V6 Funeral Rights

 Celebrancy Book Review of:

Funeral Rights

Larking certainly makes a case for

• the limiting of embalming to only those few essential times a body may need to be preserved.
• the limiting of viewings, but when necessary, to be of refrigerated bodies
• the return to the holding of 'vigils' when required, if it is the cultural practice, and if so, immediately after death for family and friends to say their 'good-byes'
• using grave markers that are environmentally friendly (GPS coordinates)
• the establishment of natural bush land cemeteries where bodies become the 'nourishment' for a sapling.

Once again it is fascinating to see how today world is shaped by the past, and even the very recent past.

Who would have thought that the fact that the American Civil War was mostly fought on 'southern soil' and Abraham Lincoln's death would have combined forces to change the shape of handling bodies from basically Jewish-Moslem to Egyptian death practices almost 'overnight'.

Or knew what an historic place Sandringham Beach has in our Australian cremation history or her-story as the case goes!

Or that globalisation in the 1990's has made the way funeral companies are organised and go about their business remarkably different to what Australian funeral companies were about before then.

There are a number of factors are coming together to challenge how we as Australians go about our 'death-care'. These are the facts that:

• funerals are on the increase - with a 1% increase in the number of funerals each year, over the last twenty years
• the 'baby boomer bulge' hitting 'coming of death' age
• Australia is an increasingly secular / civil society
• the green movement gaining ascendance
• Australia has the little fertile land to be used for burials in metal coffins, or
• Australia is already questioning the way its citizens use the precious energy reserves, including cremations.

As the back cover states, 'Larkins reveals what our real options are and how we can

• keep funeral costs down
• avoid the traps set by unscrupulous operators
• seek out genuine eco-friendly funeral alternatives
• ensure that our funeral wishes are carried out
• take matters into our own hands

Eye-opening, empowering and often darkly amusing, his book demystifies death, dispels popular myths about funerals, and shows us better ways of conducting our final acts of love'

A challenging read on all levels, and one thoroughly recommended !

Rona Goold
ACCN Director

Note: Victorian Voluntary Code of Practice for Funeral Industry

How to be an Inspiring Godparent (Mentor or Guardian)

Celebrant Book Reviews:

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