Quote:
Originally posted by PM_Mama00
I'm confused on what you mean by a magnetic field with the Irish and open caskets. I'm curious too. My cousin's father in law unfortunately passed away a few days ago (he was one of the nicest men I've ever met). They are very Irish, and they are only having tomorrow as the funeral (?) service. It's at a church and I'm not sure if they are having an open or closed casket but I've heard it's the same as what his wife had a few years ago. I thought maybe that had to do with Irish culture.
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Actually, that's a bit of a joke on the Irish, and how they have some major wakes. I've only been to one wake in my life, where someone stayed with the "honoree" 24 hours a day for the two days prior to her burial, and almost everyone was trashed. I was offered more flasks than at a tailgate party! This one was for my mother's friend from school, and as we left, my mother said, "You just
know that Mary Jane's going to be standing in the corner by the end of the night!"
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sure y'all will, but the Irish almost embrace the concept of death - they understand that no one gets out of here alive. So, the death of a decent person is not to be mourned, but to be celebrated (well, within limits). When my daddy died, my brother (who's a pastor) did the service, and had me do "the color", and everyone loved it, laughing and crying at the same time. We talked about his handiwork, how you turn spigots on backwards in our house, hot water comes out of the cold spigot etc, the lighting works backwards, how much he loved us and doing anything he could for us, and that, since "In My father's house, there are many mansions," he's gone ahead of us, to make sure that the spigots are working, and the lighting, and making sure that we'll recognize our heavenly mansions - things like that. An Irish funeral is much like laughter through tears, like you're in a lifeboat with the deceased and all who loved him. I don't know how else to describe it, but as horrible as you feel, you know that everything will be okay. Eventually. But it doesn't mean you don't miss him horribly at times like this...