I had my blog all planned out. I was going to write about how Maxine wore black to Ashoke’s funeral while everyone else wore white. I researched funeral practices around the world.
Then I came upon a particularly intriguing yet extremely troublesome website. I am talking about myfunkyfuneral.com. Just the title of the website should have been a dead giveaway. But I entered it under the pretense that I would find information about funeral customs in different cultures. A tab of the side of the website caught my eye. I hesitated for a few minutes, but curiosity forced me to investigate the links under the category “Glamming up the Graveyard.” Stunned, I explored the “Funky Coffins,” “Fabulous Ashes,” and “Freaky Urns.” Did you know that you can make about 240 pencils out of a person’s remains? I definitely did not. You can also get your ashes packed into fireworks, a gem, or an artificial reef, along with allowing them a ride in space. I say “your” because this website encourages visitors to sign up and plan their funerals ahead of time, including song choice, eulogies, and poetry. I continued looking around, finding coffins that one can prepurchase and use as a coffee table, an urn which is actually a magic eight ball, and a couple others which are, quite frankly, too disturbing to mention. This website changed my opinion of Maxine’s dress at the wedding. I previously thought Oh she is so ignorant. She does not care about his culture at all. Well this may be correct. But at least she respects his father’s death. At least she, unlike this website, did not encourage Gogol to find “the FUN in Funeral.” Maybe she did not understand that Hindus wear white, the color of purity, because they believe that the deceased will go on through other lives and that excessive mourning could hold them back. She simply followed her cultural tradition, which dates back to the Roman Empire, and wore black. Based on what I gather from this website, she could have been much, much, worse.
When you told me to go to this website, I had one of those moments where I didn't know whether to laugh or run away in horror. I think the tagline "You are going to die, so why not die with us?" creeped me out the most, seconded by the highly questionable urns and the general disturbing factor of the website. I understand that some people don't fear death and want to make their funeral into a fun occasion... I guess. But some of the things on this website go WAY beyond normal. Anyways, thanks for this utterly disturbing find.
ReplyDeleteLizzy, this website sounds quite obnoxious, but as long as I can remember, my grandma has told me, "Play Amazing Grace at my funeral." Now, I know your examples are much more obscure, but this subject has always made me feel awkward. Was I supposed to eagerly await her funeral so I could do her this honor, or was I supposed to shed a tear in grief at her future death? I have never really been sure, but your post has made me feel like my decision is not too hard compared to other ones she could force me to make.
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