The Rise of American Funeral Directing- Test 2 Flashcards Preview

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1
Q

Origins of funeral customs were British and Dutch.

A

Americn Colonial Funeral Behavior

2
Q

Founded in 1607 and was basically a commercial enterprise.

A

Virginia Colony (South)

3
Q

These funeral customers were carried intact to the southern colonies.

A

English

4
Q

Was the primary controlling force over funeralization practices in the southern colonies.

A

Anglican Church Sexton

5
Q

The actual preparation and care of the remains were perfromed:

A

Within the Family Unit

6
Q

Founded in 1620 by Puritans as a religious colony in exile from Anglican England.

A

Masachusetts Bay Colony (North)

7
Q

Massachusetts Bay Colony established this kind of government that rejected all other creeds except their own.

A

Theocracy

8
Q

During this century, the Massachusetts Bay Colony embraced the doctrine of fatalism and rejected an organized clergy, doctrines, or any other trappings of European organized religion.

A

The 17th Century

9
Q
  • Simplistic committal services
  • Immediate interments
  • All preparations of the deceased accomplished within the family unit.
  • Eliminated prayers during the committal
A

Massachusetts Bay Colony Funeral Practices

10
Q

The Calvanistic work or starve to death ethic with dedication to the production of goods and service and the development of one’s own individuality, pulling one’s own weight, spread throughout the colonies from it’s base in New England. (Protestant work ethic).

A

Rise of Protestantism

11
Q

Death was common place, and the funeral was a common occurrence and because of its frequency became integral as a social custom.

A

Burial Practices (American Colonies)

12
Q
  1. Indian wars
  2. Colonial disputes
  3. Very high infant mortality rate
  4. Communicable diseases (smallpox)
  5. Public executions
A

The Reason for Death Being Common Place

13
Q

Burial was in churchyards and this was firmly transplanted into the colonial regulatory and legal system as it related to funeral practice. (Still influences funerals today).

A

British Common Law

14
Q

Puritan funeral customs were models of simplicity and dignity.

A

1600-1700

15
Q

An increase in social character and prestige attached to funeralization. Ostentatious funeral practices (within 100 years (3 generations) poor people could become wealthy (small cottage industries became profitable.))

A

1700-1800

16
Q

The skull and crossbones was replaced by this on gravestones.

A

Winged Cherub (1700-1800)

17
Q

Fatalism and pessimism were replaced by this as prosperity increased in New England.

A

Liberalized Calvinism (Presbyterianism) 1700-1800

18
Q

The return of these, often printed and attached to coffins. (1700-1800)

A

Long Sermons

19
Q

Were given as gifts to those who participated in the funeral. Massachusetts general court passed laws prohibiting “Extraordinary expense at funerals.”

  • Due to extensive gift giving at funerals, the colonial widow was faced with tremendous financial burden.
A

Use of Gifts (Late 1700’s)- Scarves, gloves, books, printed verses, needlecraft, etc.

20
Q

Would begin in the church with prayers and a sermon said over a pall-covered coffin placed on a bier.

A

The Funeral (1700-1800)

21
Q

On foot, underbearers actually carrying the coffin on the bier, while pallbearers, men of dignity, held the corners of the pall. Pallbearers held 6 sticks attached to the pall and carried it over the coffin or bier. Went slowly and was marked by numerous rest stops and frequent change of under bearers.

A

The Procession (1700-1800)

22
Q

Charging fees for:

  1. Announcing the funeral by tolling the bell
  2. Digging the grave

The funeral bt the revolutionary war was both a social function and a public event. No charge for birth/death records or other recordkeeping.

A

The Colonial Sexton

23
Q

A Catholic colony that continued the European pratices of the Roman Catholic Church. Was a place where British Roman Catholics could practice their faith free from persecution.

A

Maryland

24
Q

Is a result of 200 years 1600-1800, of extremely hard working merchants, farmers, and fishermen, planting the seeds for the industrial revolution and the turning point for funeral service in the future United States.

A

The Rise of a Middle Class

25
Q

Funeral services during this tie became a middle class phenomenon.

A

The 18th and 19th Centuries (Extends into the 20th Century)

26
Q

This is the influence of the revolution.

A

Social Change in the Later Colonial Period

27
Q
  • The remains were washed, dressed, and placed in state by family, neighbors or even a nurse. (There were no hospitals, only a few Barber Surgeons)
  • A coffin was purchased by a cabinet maker, the more expensive coffins would have expensive “Coffin Furniture” (attachments) imported from England or Germany.
  • Evisceration and placing remains in cere cloth during hot weather.
  • Giving of gifts to mourners.
A

New England Wake

28
Q

Metal decorations, lugs, frames, handles, corner molding, latches, etc.

