A carrier is provided for facilitating the carrying and transportation of a funerary container having a bottom surface, a plurality of side surfaces and a top surface, along with a length and width and interior large enough to accommodate an un-cremated corpse. The carrier includes a base member having a length generally long enough to span the width of the funerary container and a upper surface sized and configured for receiving the bottom surface of the funerary container. An upstanding member has a lower end coupled to the base member and an upper end. The upstanding member extends in a plane generally perpendicular to the base member. A handle member is provided that is coupled to the upstanding member. The handle includes a hand receiving surface engageable by the hand of the user.

A funeral urn system comprising: a funeral urn defining an urn proximal attachment and a substantially opposed urn distal attachment, the funeral urn including an urn body defining an ashes receiving cavity and an urn aperture leading into the ashes receiving cavity, the funeral urn also including an urn cap selectively securable to the urn body in register with the urn aperture to seal the ashes receiving cavity; and a spear head cap, the spear head cap defining a cap proximal attachment and a substantially opposed cap distal end section tapering in a direction leading away from the cap proximal attachment. The urn proximal and distal attachments are configured and sized to be selectively attachable respectively to the urn distal and proximal attachments of another urn similar to the funeral urn. The urn distal attachment is configured and sized to be selectively attachable to the cap proximal attachment.

Richard Lutz wanders though another lockdown week.

We spoke to funeral director Kate Spohrer about her work during this difficult time.

NPR's Scott Simon talks to baseball legend Andre Dawson, a Hall-of-Fame member and National League MVP for the Chicago Cubs, about his second career as a Miami funeral director.

A move by one regional council to permit outdoor funerals is backed by the funeral industry which says they could become commonplace as people move away from church-based ceremonies.

Europe's epicentre of the coronavirus, Italy, has banned funerals -so how are Italians dealing with not having families around during this mourning period? Also, how are religions like Judaism, where human contact and comfort are deeply central, faring under coronavirus? And, the clash of rights that comes with the debate over religious freedom.

A former Queensland deputy principal indecently assaulted a teenager at a wake after the funeral of the girl's father in the 1990s, a court hears.

From May 15, Territorians will be able to sweat it out at the gym, dine at a restaurants and get their nails done. And from June 5, they can get a tattoo or head to a nightclub.

If you are hoping to be buried in Launceston's main cemetery, you'll need deep pockets, with the cost of a single plot "skyrocketing" more than 225 per cent in recent years, and it's set to go up again. Why does it cost so much?

Parishioners in rural communities are increasingly perform the role of priests, taking funerals and Sunday celebrations into their own hands.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison pays tribute to Tim Fischer at his state funeral, saying the former deputy prime minister's political courage in advocating for stricter gun laws had made Australia safer.

Online scammers operating through social media and at least one crowdfunding site trick friends of a pilot who died in a Darwin plane crash into donating money for his funeral.

Dexter Rentz was a rising star.

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Funeral Kings (2012) Claire: 3.8/5 stars, 8/10. Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 6.6/10. Jesse: 3.4/5 stars, 7/10 (I think). Native ratings: 4.1/5 stars Netflix, 6.1/10 IMDB. SLEEPER ALERT: This movie isn’t well-known at all, so I’d like to point out this might be the only time you see it mentioned. “Two altar boys decide […]

For somebody who did less for Britain than, say, Olly Murs, we’re making a dreadful fuss of our late monarch

Who’s your favourite dead king? For me it’s a toss-up between King Henry VIII (likes: Greensleeves, beheadings) and Nat King Cole (likes: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose). Those are definitely my top two.

Below them, there’s King Kong, King George III, Good King Wenceslas, and about 500 other assorted types of king before you get to Richard III. Never warmed to him. Don’t know why. I’ve just never really been into Richard III. Maybe it’s his Savile-esque haircut, or the fact that his name is widely used as rhyming slang for fecal matter, or just the way he’s routinely depicted as a murderous, scheming cross between Mr Punch and Quasimodo; a panto villain with nephews’ blood on his hands.

More than 200 mourners filed into the Love Fellowship Tabernacle church in East New York Thursday night for Payson Lott’s wake and funeral. The youngster was struck and killed by an unlicensed driver as he crossed a street in his neighborhood.

The funeral was held for Rav Yosef Kalish, 63, an Amshinover rebbe who was hospitalized with COVID-19 last week and died Sunday morning, The Associated Press reported.

NYC Mayor de Blasio denounced storing bodies in unrefrigerated and unmanned U-Haul trucks outside of Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home on Utica Ave. and Ave. M in Flatlands

The scene on 43rd St. between 13th Ave. and 14th Ave. unfolded at about 4 p.m. Thursday as mourners flouted social distancing norms to attend what was supposed to be a private funeral at the home of Rabbi Cheskel Wagshel, 95, said a family friend.

"We all struggled with personal protective equipment in the funeral industry," said Eric Bell, funeral director and owner of David A. Hall Mortuary in Pittsboro, Ind.

Eric Bell, a funeral director in Pittsboro, Ind., says the longest he's waited to hold a memorial service is two months for a deceased person. He explains why.

"I love from afar, do the best I can from afar but nothing equals a hug," said Eric Ball, funeral director, owner of David A. Hall Mortuary.

Ghana is well known for its elaborate funerals and rowdy election campaigns so coronavirus is changing everything.

The body of an elderly woman, who died of Covid-19, has been lying at a funeral parlour since Monday because her family, who are in another province, cannot get the necessary documents from closed Home Affairs branches in order to travel.

