Funerals

So all this week I was preoccupied because my grandma suddenly became I'll and died. So when thinking about what I wanted to do some research on the only thing that came to mind was where some of our funeral traditions came from.

Modern Burials where people were placed in a coffin after they died didn't happen in the United States until the English began to immigrate to North America. Previous to the English in the 18th century when people were buried they were just wrapped in so sort of cloth and buried.

Originally people were buried in church yards but this began to be stopped when the Puritans wanted to rebel against the established custom and instead had their town set apart grounds for common burial grounds. These were areas that basically were zoned for only being a burial spot. 

When people moved away from living near towns they started going away from getting buried in town to starting family burial plots. Family's wouldn't be able to afford or want to send their family members away from the family farm and so they would just bury them on their property. Wouldn't it be nice to be allowed to be buried on some place that is familiar to you rather than being buried a long way from your family where it would become tough for them to come visit your head stone.

Burial places have a reverence about them that just help me want to be respectful I once got to go visit Arlington Cemetery and it just made me feel grateful for all of those men who were willing to give up their lives for the cause of freedom. Many people serve their country and do their best to protect their family's. This is why graves have such reverence. 

Here is a video of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

This just shows my feelings on how much funeral and knowing where your family is means to me. I would hate not knowing what happened to a family member who went away to war to defend my freedoms.