A pallbearer is one of several funeral A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a deceased person. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor. These customs vary widely between cultures, and participants who helps carry the casket A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of deceased remains – either for burial or cremation of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed. These ceremonies or rites differ according to cultural practice and religious belief or mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. A Christian mausoleum sometimes includes, or to and from the hearse A hearse is a funeral vehicle, a conveyance for the coffin from e.g. a church to a cemetery, a similar burial site, or a crematorium. In the funeral trade, they are often called funeral coaches which does so.
A pall is the heavy cloth that is draped over a coffin A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of deceased remains – either for burial or cremation. Hence the metaphoric term "casting a pall" on a gathering of people, by announcing bad news to the group. By metonymy Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Washington", as the capital of the United States, could be used as a metonym (an instance of metonymy) for its government, "Capitol, the term "pallbearer" is used to signify someone who bears the coffin which the pall covers.
Some traditions[citation needed] distinguish between these two roles, with pallbearer being a ceremonial position, just carrying a tip of the pall or a cord attached to it, while casket bearers do the actual heavy lifting and carrying. There may otherwise be only pallbearers in the literal sense while the casket is on an animal or on an animal-drawn or motorized vehicle.
In western cultures, the pallbearers are usually associated in an intimate manner with the deceased before their death. In some Asian cultures, pallbearers are not to be members of the family but are outsiders, given a tip to perform the services of pallbearer[citation needed].
Categories: Death customs Categories: Death | Social conventions | Traditions | Commemoration | Personal care and service occupations |
