passed. He was recognized by many as the heroic avenger of Col. ELLSWORTH -- young BROWHELL, -- and yet many passed hardly giving him a glance. To such as asked him of the occurrence, he narrated in a reserved manner the thrilling scene in which the Colonel lest his life. Time would not permit of the exhibition of the remains to the thousands yet unsatisfied, and, shortly after three, the body was brought out, placed in the hearse, and the funeral procession was formed. First came Gen. HALL, and staff; and following them the Eleventh, Fifty fifth, Third and First Regiments, the Fourth Artillery, and the field and staff officers of the various volunteer corps in the City and vicinity. Next followed the Fire Department of the City, numbering at least two thousand men, uniformed in red shirts and black pants, without their engines. Next came the hearse under the guard of honor, Corporal BROWNELL bearing the Secession flag, and the following pall-bearers: Hon. Hamilton Fish,

Question: What ceremony is sometimes called obsequies?
Answer: Funeral