COVID 19 lockdowns funeral restrictions meant that many people didn’t have funerals. People quickly embraced the idea that it was no longer a social obligation to have them and realised that they saved money in the process.

If you would like to know what a Living Funeral is please read my blog here: What is a Living Funeral?

Financial priorities have shifted as a result of economic crisis in the UK, Funeral Poverty is real and people are choosing lower cost options or no funeral at all. 

This led people to why they were thinking of spending an average of £5k on an event they’re not even going to enjoy. People started to think about what they might like to do instead. In other words, Funerals became de-prioritised.

Direct Cremation, where the person is taken to be cremated unattended by mourners has been aggressively marketed to a population by Direct Cremation companies who saw an opportunity and a gap in the market for the demographic affected by these changes.

They sell a more affordable package and the idea that ‘funerals are a burden’, ‘they are a waste of money’ and other emotive suggestions. People are increasingly convinced that they don’t want to burden their loved ones with financial expenditure and emotional distress which they deem unnecessary.

People began to think about how they would like to spend that money instead, memorials are one idea and living funerals are another.

You can find out more about Direct Cremations here: More about Direct Cremations. 

A comprehensive academic article by Dr Kate Woodthorpe and Dr Hannah Rumble can be found here, Direct Cremations: The post-pandemic future of funerals

Global pandemics always impact societies economically but they also impact them in terms of behaviour and beliefs.

When we first heard during lockdown that we could not have funerals or could only have 6 masked mourners we were all devastated.

It was widely considered likely that people would have memorials afterwards and that everyone would be in a hurry to return to the way things were before.

But to everyone’s surprise this what not to be the case. In the UK at least people decided that they liked having permission to not have funerals.

Emotionally reserved British people particularly in the over 50s seized the chance to avoid public displays of emotion. Most significantly though was the discovery that it was now no longer shameful to have no funeral. People had ‘permission’ to go without a funeral that cost money they wouldn’t enjoy.

But there was a generational difference here. Gen X and older were keen to do without altogether. I always hear so many people of that generation saying “throw me out with the bins”.

What might surprise you is that Gen Y, Millenials, Zillenials and GenZ are actually really keen to create rituals and to talk openly about their feelings. For these generations ‘authenticity and emotional honesty’ are often core values.

Younger generations often find themselves at odds with their grandparents and parents who decide to go without funerals. This generation is especially keen on Living Funerals, which leads me on to high profile media representations of Living Funerals.

One of the most high profile Living FUNeral was that of Kris Hallenga, the creator of Coppafeel breast awareness charity.

You can watch a documentary about her here: Living Every Second: The Kris Hallenga Story

She invited comedian Dawn French to do a sermon for her in her comedy character Vicar of Dibley.

She was young, positive and vibrant and she got people thinking. How nice to hear the lovely things people have to say about us. How nice to be there to hear all about what people think of us.

Another film recently released on Netflix also shows a living funeral. Again, this film was popular with younger people who started to think, as younger generations are prone to do, about doing things differently from the older generation.

You can find out more about the film here: Love at First Sight Film

Many people in the UK in the white British population and the British population generally have literally lost our religion.

Britain is full of different communities and many are still belief based. However, people who would previously have been Church of England or Catholic in the UK are largely avoiding churches and no longer believe in the doctrine.

Here is a pie-chart about the current religious beliefs in teh UK courtesy of Humanists UK. You can find out more about these conclusions here: Humanists UK

Interest about Living Funerals is rising because of a number of factors. Covid 19, economic crisis, Direct Cremations, changing societal norms, growing media representations and changees in sprituality and religious beliefs have all contributed to the way in which we view funerals.

If you are interested in creating a living funeral for yourself or for someone you love sign up to my newsletter to find out more or get in touch.

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