Why In Funerals........?

Question

why after people go to a funeral, people go eat at the deceased persons house or their relatives?
How can you eat if you're too sad?

Answer 1

I think it is because people can visit and socialize-- sometimes you only see some relatives at funerals or weddings! People remember the "old times" and generally just show support for the family.

Answer 2

Funerals serve a number of purposes and sometimes they get mixed up. We've inherited that variety of purposes because we've inherited lots of different traditions. So there's a mix of things like:

- wanting to offer a rest to people who've travelled a long way;

- wanting more time than the funeral gives for people to remember the deceased;

- giving space for people who won't have seen one another for a long time to spend more time together;

- wanting to share memories, which will inevitably run the gamut from laughter to tears;

- opportunities for emotional catharsis;

and so on, and so on. So food and drink are offered because it would be rude not to, but I agree with you that there are some times when one really doesn't feel like it.

There are other cultures - that haven't inherited such a mixture - that manage death in different ways, and some people would say that those ways are more 'healthy.' For example, among the Maori in New Zealand the body is kept 'at home' for a few days, and everybody who has anything important to say to the deceased comes and says it - from love through to old grudges to asking forgiveness, etc. (Don't ask the inevitable question about the body 'cos I don't know). So by the time they get around to the actual burial everybody's emotional baggage has been unloaded, all the family and old friends have met up, and it's time to go.

Hope that helps satisfy a little curiousity.

Answer 3

It is called a wake.

The funerary ceremonies in the West are disturbing in general. A body is drained and the blood and fluids replaced with formaldehyde. The body is dressed and make up is applied. The body then sits out for several days looking like a center piece in a buffet in a chilled room.

Then they stuff it in a box and bury it in a concrete vault. In a few centuries the protective structures will be compromised and the toxic waste goop that used to be a person will then contaminate the water table with goodies for our poor decedents.

Get cremated and stop the pollution!

Answer 4

To be with family, comfort one another, and people eat thats just what people do.

Answer 5

It's a time of getting together to morn the loss of your loved one.

Answer 6

Personally, I've often found food to be comforting.

Answer 7

Not so much as a mourning of their death, but rather a celebration of their life.