Funeral Terminology

When it comes to funerals, the terminology can be unfamiliar to people who aren’t familiar with the process. Keeping up with such jargon and understanding these semantics is tough. We at Tindall Funeral Home, recognize this and have come up with a list of terms and their meanings so you can better understand them:

• Funeral Director/Mortician - A certified professional who is legally allowed to carry out all the technicalities related to burial or cremation.

• Funeral Assistant - A noncertified professional who helps the Mortician with various tasks that happen during the funeral.

• Embalmer - A trained professional who can carry out the sanitization and preservation of the deceased’s ashes.

• Eulogy - A speech that is given as a tribute to the deceased by a family member or friend.

• Obituary - A notice regarding the death of the deceased provided through the newspaper or online.

• Wake - A custom where people keep vigil near the deceased before the funeral ceremony.

• Cortege - The funeral procession that is conducted to show respect.
   
• Viewing - The process of laying out the deceased for family and friends to visit and reflect.
   
• Cemetery - It is the portion of land that marked for the burial of the deceased.
   
• Mausoleum - A standing structure atop the burial chamber.
   
• Casket/Coffin - The funeral box used to keep the remains of the deceased before burial.
   
• Bearer - A bearer is one of the people among the four or six persons that carry the coffin during the funeral procession or the other stages.

We hope through the above list of words gives you a better idea of the terminology used during a funeral. Planning a funeral can be a new task for some and we at Tindall Funeral Home are just a call away to help with any more information you need. We can handle every aspect of funeral planning for you and our team is here to ensure that every aspect of the ceremony runs as planned.