Farewell Rituals: what can we learn from global funeral traditions?

A presentation and interactive discussion facilitated by Simon Whipple. All welcome. Free entry. A voluntary donation of around £3.00 to help with our expenses is appreciated but not obligatory.

Societies across the world mark the deaths of their members in many different ways. Funerals serve two purposes – they help the bereaved to accept the loss of their loved one, and they often appeal to a divine being to grant favour to the person who has died. In this interactive talk, Simon will describe some of the enormous variety of funeral customs that can be found in different cultures across the world. Then we’ll break into small groups to consider which customs our secular society might adopt in order to improve our experience when someone we care about dies.

Simon is a member of our committee and a retired solicitor.