Author Barbara Kingsolver, in her book
The Poisonwood Bible , wrote “To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know.” We think this reflection is at the heart of a celebration of life. While a funeral, as we've described it above, has more to do with the orderly and often spiritually-defined, a celebration-of-life is more concerned with telling the story of the deceased. Celebrations of life are just that: a time people come together more to celebrate the unique personality and achievements of the deceased than to merely witness or mark the change in their social status.
Celebrations of life are similar to
memorial services , which can be described as a hybrid event: combining the flexibility of a celebration of life with many of the activities of a traditional funeral
order-of-service .
There's more room for creativity in a celebration of life than a funeral or a burial service. Since celebrations of life are commonly held after the individual's physical remains have been cared for through burial or cremation, there is much more time available to plan the event. And without doubt, this allows you to make better decisions about how you'd like to celebrate the life of someone you dearly loved.
Listed below are some unique ideas for celebration of life services.
Maybe your loved one had a passion for painting. If so, you could consider planning a paint night where all of your loved one's friends and family can gather together to each paint a picture in their memory. You could even use your loved one's painting equipment to feel a closer connection. This is a chance for everyone to come together to share memories about your loved one, while also getting a tangible keepsake.
It's interesting; funerals and celebrations of life have much in common, yet they often appear very different. Each is a ceremony; a gathering of people who share a common loss. It's just that one is more rooted in tradition, while the other is the result of recent changes in social values. But both serve to do three things:
Yet they achieve those things in very different ways. First, let's take a closer look at what most of us commonly see as very traditional funerals .
It's not surprising funerals have been around for a very long time. Composed of three activities, the visitation, the funeral service, and the committal service, performed at the graveside; this funeral is the one we'd easily recognize from contemporary literature and film.
Wiggin-Purdy-McCooey-Dion Funeral Home
655 Central Ave, Dover, NH 03820
Fax: (603) 742-9639
Purdy Memorial Chapel
2 Concord Rd, Lee, NH 03861
Fax: (603) 868-6213