Introduction
The death system is a concept that can be characterized as a collection of interpersonal, sociocultural, and symbolic networks that connect society and its members to mortality (Kastenbaum, 2001). The concept opposes the opinion that death is an individual concern and examines it on a broader scale of society. Furthermore, the concept identifies the role of death in maintaining order in society. Components of the death system include all people ultimately subjected to dying, people involved in the process of death-related services, places where people die and mourn, time and traditions, and symbols of death.
The Importance of Funerals
Funeral ceremonies play an important role in maintaining social order for the deceased’s families and loved ones and society as a whole. Thus, one way in which funeral ceremonies help maintain social order is by helping the mourners accept the reality of death (Selected Independent Funeral Homes, 2023). The measure involves uniting close people at difficult times, performing a burial ceremony to create a place for the deceased, and utilizing specific symbols to emphasize death’s irreversibility. Alternative ways to maintain the social order are giving people the opportunity and time to say goodbye to the deceased. In this case, the measure focuses on easing people’s pain and emotional burden at the ceremony.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Funerals
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the stability of the death system was affected by social distancing policies and safety issues, which resulted in the manifestation of several types of loss and grief in people. Therefore, in addition to the primary loss experienced from the death of a close person and the secondary loss of a relationship with the deceased, people experienced pressure and loss of freedom to grieve (Zhai & Du, 2020). Lack of opportunities to share the loss with close people in person contributes to the additional ambiguous loss, where people experience conflicting emotions due to distanced support from friends and family.
Conclusion
Considering the grieving aspect, many families were distanced from the dying family members and had to process the anticipatory grief before receiving news of the relative’s passing. In some cases, families were prohibited from holding formal funerals for relatives due to the threat of the virus’s spread. In such cases, the absence of a funeral ceremony resulted in the manifestation of disenfranchised grief.
References
Kastenbaum, Robert. (2001). Death, society, and human experience (7th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
Selected Independent Funeral Homes. (2023). The role of ceremonies in bereavement. Web.
Zhai, Y., & Du, X. (2020). Loss and grief amidst COVID-19: A path to adaptation and resilience. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 87, 80–81. Web.