www.ditl.org

Reliant121 wrote:Never had a Catholic relative in living history so i cant really comment on that.

No Catholics? In a family that came over singing Lilibullero? Shocking.

From what I understand, Catholic funerals usually involve (over here, anyway) two days' worth of visitations (being "laid out") followed by a wake/repast, with the actual funerary mass and burial on the third day - based, I guess, on the length of time between J.C.'s death and resurrection.

Jewish practice is based around the idea of the body, since it is now bereft of the spirit, decomposing as completely and naturally as possible. Generally we try to get the decedent in the ground on the day following the death (or the day after, if that day happens to fall on a Saturday.) Usually there is a service - a few prayers, some psalms, and some eulogies - followed by the graveside service and burial. Burial is supposed to be done in the ground, not a mausoleum, and without a vault or even metal fittings on the casket. The caskets themselves are generally pretty simple - pretty much plain pine boxes fitted with pegs and dovetail joints (since we can't use nails) and usually only decorated with an appliqued wooden Star of David. Like the RC's, cremation isn't unheard of although it generally isn't considered "the done thing." Afterwards, like any other possible assembly of Jews, we eat - usually at the house of the bereaved, with food brought in/catered by the extended family and friends of the bereaved.

Following that is a period known as shevah, usually lasting a week, and during which interpretations of very ancient mourning customs are observed. All mirrors in the house of the bereaved are covered, and wooden boxes are brought in to serve as seats as the bereaved do not sit on furniture. Each night during this period, the regular evening liturgy is said in the house of the bereaved - usually led by their rabbi but not necessarily, since we do not have a mystery religion; anyone can lead a liturgy in Judaism - as long as ten adult men can be gathered together for that purpose, leading to announcements calling for a minyan (quorum of said 10 adult men, necessary for performing a liturgy) from the members of the bereaved's synagogue. It is considered a mitzvah (commandment a/o nice thing to do in a religious sense) to attend the home of someone sitting shevah.

Six months or one year after the funeral, the monument is unveiled with a few prayers, some psalms, and usually a catered brunch.

My friends and I had a wake for my mom last night.

The memorial service was mostly just people standing around talking; I did the expected rounds, heard all the "sorry about your mother" bits, and then my friends and I said bye to my grandma, and we went and had our own memorial. Involving home-brewed beer.

Tsukiyumi wrote:My friends and I had a wake for my mom last night.

The memorial service was mostly just people standing around talking; I did the expected rounds, heard all the "sorry about your mother" bits, and then my friends and I said bye to my grandma, and we went and had our own memorial. Involving home-brewed beer.

I'll crack one (or more) to her myself.

She'd appreciate it. I know I do.

Tsukiyumi wrote:She'd appreciate it. I know I do.

I will crack one in a few days or so for you Tsu, can't do it while on the ship.

My Mother in law just phoned me to tell me she found a Starship Enterprise (NCC1701, no bloody A,B,C or D) Dinky toy in their loft/attic with firing photonic torpedoes and a little shuttlecraft in the loading bay. I wonder what that's worth these days?

Hard to say, though if it's in good condition it should be worth a reasonable amount.

Quick, to the Ebaymobile!

Damn it Seafort, did you have to lock ViL's ban thread before I could actually flame him?

To Vil,
It warms my cold dead heart to think that after a week's ban the first thing you did was come back and bitch about me. Really touching. Seriously. So know that I say this with all the love I can muster.

Go fuck yourself.

I think I've forgotten how hard it is to begin a fanfic. Introducing characters without infodumping is a fine balance.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:I think I've forgotten how hard it is to begin a fanfic. Introducing characters without infodumping is a fine balance.

Ah, the role of the mighty cabbage

IanKennedy wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:I think I've forgotten how hard it is to begin a fanfic. Introducing characters without infodumping is a fine balance.

Ah, the role of the mighty cabbage

Oh, tell me about it. It's even worse with a crossover. With one franchise, you can at least hope that your reader has some knowledge of the subject. But with two or more franchises explanations and asides can eat up words. Of course, that's only one aspect of writing a good crossover.

Tyyr wrote:Damn it Seafort, did you have to lock ViL's ban thread before I could actually flame him?

To Vil,
It warms my cold dead heart to think that after a week's ban the first thing you did was come back and bitch about me. Really touching. Seriously. So know that I say this with all the love I can muster.

Go f**k yourself.

Two to tango, and all that. Let it go.

My family is Scot-German Presbyterians. We feel bad for a day then spend a weekend throwing a party in memory of the lost loved one. On a side note, I got my middle name in memory of someone from such a weekend... I was also conceived on that weekend.

Guess that explains a bit why there are so many of us running around. One person dies and five get pregnant in the same weekend.