First published: 16 January 2021 @ 4:11 pm
Funeral preparation in different countries may have slight differences that you need to be aware of. This article will guide your funeral preparation if you reside in the Philippines.
Call Police
A police officer will come to the house. They will write a record of the death. They will also take fingerprints and photos of the dead person’s hands and feet.
This is for identification. The police will then contact relatives of the person who died. Sometimes a priest from the city may come to perform funeral rites at home.
Call Doctor
A doctor may need to certify that death has occurred. They do all these procedures to make sure that no one dies alone without proper burying, or worse, buried accidentally alive!
They will place the dead body in a coffin in a room until it is time for burial or cremation. Relatives, friends, and neighbors visit the house to pay their respects and pray for peace for the departed soul, saying prayers for many hours in front of the body at home before burial or cremation.
Call the Family
The next thing you need to do in a funeral preparation is to call the family. The family decides when to bury or cremate their loved ones based on their cultural, social or religious traditions in the Philippines. If they choose burial, they can do it within 24 hours after death.
Especially if there are no signs of decomposition, such as feeling warmness from body parts after 24 hours after death occurs. If the family chooses cremation, it can happen between 3-10 days after death occurs but not later than 24 hours afterward as well.
People often put the remains into an urn and bury them with relatives. During this time period, all family members can come together and mourn at least one hour prior to burial or cremation. In the Philippines, burial and cremation usually happen on the weekends, holiday, or special occassions such as birthday, weddings, etc.
In some Christian countries, you can perform the burial on the same day, if death happens in the early morning. People call this “early morning wake”.
What Happens After the Wake?
The family will invite relatives and friends and serve breakfast plus coffee and tea in Philippines after the wakes which will last for about 3 hours or more depending on cultural tradition of that family.
It can be 2 hours or 5 hours depending on how long they think they should keep the dead body at home before burial in a graveyard or crematorium in the Philippines.
If you have been to a wake, you will know that it is usually very quiet with some people recite prayers from the bible.
Occasionally someone coughs or sneezes and everyone stands up quietly while they are saying their last prayer for that person before burial happens in Philippines.
After this time, many people pick up their newspapers and read them while drinking their coffee, tea or juice until it is time for burial or cremation to happen which can take place within 24 hours after death occurs.
Can Funeral Be Delayed?
Yes, but it should not be more than 1 week after death occurs for religious reasons unless there are special circumstances like delays due to transportation issues etc.
Another thing that happens during wakes in Philippines is that many people go around to each other’s house after wakes so they can visit each other’s homes instead of going straight home immediately after wakes when there are no longer any visitors at home who came to pay their respects and pray with them during this period of time in Philippines.
They will also go straight home directly after wakes if they live near by so they have enough time to prepare dinner for themselves afterwards as well as spend time with friends and family before bedtime in Philippines which occurs usually between 9 pm-11 pm depending on whether it is daylight savings time or not during summer months etc.
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