Death Is No Reason Not To Dress Up
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday March 15, 2008
You've chosen the location, the music and the readings; it should be time to settle in and enjoy your funeral. Not any more: these days you have to choose whether you want your favourite footy team's colours emblazoned on your casket too.
LifeArt, a company which digitally prints a variety of designs onto coffins, has sold thousands of caskets across Australian and New Zealand in the last few years. Souths, it turns out, are the most popular team for the deceased. It certainly gives "die-hard fans" new meaning. Location, not just sporting allegiance, can also influence your choice for a modern casket. The "stately tree" design is most popular in the Blue Mountains, while "blue horizons" sells better by the coast. "True blue", the Australian flag design, is popular everywhere. The "Australian cedar", among other wood grain designs, is increasingly popular because it looks like a traditional wooden coffin but is environmentally friendly. LifeArt coffins are made of "enviroboard" - recycled paper and cardboard - which are fully bio-degradable, among a range of other environmental guarantees.If none of the catalogue designs take your fancy, LifeArt do custom designs, or even family photos. "We'll do absolutely anything," boasts the company's boss, David Jackson. Donna Murray's late husband, Ray, had input into his own 4WD design. "That's what his passion was," said Ms Murray. She said it made a real statement. "Everyone said, 'That's brilliant, that was Ray' ... I want dolphins," she said.Isla Tooth, a funeral celebrant who conducts less traditional services, says the essential difference between her services and more traditional funerals is that the family has more control. "The person who dies becomes the centre of the service," she says. On principle, she never mentions "God" in the initial part of the service, in which she talks about universal themes such as the impact of death on those left behind, although she says some families do request the Lord's Prayer or Psalm 23 to be read, because they find it comforting. Children attend funerals more often than previously, and are far more confident in giving speeches or reading poems than they were in the past. At one elderly lady's funeral, the grandchildren left painted handprints and messages on the coffin. But in personalising a funeral, some complain that the religious significance of the ceremony is lost. As the Herald reported last year, Cardinal George Pell said Catholic funerals were in danger of losing their "essential nature as an act of worship of God and prayer". Words of remembrance should not give a "life history of the deceased" and should omit any embarrassing remarks about romantic conquests, drinking abilities or attacks on the church's moral teachings.Even though the number of people regularly attending church is in decline, a traditional service is still seen as appropriate by many.However we say goodbye, it seems families must find the balance between celebrating a person's life and looking beyond our mortal selves.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
