I went to a viewing last night.
What a strange tradition, I thought, as I think at every viewing I've been to.
Funerals I understand - the readings, the preaching, the crying, the quiet solemnity. There's a formality and a sadness to it.
But viewings, in my experience, are family reunions with a dead body in the room.
I always have these moments where I'm catching up with friends and relatives, sometimes even laughing, but the moment I do I throw a guilty look at the coffin. Oh right - there's a dead body here, I shouldn't be laughing. Then I do it five minutes later, and look panicked over my shoulder, please God, tell me I wasn't laughing too loud with a dead person in the room.
Honestly, I don't think people know what to do, though. How often are you standing around in a room with a dead body? I think that's why we laugh. Last night, even the adult daughter of the woman who passed away smiled several times, even laughed a little between the crying.
What a strange tradition, I thought, as I think at every viewing I've been to.
Funerals I understand - the readings, the preaching, the crying, the quiet solemnity. There's a formality and a sadness to it.
But viewings, in my experience, are family reunions with a dead body in the room.
I always have these moments where I'm catching up with friends and relatives, sometimes even laughing, but the moment I do I throw a guilty look at the coffin. Oh right - there's a dead body here, I shouldn't be laughing. Then I do it five minutes later, and look panicked over my shoulder, please God, tell me I wasn't laughing too loud with a dead person in the room.
Honestly, I don't think people know what to do, though. How often are you standing around in a room with a dead body? I think that's why we laugh. Last night, even the adult daughter of the woman who passed away smiled several times, even laughed a little between the crying.
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