What are you preserving? Why not let the body return to the earth as dust?
2007-01-05 05:24:46 · 16 answers · asked by Emperor Insania Says Bye! 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Funerals are for the living, so im sure we use the coffin for the living as well, not for the dead.
2007-01-05 05:27:36 · answer #1 · answered by K 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Its another one of those traditions passed on through the generations from ancient times. Some cultures use coffins, while others don't. Consider the coffin like a portable tomb. The Egyptians were seriously into some coffins wouldn't you say? Preservation could be a reason. On the other hand, giving a more respectable burial than just a whole in the ground could be another. Heck, the prevention of the spread of disease could yet be another reason.
Ask an Archaeologist or a professor of Ancient cultures.
2007-01-05 05:34:27 · answer #2 · answered by Goober W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are preserving the peace of mind of the surviving family.
That coffin doesn't add much preservation to a body. Visit the grave about six months later and you will find the ground above it has sunk in already because the coffin and the body have decayed.
2007-01-05 05:27:38 · answer #3 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't understand it either. I think that I've heard in Europe somewhere you can have what's called a Green Burial, where they just stick you in the ground.
It's not just coffins, it's vaults too that are silly. I read this really interesting book called "How We Die" with all kinds of gross facts and statistics. It says that coffins nowadays are so airtight, that sometimes we don't decay, we liquify.
I'll take a cremation. (not that I'll care then anyway, but just the thought that I won't be juicy is good for me.)
2007-01-05 05:32:44 · answer #4 · answered by elfkin, attention whore 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For the surviving loved ones, mainly. The body will still return to dust. It just takes longer.
2007-01-05 05:32:10 · answer #5 · answered by country nana 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
oftentimes the coffin is diminished by the workers of a funeral abode. each so often it truly is performed by cemetery workers. there is not a particular position for that job. even as searching ahead to burial, the coffin stands on a stand above the grave on the cemetary.
2016-12-01 21:10:52 · answer #6 · answered by picart 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they're required by city and state ordinances. A cement vault must be used also to inter the casket into underground. That's why there is cremation also.
2007-01-05 05:31:17 · answer #7 · answered by Big Bear 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
people dont want to see their loved ones put into the ground along with the worms , ants, and bugs, and covered up with dirt.
the coffin gives protection.
2007-01-05 05:30:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
So that the body will not be entermingled with the water supply that people may drink or bathe in who live nearby.
2007-01-05 05:29:00 · answer #9 · answered by Time4Tivo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hey..
i think itz a matter of respect to the dead..
& also consolement for da family..
how wud it be to the unfortunate family to watch their relative being put to rest amidst all that dirt..?
think..
c'ya!
2007-01-05 05:43:01 · answer #10 · answered by Rania 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