Funeral Rituals and the Facilitation of Grief Work

Abstract

Although professionals in the field of death education and counseling agree that grieving is essential in adjusting to the loss of a loved one, there remain numerous questions about how to best facilitate successful grief work. The study reported here endeavored to determine the nature of pre-, during-, and post-funeral rituals and the potential of those rituals in the facilitation of grief work. Fifty widowed individuals (forty-seven women) were interviewed to obtain information regarding symbolic actions or rituals they observed at the time of and after the death of their spouses and the degree of grief adjustment achieved at the time of the study. The overall conclusion from this brief work is that, although no statistically significant relationships were discovered, the findings regarding the prevalence of rituals provide useful insight for persons facilitating the grief work of the bereaved. There is sufficient evidence to warrant further study of the use of rituals, especially post-funeral rituals, in the facilitation of grief work.