Religious Funerals Guide

A religious funeral is a ceremony where loved ones and friends gather to mark the passing of someone who was important to them. A religious leader will preside over the event and guide mourners through the process of saying goodbye. Congregants are usually present to help guide everyone through the ceremony and any religious rituals that are associated with the event.

Religious funerals vary in their customs, but there are universal similarities that you can expect. If you are attending a religious funeral, you'll feel more comfortable knowing about the customs before you attend. For instance, you can expect the funeral to be held at a house of worship. You can also expect prayers to be said out loud, no matter what type of religious funeral you're attending.

In most religious traditions, prayers or chanting are common at funerals. This may feel unfamiliar to you. Attendees are not required to join in group prayers or chanting but may do so out of respect to the family. Some people feel moved by the ceremony to join in as a way of honoring the departed. This can happen even when they're not familiar with the religious traditions guiding the funeral ceremony.

At Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish funerals, it's typical to have a eulogy. Described as a form of storytelling, a eulogy serves to help people remember the life of the loved one. Depending on the religion and the family's preference, the eulogy may be given by the officiant and/or friends and family members.

People attending a religious funeral are expected to be considerate of the family's religious beliefs. This sometimes means paying your respects in a religious context even though doing so may feel foreign to you.

Most religions also prescribe a customary color of mourning. You'll want to find out what that is if you're attending a religious funeral. Very often, the color that's associated with honoring the departed is either black or white.

For faiths whose color of mourning is black, attendees should wear black or dark clothing that's neat and clean. Funerals typically call for a more formal style of dressing, too. It's customary for men to wear a suit and women to wear a black pantsuit or dress and black shoes.

Similarly, for faiths where the mourning color is white, it's respectful to wear slightly formal clothing that's neat, pressed, and clean. This symbolizes your grief in a way that doesn't require words and helps bond together all the mourners who are in attendance in support of the family.