What is a funeral?

It can be said that a funeral is simply the means of disposal of the deceased's body according to State Laws. However, every person may have a different opinion as to how that should be done. The key to this is "appropriateness". In other words, the means should be appropriate both to the deceased and to the surviving family and friends.

Each family may have different needs and wishes, so it follows that families must have the right to decide what is appropriate in each individual case, and to grieve in their own way. Thus, for some families, it may be appropriate to dispense with any form of ceremony; for other families, it may be appropriate to provide extremely elaborate, even spectacular, ceremonies for their deceased relative. 

Many families may choose a ceremony that falls somewhere between these two extremes