They sing for him, Swinging from heel to frail heel, Growing earth between the ground and, his casket, Bleeding love into the air Like orchids, Humming, They rise again And again their gently swaying busts, Move the air to and fro, To and fro, Intending that mother be comforted, Intending that her wet eyes, Smile […]

Funeral parlors' enterprising staff offered burial packages to suit every social strata and budget

"This video footage clearly shows why La Loche Saskatchewan won't be opening up so soon," says Rita Briggs.

Rome Newsroom, Apr 30, 2020 / 11:45 am (CNA).- After eight weeks without funerals, Italian families will be able finally to gather together to mourn and pray at funeral Masses for the victims of the coronavirus starting May 4.

In Milan, the largest city in Italy’s coronavirus epicenter, priests are preparing for an influx of funeral requests in the coming weeks in the Lombardy region, where 13,679 have died.

Fr. Mario Antonelli, who oversees liturgies on behalf of the Archdiocese of Milan, told CNA that archdiocesan leadership met April 30 to coordinate guidelines for Catholic funerals as more than 36,000 people remain positive for COVID-19 in their region.

“I am moved, thinking of so many dear people who have wanted [a funeral] and still desire one,” Fr. Antonelli said April 30.

He said that the church in Milan is ready like the Good Samaritan to “pour oil and wine on the wounds of many who have suffered the death of a loved one with the terrible agony of not being able to say goodbye and embrace.”

A Catholic funeral is “not just a solemn farewell from loved ones,” the priest explained, adding that it expresses a pain like childbirth. “It is the cry of pain and loneliness that becomes a song of hope and communion with the desire for an everlasting love.”

Funerals in Milan will occur on an individual basis with no more than 15 people in attendance, as required by “phase two” of the Italian government’s coronavirus measures. 

Priests are asked to notify local authorities when a funeral is scheduled to take place and ensure that social distancing measures defined by the diocese are followed throughout the liturgy. 

Milan is home to the Ambrosian rite, the Catholic liturgical rite named for St. Ambrose, who led the diocese in the 4th century.

“According to the Ambrosian rite, the funeral liturgy includes three ‘stations’: the visit / blessing of the body with the family; community celebration (with or without Mass); and burial rites at the cemetery,” Antonelli explained. 

“Trying to reconcile the sense of the liturgy … and the sense of civic responsibility, we ask the priests to refrain from visiting the family of the deceased to bless the body,” he said.

While Milan archdiocese is limiting priests from the traditional blessing of the body in the home of the family, the funeral Mass and burial rites will be able to take place at a church or “preferably” at a cemetery, Antonelli added. 

During the nearly two months without Masses and funerals, dioceses in northern Italy have been maintaining telephone lines for grieving families with spiritual counsel and psychological services. In Milan, the service is called “Hello, is this an angel?” and is operated by priests and religious who spend time on the phone with the sick, the mourning, and the lonely. 

Aside from funerals, public Masses will still not be allowed throughout Italy under the government’s May 4 coronavirus restrictions. As Italy eases its lockdown, it remains unclear when public Masses will be allowed by the Italian government.

Italian bishops have been critical of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s latest coronavirus measures, announced on April 26, saying that they “arbitrarily exclude the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people."

According to the prime minister’s April 26 announcement, the easing of lockdown measures will allow retail stores, museums, and libraries to reopen beginning May 18 and restaurants, bars, and hair salons June 1.

Movement between Italian regions, within regions, and within cities and towns is still prohibited except under strict cases of necessity.

In a letter April 23, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, the president of the Italian bishops' conference, wrote that “the time has come to resume the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, and church funerals, baptisms and all the other sacraments, naturally following those measures necessary to guarantee security in the presence of more people in public places.”

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority warns the public not to conduct financial services business with Masibekele Funeral Parlour and MISI Burial Society.

A 38-year-old man who was stabbed multiple times in both legs and suffered a broken nose was accused by a gang of thugs of attending the funeral of slain hitman Robbie Lawlor.

These days, as Wilson Mak drifts off to sleep after another 14-hour day at a New York funeral home, images of Covid-19 victims flash through his mind.“When I close my eyes, I still see those ugly sights,” says Mak, manager of Ng Fook Funeral Services in New York City. “It’s unbearable.”Ng Fook’s four funeral homes in the city’s various Chinese communities are a microcosm of an overwhelmed industry as corpses pile up in hallways, trucks and makeshift morgues across hotspots of the disease in the…

Across Africa, centuries-old cultural traditions are being foregone in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen governments impose restrictions on gatherings and other practices around death and burial. Francesca Lynagh reports.

Across Africa, centuries-old cultural traditions are being foregone in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen governments impose restrictions on gatherings and other practices around death and burial. Francesca Lynagh reports.

The life of a New York video game enthusiast who died from complications of the coronavirus was celebrated with a virtual service on Nintendo’s hit video game: “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.”

Funerals must be allowed to take place to enable families to mourn their loved ones, the Government has said.

A young NHS worker was stabbed to death in east London just days before his father's funeral.

Police were called to a funeral home in New York after a bad smell coming from the street outside turned out to be from hundreds of bodies kept inside trucks.

Bus drivers paid their respects to a colleague who died with coronavirus symptoms as his funeral cortege passed through the depot where he had worked for almost 20 years.

As a funeral director, Isabel Potter had been planning her mother's funeral since her third cancer diagnosis, but when the time came the coronavirus pandemic turned these plans upside down

Poppy Mardall, Founder and Director of Poppy's, on the dos and don'ts of a funeral in the era of COVID-19

The company wants to ensure mourners can still say their goodbyes.

Funeral insurer Youpla, slammed by the banking royal commission in a previous brand iteration for misleading Indigenous customers, has now been denied a licence to provide financial services and prevented from signing up new customers.