For as long as there has been life, so there was also death.  Understandably so, for as long as there was death in human civilization, so also were there funerals and burial customs to deal with the pain of loss. 

            Albeit loss experienced with the death of a loved one is universal, human civilizations, cultures, religions, ethnicity and race have dealt with and expressed the pain of loss relatively in their own different and unique ways.  Colors, flowers, rites and prayers, methods of burials and beliefs in the after-life, for example, are only a handful of how funeral customs and burial practices can truly vary laterally across different cultures and vertically over a span of a few generations.   What is customarily acceptable and meaningful as a funeral practice in one culture may be unacceptable and appalling to another.  What is considered a proper and a fitting ceremony for the dead with one particular religion may spell disrespect and dishonor to the dead of another religion. 

            Of all the differences on dealing with death throughout history and across cultures, three most common variable on dealing with the dead have remained and survived to this day: funeral or burial rites and ceremonies, sacred place of burial and remembrance of the dead.

FUNERAL AND BURIAL RITES AND CEREMONIES