Peaceful Passage At Home

Articles

Here are recent articles from national media on the growing popularity of home funerals. We will update this page with new articles as they are published. (The offsite links open in a new page).

In June 2010 WBUR did a piece about the Threshold Choir, in which Peg is quoted (and sings): Bedside Choir Provides 'Threshold' Comfort.
The magazine The Christian Century, in their October 2009 issue, ran a piece about home funerals from the point of view of Christians desiring to reclaim this part of life from the commercial interests that have dominated it. The article describes the ways that individuals from various faith communities care for their dead at home. There is mention of a Muslim group established to teach members of that faith about caring for their dead in accordance with the Qur’an. Interestingly, the article also adds: “Because Muslim and Orthodox Jewish burial practices are similar, the project has fostered friendships between members of the two faiths as they work together to return death rituals to their religious communities.”
The New York Times ran a feature in July 2009, Home Burials Offer an Intimate Alternative. (The site requires free registration, and even then may offer up an intrusive “interstetial” ad before you can read the article.)
In April 2009, the Smithsonian Magazine had an insightful article, The Surprising Satisfactions of a Home Funeral, by a man whose family participated in two funerals within three weeks — one at home (in Maine) and one orchestrated by a conventional funeral director (in Michigan).