What’s traditional about “the traditional funeral”? Funeral rituals and the evolution of the funeral industry in Nova Scotia1

Abstract

The funeral services industry today promotes what it calls “the traditional funeral” as the preferred choice, a description that implies roots in the distant “folk” past. Archival research into the care of the dead in Nova Scotia reveals that the essential elements of the traditional funeral are indeed derived from pre-modern traditions, but have been adapted to modern consumer society by replacing community involvement with professional expertise. The funeral industry evolved slowly in Nova Scotia, particularly in rural areas where it took longer for services such as embalming to become available. Research shows that the transition from family control to professionalized funeral services was uneven, and in many cases did not happen until the 1950s – some decades later than was typical elsewhere. Consideration of the changing discourse of death suggests that the shift from community to traditional funerals had consequences for our experience of death.

With Respect to the Dead: Reconstructing a Historic View of Death in Gaelic Nova Scotia

“…Characterized by pockets of cultural homogeneity and geographic isolation, regional settlement patterns allowed for the retention and adaptation of various ethnic markers in Nova Scotia. Because the funeral industry was slow to develop in the region, traditional death and funerary practices were also maintained in parts of the province well into the second half of the twentieth century (Poulter 2011). Since that time, social, religious, and economic trends have fostered a very different relationship to death and dying in Nova Scotia, meaning many traditional customs and beliefs associated with the end of life are now foreign to younger residents.…”

Exploring people's experiences with casket building related to the death of a loved one

“…Devoid of discussion related to non-European settler populations, Poulter (2011) reiterates that pre-World War II death practices in Canada were community-based. Upon death, women or midwives would come to a home and dress the body; the body would sit in the home for visitation; local woodworkers would build the casket; and the funeral would take place in the chosen church.…”

“…Upon death, women or midwives would come to a home and dress the body; the body would sit in the home for visitation; local woodworkers would build the casket; and the funeral would take place in the chosen church. Interestingly, Poulter, (2011) indicates that communities often organized this work without someone having to arrange what was going to happen. When death occurred in a community, people stepped in and were involved in the work that needed to be completed to support the family, and the family completed the necessary tasks for the burial, In the early 1900s, death was an integrated part of living.…”

“…Poulter (2011) talks about the ways funeral homes in Nova Scotia use terms such as "traditional" to sell funeral packages that include caskets, embalming of bodies, and funeral services; and yet, he shows that there are very few connections between the modern day "traditional" funeral choice and experiences with the type of death care that existed in the early 1900s. Poulter (2011) believes that it is possible, the word "traditional" becomes enmeshed with the desire to provide respectful sacred rights to the dead such as transportation of the body, washing the body, embalming, dressing and positioning the body in the casket . Gellie et al (2015) describe how people living in developed countries with access to modern medicine have become separated from experiences with death.…”

“…Statistics Canada reports that the average cost of a funeral, in Canada, is between $5,000 and $15,000 (Poulter, 2011). While the death-care industry is tasked with supporting the bereaved, caring for the dead, and the disposition of bodies, it is also clear that the death-care industry profits from the sale of goods and services related to these tasks.…”