Funeral rituals in the process of mourning: Meaning and functions

Abstract

The studies about human rituals have shown that changes throughout life, including the death of loved ones, need to be marked, receiving the necessary consideration. In this study, the meanings and the functions of funeral rituals are approached as resources for the elaboration of the death of a significant person. It is sustained that the expressive character of the rituals allows to describe what we can not express in words, stimulating the work of mourning and exerting an important role to the social and psychological maturity at the loss. It also allows the contextualization the loss experience, while offering to the bereaved family the support to be part of the culture and a shared understanding of death.