Thursday, April 16, 2009
"Viewings"
Last Sunday I was in Utah at a family member's viewing. I wasn't able to stay for the actual funeral, which I am sad about. I have mixed feelings about "viewings". On one hand it is nice for the immediate family to feel the support of friends and family, to visit and hug as each comes to pay their last respects. On the other hand it is completely morbid! There is a dead person laying there right as people are talking! The person is so obviously NOT there in the body, which makes it even more creepy. It is amazing how much a person's personality, their animation or their soul is evident in their looks. So much so, that their body without those things seems vacant or hollow. Does looking at the loved ones "body" in death make that death easier to accept, does it help with healing or closure? How did we arrive at this strange custom of looking at our loved ones in death? I have been thinking about these things.
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4 comments:
I think it helps with "closure"...I'm glad you came.
It was so good to see you, & get to chat & laugh with you. I always think about how weird viewings are too. I guess I'm not the type that doesn't get closure by seeing the dead body. Maybe our beliefs make it weird to mourn over a dead body. If I didn't believe in life after death & being resurrected I think I'd never want to leave my loved ones body. Just the thought of never seeing them again, but luckily we know differently.
We should be like the Irish, and give them a good "Wake". You must include drinking, though, to make it stick! ;-)
Really, I have no idea where the tradition came from but it's probably so people can say their last goodbyes.
I've been thinking back to my first viewing--it was my dad's when I was 10 years old. It wasn't creepy to me then and looking back I'm glad I saw him. It brings closure.
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