LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
HUFFINGTON
03.03.13
Life and
Death,
at Home
HIS WEEK, Jaweed
Kaleem writes about
the resurgence of home
funerals, a tradition
with deep roots in American life.
Until the Civil War, he writes,
home funerals were more common. Mortality rates were higher,
hospitals and funeral homes were
less prevalent, and for many rural Americans, death happened
in the home. Family members
placed unembalmed bodies in
ART STREIBER
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simple homemade caskets, without the supervision of coroners
and medical examiners.
That changed, of course, but
Kaleem writes about a growing
longing among many Americans
to return to the DIY approach. All
but eight states have made it legal
to care for family members after
death. And a growing number of
nonprofit funeral groups are making it easier for families to do so.
“In a society where seeing death
and speaking of it is often taboo,
home funeral advocates are challenging the notion that traditional
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