Do people still sit up with the dead at funeral homes?

having the body out is pretty primitive and weird imo. cremate my arse and throw me in the garbage. funerals are for the living, not the dead.

luv some Jerry Clower

This is a common a jewish custom called Shemira. The Talmud maintains that the soul of a deceased person will hover the body, lost and confused, until it departs. The sitters soothe the soul of the deceased by reading Psalms. Back in the day, body theft was a real concern, so Shemira also served the basic function of guarding the body.

I'm originally from north LA. My grandmother passed away a couple of years ago. They lived in the country north of Dubach. She insisted on her death bed that someone needed to stay with her overnight at the funeral home before she was burried, but after she passed the funeral home we used wouldn't allow it and said no one really did that anymore. I thought the whole idea was strange and pointless, but I still felt sad her wishes weren't granted.

It is mostly an older generation thing. I have done it once as part of an Italian family. There were about 12 of us that stayed. We paid extra for being able to do that.


This pic below is just so sad. This wife stayed with her husband's body all night also.



The night before the burial of her husband 2nd Lt. James Cathey of the United States Marine Corps, killed in Iraq, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of “Cat”,

I'm not a fan on that. Wake at 11AM, Funeral Mass at 12N, put me in the ground at 1PM, everyone head to the reception for food and booz.

If the deceased was a member of the Knights of Columbus, a fellow knight stays the night with him. (See what I did there?)