There’s something too subtle there for me.
Read JRDelirious post…
When he writes “Puerto Rico”…that’s where I’m from. 
Although my member description says I’m currently in Melbourne, I’m a born and bred Sydney-sider. My brother’s funeral was in Sydney and my friend’s one was in Canberra - just in case you were wondering if this was a Melbourne thing.
In the case of my brother, I and my other brother had the unhappy task of organising his funeral. The funeral director asked us if we wanted to view him. We said no but enquired of other members of my family. We did not offer the opportunity to anybody else.
Episcopalian, Maryland native.
Open coffin funerals for adults and children, plus viewings (viewings in our family used to be three days, now it’s usually just one day, and rarely anymore; last viewing and open coffin funeral I went to was four years ago).
This stuff depends of course on the wishes of the family, but that’s been my experience.
I’ve only been to one open-casket funeral here in Mississippi. Instead of calling it a “Wake”, we simply refer to the visitation at the funeral home as part of the funeral, thus the open-casket funeral.
Motog, I wondered about the “sudden accident” statement in your first post.
Now I think I understand. In (probably) all of the funerals I’ve attended, the person had died after a lengthy illness. Most of the friends and relations had already made their farewells at the hospital while the person was still living.
My then-boyfriend’s mother died of cancer in 1997. There was a private viewing - the only ones who were invited were her husband and her two adult children (but she had no other blood family in Australia anyway). The funeral director made the suggestion, it was something the family hadn’t thought of doing until he mentioned it. They are not Catholic.
Another Australian checking in.
When my mother died, there was a “viewing” at the funeral home, where I got to see her body in the casket. There was a see-through white gauzy material covering her open casket. The viewing was followed a couple days later by a funeral at the cemetary chapel. The casket was closed for the funeral itself.
Similar to Motog’s experience I guess, but we are not Catholic.
(BTW, I understand the idea behind “viewings”, but it was nonetheless a truly horrific experience. :()
BTW, on the show Six Feet Under, they always seem to have open casket funerals, even if it requires extensive reconstruction of the deceased’s body (leading to much comic relief, as you can imagine).
[Aside]
cazzle: wow, 1997 huh? Sheesh, what a coincidence – your description of your ex’s mother’s funeral AND family situation exactly match mine (except I was younger).
I’m pretty sure we weren’t going out though. 
[/Aside]
Well, I stand amazed. I can’t believe that I’ve lived as long as I have without ever having heard about this.
Open-casket viewings are the default style of funeral in the New Orleans area – I’ve never been to any other kind. Wakes are commonly held the day before as well, so that the deceased is actually presented twice before funeral services and burial.
I think those tracing the origins of open-casket viewings/wakes to Catholic or Eastern Orthodox traditions are on the right track. Within this thread, we’ve seen testimony of open-casket viewings from traditionally Catholic areas such as Ireland, France, Puerto Rico, and now, French-and-Spanish-influenced New Orleans.
I thought I’d chime in again.
In Boston, the open casket wake is usually MORE public than the funeral, for non-celebrities. For everyone that I’ve known that’s died, far more people showed up at the funeral home for the wake than showed up at the church the next day for the funeral. When I see a listing in the paper for someone I sort of know, I’ll say “Well, I’ll go to the wake, but not the funeral.”
Yikes! Please tell me you’re not a half-German, half-Finnish sociopath named Ralph!!
Seriously, am very sorry to hear of your loss. Sitting in the observation chair with the family I mentioned, I saw firsthand how horrible cancer is, and I grieved deeply over the death of a woman who was beautiful through to the soul. It’s a sad co-incidence to share.