“Funerals aren’t nice but it couldn’t have been nicer”. The makings of a good funeral

Abstract

There is growing comment in both academic and popular writing about the shape and content of funerals today, with general agreement that we are seeing marked changes with a growing trend towards secularisation and personalisation. Despite this, there is as yet relatively little systematic research on the topic. This article reports on a study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK into spirituality in contemporary funerals. This qualitative study centred around case studies of 46 funerals in the north of England and gathered data from observations of funeral arrangement meetings as well as the funeral and semi-structured interviews with bereaved families and funeral professionals. The way both sets of participants engaged with the funeral and its constituent elements in an active process of meaning-seeking, meaning-creating and meaning-taking was closely aligned with contemporary understandings of humanistic spirituality. There was, however, little evidence of adherence to formal religious belief systems or wider philosophical frameworks amongst the bereaved families but considerable evidence of drawing on religious tradition and specific beliefs to locate personal meaning-making. The authors conclude that the funeral remains a significant ceremonial event which is psycho-social-spiritual in character and purpose.

Keywords:

• funerals
• spirituality
• religion
• ritual
• deceased
• funeral directors
• celebrants

Acknowledgements

The research team should like to acknowledge the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK in funding this project. We are also grateful to Cooperative FuneralCare for facilitating this research and to the Project Advisory Group for their support and advice on the conduct of the study, as well as to the 46 bereaved families and 29 Key Informants who generously shared their experiences with us.

Notes

1. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Hull’s Ethics Committee. For methodological issues see Adamson and Holloway (2012b).

2. For further details of the study see Holloway et al. (2010).

3. Grace Davie herself is uncertain of when she first coined the term ‘believing without belonging’ (Keynote address, 2nd International conference of the British Association for the Study of Spirituality (BASS), 17 May 2012).