Why More People Are Interested in Unique Funeral Rites

Sep 26, 2023

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Traditional funerals are very rigid and predictable, but they're becoming less common in the United States. Instead, more people are interested in unique funeral rites, practicing ceremonies with unique features.

But why have these unique funeral rites become more common and how do you choose the best ritual for you?

Unlimited Possibilities

According to Co-Owner/COO of In the Light Urns Rick Fraser, “There are more funerary options than ever before. We have access to more uniquely creative pieces, like custom urns and cremation jewelry. And we’re seeing the development of more interesting cremation ceremonies and rituals as well. People have truly unlimited choices for how to celebrate and remember their loved ones these days.”

It seems like not that long ago, there were only a handful of options for how to plan and organize a funeral. You could either bury or cremate the deceased, and you probably only had a handful of options for caskets or urns. But thanks to a combination of factors, including easier manufacturing and production, a diversity of different competitors, and rising demand for unique options, today's population has access to practically unlimited possibilities.

This creates a kind of feedback loop that drives innovation and experimentation in the world of funeral rites forward. There are more options available, so people are more willing and much more likely to deviate from the norm and choose something unique for their deceased loved one. Because these options are more common and more mainstream, more people feel a desire to pursue something unique for their own deceased loved ones. And because there's greater demand, entrepreneurs and creative innovators are motivated to brainstorm and develop even more options.

A General Rejection of Tradition

Collectively, we're moving in a path of rejecting tradition. People aren't getting married as frequently. People aren't starting families as frequently. Conventional career paths are totally out the window. Traditional outlets for socialization have been on the decline. And people are exploring dating and relationships in completely novel ways.

This isn't a commentary on whether rejection of tradition is good or bad, or whether these cultural developments are positive or negative. It's simply an observation that many people are, either by force or by choice, deviating from traditions in most aspects of life. Why not deviate from tradition in the context of funerary rites as well?

Declining Religion

Funerary rites have historically been strongly associated with religion, but religion is on the decline in the United States, with about 30 percent of U.S. adults claiming themselves as religiously unaffiliated.

For several centuries, burial and cremation processes and ceremonies have remained largely unchanged for the sake of adhering to old norms and standards. For example, if you're Roman Catholic, you may want a traditional Catholic funeral with all the same customs and rituals as the funeral your great-grandfather had. In this way, religion is the undercurrent that keeps many funeral traditions going. And for as long as there are religious people, these traditions will likely continue to survive within those populations.

But more broadly speaking, as people distance themselves from religion and identify themselves as religiously ambiguous, these traditions become less important. A person who has no regard for any specific text or teaching is free to plan their own funeral however they wish; and some people may deliberately deviate from religious traditions as a kind of statement in itself.

Global Culture

There are unique and interesting funeral traditions from different cultures all over the world. For example, in Nepal, it’s relatively common for people in the Buddhist tradition to pursue a sky burial – wherein a human body is allowed to be consumed by vultures; it’s considered a way of releasing the soul while simultaneously allowing the physical body to provide sustenance to animals and thus, return to nature.

Thanks to the connective and communicative power of the internet, and the potential for social media to rapidly circulate information that was previously relegated to specific regions, we're seeing more cultural cross-pollination than ever before. If you're willing to spend even a few minutes researching funerary rites of different cultures around the world, you can expose yourself to hundreds of different interesting ideas.

And if you're open-minded, you may end up choosing one of these cultural traditions for yourself or for a deceased loved one in your own life.

A Celebration of Individuality

There are many different reasons why unique funeral rites are becoming more common, and it's likely that these factors are only going to increase the diversity of rituals and customs in the near future. Whether you still like the idea of following an old tradition, or you're excited at the idea of branching out with something unique, a funeral still serves the same purpose: it's a celebration of individuality and a way for us to remember deceased loved ones the way they’d want to be remembered.

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