Why do we have open casket funerals or viewings...why do some want to look at dead people?

Answer 1

Because it is the last time you will see that person, and you
can then saw goodbye.(even though you are not even there)
It is a strange thing indeed.

Answer 2

I have been to funerals where the casket was closed and to funerals where there was a viewing. I have also been to memorial services where the casket wasn't even present. For me, a viewing allows you a time to grieve and say goodbye. I came away from the memorial service with a feeling that I was cheated out of being able to finalize our parting.

Answer 3

It's a way of closure, a way to say goodbye for the last time.

That's generally what any sort of funeral/memorial service is for, an open casket just gives family and friends a chance to see their loved one for the last time.

Answer 4

Death is a very complicated affair for the living. We were tremendously grief-struck after the surprise death of my sister in law a few years ago. We just couldn't believe she was gone.

The wake was open casket. As macabre as the ritual in some ways may be, it was necessary. I had to face the fact that this woman, so dear to me - like a sister, really - was not here anymore. I was not going to hear her laugh again, or go snowmobiling with her and her hubby anymore, or any of those things.

Seeing her there was like pouring scalding water on my hands emotionally; but it offered me the chance to face what this meant, and to face the realities of it. I now had to accept that she was gone, and not compartmentalize myself into some fiction that she was just on a long trip.

I hope that makes sense. That's how it is for me, anyway.

Answer 5

Not all funerals have open caskets. However, many people need to see their loved ones there...for closure.

Answer 6

Speaking from my own perspective, I pushed to have a viewing of my father when he died last year, because I simply could not believe it. It would not compute, and I knew that seeing him would get it through my head that he was gone, and that if I had moments of denial, I would have an image in my head to go back to that would remind me that he was really gone.

It did even more good than I thought it would. When I saw his hands, the scar on his elbow, things that were uniquely him... so many memories were brought up. And I had the chance to not only say goodbye to him, but to engrave in my mind the memories that seeing him brought to me. That helped too.

Answer 7

If you touch the dead person you wont have bad dreams about them..or at least that is what my Grandmother used to say..So I touched her in her casket. I have never had a bad dream about her, only good ones where she is looking out for me.

Answer 8

It's a form of closure. One of my brothers, who committed suicide, (I've lost 2 that way), couldn't have an open casket because he was exposed to the elements for four days before we found him. There's always a part of you that NEEDS to see for yourself that it really IS your loved one there, to help you to deal with the loss.

Answer 9

I wonder the same thing. I really don't like the idea. I don't like wakes and open casket funerals are so scary. Sometimes the body doesn't look well.

Answer 10

The way I look at it...Its our last chance to see this person, before we meet again in Heaven.

Its a way to have "closure", say Goodbye...

When my grandad died last year, I took off my diamond necklace and stuck it down in his pocket. So I Now feel like he took something of mine with him.
Its a peaceful feeling.
Some people like it and others it hurts more. Just depends on the person.

Answer 11

Closure