A

Coffin Furniture

29
Q

Heavy double duck canvas, usually wool.

A

Cere Cloth

30
Q
  • Funerals under direct control of the Anglican Church usually by the sexton who is now charging a fee for his services.
  • The British medieval customers of drinking and feasting were carried into the colonies and a new custom of shooting off guns was added (exiled “lower class” population, mainly from prisons).
  • After 1750 as the colonies became stable there was some degree of ceremonial dignity restored to the Christian funeral.
  • Specific garments for mourning were also characteristic of the southern colonies (Formal Funeral Dress).
A

Virginia or Southern Colonial Funeral

31
Q
  • Flayed off the skin in one piece from an incision down the spine. The skeleton is retained and all viscera, muscle, and fat are disposed of. The skin is then reattached to the skeleton and the body is filled with white sand whih assists in dehydrating the skin.
  • Some Indians are buried wrapped in blankets then wrapped in animal skins.
  • Some bodies are wrapped in skins or cloth (or both) and placed high on platforms or tree limbs to keep animals from ravaging.
  • Large burial mounds
  • Natural mummification.
A

North American Indians- Native Americans- Various Methods Based on Customs of Individual Tribes

32
Q

Tenessee and Mississippi used this type of burial.

A

Large Burial Mounds

33
Q

By Chance in the Southwest (Arizona, NM, TX)

A

Natural Mummification

34
Q
  • Body buried in ground until a skeleton, then dug up.
  • Creation of Charnel House
  • Cremation until skeleton left
  • Skeletons are reinterred in burial pits.
  • Iroquois and Hurons
A

Algonkian Tribes of the Middle Atlantic States (NC, SC, VA, MD, DE)

35
Q

Raised mortuary long houses- store bodies until skeletons.

A

Charnel House

36
Q

Skeletons of the Algonkian Tribes were reinterred in these. Three dozen of them found in MD with 10-250 skeletons found in each.

A

Ossuaries

37
Q

Reinter bones on the feast of deaths- common practice of this group of people of Georgia Bay, Ontario Canada.

A

Iroquois and Hurons

38
Q
  • Extensive and important ceremony prior to burial- extensive praying for the soul (Dutch Protestants).
  • 3 to 4 day wake period utilizing the best room in the house.
  • Coffin was covered by a pall and carried to the churchyard by as many as twelve pall bearers with underbearers.
  • Monkey Spoon
  • Funerals were primarily attended by men and after the committal service, much feasting and drinking took place (as in Europe), then the estate was divided. (Goes back to Germanic times where the oldest son had priority).
A

New York or Dutch Influenced Funeral

39
Q

An ornate spoon often made of silver whose handle was intended to resemble an apostle but actually looked like an animal because of shoddy engraving. It was given to pallbearers to commemorate their participation in the funeral.

A

Monkey Spoon (Dutch Custom, 1500’s-1600’s)

40
Q

It is interesting to note that the Dutch licensed an individual to driect and oversee all funerals.

A

Annspreecker

41
Q

The Embargo Acts

  • Funeral goods
  • Industrial manufacturing centers grew
  • Non British Immigrants
  • A shift to simpler, less pretentious funerals and mourning customs occurred during this period.
  • A new thriving middle class
A

The Influence of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 on American Funeralization

42
Q

The Revolutionary War and the British costal blockages during the War of 1812, forced the northeastern colonies to enter the Industrial Revolution.

A

The Embargo Acts (1775-1812)

43
Q

Particularly coffin furniture, imported from England were now produced in the United States.

A

Funeral Goods

44
Q

American population shifted from a rural (farming) to an urban setting (wages) as these grew.

A

Industrial Manufacturing Centers

45
Q

After the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, are large influx arrived, mostly German (Lutheran). They brought their own funeral customs.

A

Non-British Immigrants

46
Q

1774-1814 (the war years). Legislative measures, because of an economic squeeze, were common to both Tories and rebels supporting austere funerl practice.

A

A Shift to Simpler, Less Pretentious Funerals and Mourning Customs Occurred During This Period

47
Q

This is because the industrial revolution was successful in eastern North America and the funeral became a means to express social status aspirations. (Modern American funeral practices are the result of the rise of this- occurred during the 19th century).

A

A New Thriving Middle Class