Loading...

About Funerals

About Funerals Today

 

 

What follows is a description of funerals and funeral trends today. It is not our policy to prescribe any form of funeral to our customers. As facilitators, our is role to provide options, to explain those options, and to help make arrangements that are right for you and your family and friends. That may include making suggestions or referrals that we think explain or help you with your memorial or event planning, but ultimately we want it to be right for you.

 

Traditional Funerals

A “traditional” funeral service or ceremony may include a time for people to gather together, often the day before the funeral itself, which is called a “visitation,” with the casket and body (may or may not be) present. The “visitation" may include a “quiet hour" presented by a minister. Some people have a “wake” or reception too during or after the “visitation”. Then, there is the funeral ceremony, which can be held at a church, non-denominational chapel, or other location in keeping with the spiritual beliefs of the family. Following the funeral ceremony, an interment in a grave, crypt or niche occurs at the cemetery. Usually the public events conclude with a reception at the home or other facility.

For Asian families, we have counselors who speak Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese. We understand the principles of good feng shui and the special rituals attendant to serving the Asian community.



Variations On The Traditional Funeral

In recent years, some people have begun to view funerals differently than their parents and grandparents did. Some prefer to have a ceremony at the cemetery only, commonly referred to as a “graveside service.” Others choose to have the ceremony followed not by earth burial, but by cremation, the process of reducing the body to bone fragments by intense heat. The cremated remains (“ashes”) may then be buried in a cemetery, scattered by the family or funeral home in a place that has special significance, or placed in an urn to be kept by the family. Instead of a funeral service with the casket and body present, some people may choose to have a memorial service, either in a place of worship, funeral home, or other location that was meaningful to the person who has died. Others may choose to omit ceremonies altogether, and prefer that the body simply be buried or cremated as soon as possible after death.

 

New Era and Baby Boomer Funerals

The Baby Boomers and younger generations are increasingly searching for creative forms of memorialization, free from encumbrances of past precedents and rituals. So long as it is legal, we want to support you and the form of event planning and memorialization that is right for you, or your family and friends. Be creative!

We offer many different options and can help you create a tribute that meets the wishes of you and your family.

 
 Piedmont Funeral Services General Price ListCasket General Price List

 

© Piedmont Funeral Services & Mountain View Cemetery | Oakland, CA - Funeral Home Website Design By Frazer Consultants & TA

Privacy Policy & Terms of Use | Accessibility