INTHEBLACK April/May 2024 - Magazine - Page 51
going to host a rock concert, but we do
host jazz on some afternoons in summer,
for people to be engaged in a way that is
non-traditional but still respectful.”
TRENDS IN DEATH CARE
Funerals were similar across communities
and faiths 50 years ago, Tobin says.
There would be a ceremony at a place
of worship followed by a burial or
cremation, then a memorial gathering.
Within this structure, there was little
innovation until about three decades
ago, when the industry recognised a trend
away from religious elements and toward
greater creativity around how a person’s
life was remembered.
“There was a lot of creativity around
where the service was held, the music, the
colour and so on,” Tobin says.“There was
a trend toward celebratory, life-centred
funerals and away from funerals centred
around the person’s faith.”
At today’s funerals, it is becoming more
common for there to be no body in the room,
to have orders of service featuring images of
the person throughout their life, and to have
presentations with videos, photos and music.
“It is not game-changing. This is, by
necessity, a very conservative industry, but it
offers people what they desire,” Tobin says.
“Funerals are one of the oldest human
activities. Ever since man came out of the cave
and started living in communities, they started
burying or cremating bodies to remember the
person. Most of the traditions today come
from that human need to stop the clock and
do something when someone among us dies.
Funerals are not going to go away or change
dramatically unless we stop dying.”
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