Ever since a relative of mine died and was buried on a hillside, I’ve wondered: Do the funeral directors who close the casket have a system for keeping track of which end of the casket is the head end? And do they take pains to bury people with their heads at the “top” of the gravesite?
Silly though it seems, I hate to think of my loved one lying for all eternity with his head downhill from his feet.
I don’t know, but it’s worth noting that this style of casket wouldn’t pose a problem because it tapers off asymetrically, so it’s always clear where the head is. The completely symmetrical, rectangular caskets that seem much more common these days don’t have any sort of distinguishing marks for the head-end (that I’ve seen), which makes this a good question.
I always thought that the “head” end of the casket had a smaller lid than the “foot” end. And yes, they would have to be aware of which end. Some people like to be buried so that their feet are toward the east…has something to do with rising from the dead and facing east.
I"ve never seen a casket shaped like that except for on a Scooby Doo cartoon. I looked at that site and most of the caskets offered are shaped like that. Is that common in New Zealand?
I have to agree with Ruby though. The ones I’ve seen are usually about a 40/60 split. The part where the head is is the 40% part of the lid.
(For anyone outside of the U.S., or maybe outside of the Southern U.S., funerals are almost invariably open casket. Only the 40% section is left open. Caskets might not be built like this in places where funerals aren’t commonly open casket.)
It occurs to me that in every funeral I’ve ever attended or seen on film, the deceased’s head is on the left when the lid is opened with the hinges on the opposite side (i.e. when viewed open casket, the head is always on the left).
Could be small sample size, but if not, the hinges would tell you where the head is.
That’s a coffin not a casket. I don’t mean to be a pedantic prick but the coffin is the one with the broad shoulders that tapers while the casket is pretty much uniform in width.
Odesio
When I was looking at coffins a couple of years ago, all of the ones I saw had a little tube insert at the foot with a head about the size of a dime. The tube contains a piece of plastic or vinyl on which is written the name of the deceased/cemetery/dates/etc.- basically the info on a death certificate. According to the FD this has become standard for coffins due to floods, mudslides, earthquakes, and other potential mixups and upsets; if for any reason the coffin is ever unearthed and displaced it’s an easy way to identify the remains.
Anyway, the dime sized little end of the tube is one way to tell if its foot or head, and I’m sure there are many others. Also, since interment runs close with religion and some religions take death rituals very very seriously, funeral homes can be sued for any number of weird ass reasons, so they’re probably going to be pretty sure to dot the i’s and cross the t’s by making sure all is right with the coffin.
They need to know for Catholic funerals because the practice is to place the coffin with the feet toward the altar if the body is that of a layman, and the head toward the altar if the body is that of a priest.
The style in **Rigamarole’s **link is what I usually see at funerals here.
Where did you hear that? Merriam-Webster’s only defines a “casket” as “a usually fancy coffin” but makes no mention of shape.
I don’t care if I’m head up or down. Just as long as
I fit in the casket:eek:
At my grandmother’s funeral I was a pallbearer and the funeral director definitely kept track of which was the head end. Not that it’s difficult or anything, given that the hinges and split of the top make it obvious.
Funeral Directors learn quickly how to determine which is the head and foot end of the casket. This is important since it would be very embarrassing to place the casket the wrong way at a service only to have to correct this in front of everyone when it comes time to open the casket for final tribute.
Additionally at a graveside it is customary for the head to be placed closest to or pointing towards the marker or headstone. So whether it is facing uphill or downhill is not what is of concern to the funeral director, but rather only that the head is placed closest to the headstone.
As a previous poster stated the side of the casket with the hinges is to left of the decedent in the casket. Using this as a reference it is relatively simple to know which side is the head end.
This may be a matter of local custom, as every funeral I’ve attended has been a Catholic one and the head has always been toward the altar. Having the feet toward the altar seems horribly disrespectful to me.
Also in Anglican funerals.
I was at the funeral of an Anglican bishop awhile ago, and the presiding priest explained that the reason for the custom is that it symbolises that at the Resurrection, lay people face towards the altar and Jerusalem, to see the Risen Christ.
Clergy lie the other way, to symbolise that at the Resurrection, they face the congregation of the Church because they are accountable to the people that they served in life.
In my HibE a coffin is any box in which a corpse is placed for disposal, but a coffin is always shaped so that it tapers from the chest towards the feet in one direction,and from the chest towards the head in the other. As noted, this makes it easy to know which way is up. We’d recognise “casket” as AmE usage for a coffin, and we’d also be aware from films and television that coffins in the US are oblong. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an oblong coffin other than in films or on television.
Apart from the shape, though, a coffin has a plate fixed to it with the name of the dead person and usually dates of birth and death called, predictably, a coffin-plate. This is more or less over the chest, and is oriented to be read from the foot of the coffin. On an oblong coffin, this would also tell you which way is up. Do they not have coffin-plates in the US?
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Another poor zombie that needs to be put back into its grave.
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CoffinMan**, please do not bump threads in GQ unless you have something new or significant to contribute to the thread.
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