2007-02-01 09:06:56 · 18 answers · asked by whit 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
Because the casket and body are to heavy.
2007-02-01 09:10:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
With death, men are not as emotional as women. However that's not to say things can happen. A friend was telling me about the pallbearers taking the coffin to the gravesite because the cars could not get in. About 3/4 of the way, please don't laugh, they dropped the casket. It's like the reality of death hit them all at once. So it could primarily be a sexist thing but factors are not enough to base it on. There may have been situations were the person did not have a 'big' funeral and all that played a part are women. So they would be the ones to carry it. Most of the cases, where I've been one it's such a short trip from building to car; car to burial site, that I even wonder what are we here for.
2007-02-01 17:12:16 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A couple of guesses...
Practicality - Coffins and their contents are HEAVY (as mentioned by others), so it would most likely be easier for men to act as pallbearers/casketbearers.
Tradition - The use of pallbearer/casketbearer mirrors very early military traditions where fallen comrades were carried home on their shields. It may simply be an extension of this.
2007-02-01 17:28:57 · answer #3 · answered by keltarr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Back in the old days, coffins had to be carried from the undertakers to the cemetery and since men where considered to be physically stronger than women, they were the pallbearers. Thus the tradition of male pallbearers.
2007-02-01 17:11:46 · answer #4 · answered by curiousnktown 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because coffins are heavy and women generally wear high heels to funerals. Walking over grass in high heels is bad enough without having to lug along a heavy coffin besides. I think women have actually been pallbearers tho'. Just doesn't happen often.
2007-02-01 17:11:27 · answer #5 · answered by grrluknow 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess it's tradition (and in the old days, just the way women dressed would have made it impractical to attempt to carry the coffin) but lately I've seen more and more female pall bearers, and I'm a female and I've been one twice.
2007-02-01 17:10:53 · answer #6 · answered by Karen M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because its seen as a man thing and are alot stronger to carry the weight on there shoulders and the women do the crying as the men carry the coffin.
2007-02-01 17:11:21 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's probably due to tradition. Carrying a casket was probably too much for women back in the day.
2007-02-01 17:09:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
um, just a guess, but maybe because it'd be easier for most men than women to carry a casket.
2007-02-01 17:09:53 · answer #9 · answered by dc87 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because women are busy making sandwiches for the wake!
2007-02-01 17:10:46 · answer #10 · answered by Scott T 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