5 Ways to Pay Respect to the Deceased

Funerals could be one of the saddest moments in our life since they involve dealing with the loss of a loved one. Yet, this is also a good way to celebrate a person's new life and give closure to his life on earth. While facing the death of a family member or a loved one can be one of the most difficult things to deal with, we should accept the fact that life is not forever. Sooner or later, we will need to say goodbye to one another because life on earth is just temporary.

While there are a lot of ways to commemorate the end of a person's life, paying respect to the deceased during a funeral service is important. The funeral service is that final moment where people who have been a part of the deceased's life will gather together and offer comfort to one another.

With this in mind, sending memorial service invitation cards is necessary in order to ask everyone who has been a part of the deceased's life to come together and take part in a memorial service in honor of their dearly departed.

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Through the years, people from all over the world have varying ways in paying respect to the deceased. Most people will offer flowers and prayers and sometimes, the manner of paying respect will depend on religion, tradition and culture. If the deceased is Catholic, Catholic memorial cards are often distributed to visiting guests and these cards often have prayers printed on them in honor of the deceased. This is an old tradition practiced by Catholics worldwide as a means of paying tribute to their dearly departed.

But aside from offering flowers and prayers, there are several other ways to pay respect to the deceased. Of course, funeral rites will still be there and offering donations, flowers and gifts will still be a norm. Yet, there are several other ways of paying homage to the deceased. Instead of merely sticking to the usual tradition norm, refer below for 5 interesting ways to pay respect to the deceased.

1. Poetry Reading

Coming up with a well written poem to commemorate your dearly departed is one of the most intimate forms of paying respect to the deceased. The act of creating a poem for a loved one who has died is an emotional experience yet it is something intimate.

In fact, you can use the poem as part of the memorial invitation wording, which you can send out to guests attending the funeral. Creating a poem is also an act of spirituality. This can serve as a memorial which will show the world how special your dearly departed is.

As you know, the person will live forever and will be tied altogether to a circle of life. The poem can also signify that the life of our loved one matters a lot and that it continues to matter even if he is no longer living on earth.

The poem created for a deceased will often focus on specific details that will later on piece up in order to create a beautiful montage. This montage can also refer to the wishes and the life of your departed loved one.

You may also ask your friends and other family members to compose poems for the deceased. Then collect all the poems that they have composed and you can have them printed on the funeral remembrance cards so they can read them aloud during the ceremony. Ask each person to recite his or her poem in front of everyone and if they may, they can also interpret the meaning of the poem and explain how it relates to the life of the deceased person.

The poem will sometimes talk about the composer's feelings towards the deceased and how he or she is dealing with the loss. Composing and reading poems is definitely one of the best ways to pay respect to the deceased.

2. Offering Symbolic Gifts

Offering symbolic gifts to the deceased is another way to honor them and show your respect. By definition, symbolisms refer to the creative presentation of things, ideas or situations. The gifts help to enhance the things that they represent and this includes the people. When you send out memorial invitation cards, ask guests to bring symbolic gifts to offer to the deceased. During the memorial service, ask those who brought gifts to present it in front along with an explanation why they chose such thing as their symbolic gift. The gift should be something that relates to the life of the departed loved one.

For the symbolic gifts, one can bring a CD that features a compilation of the deceased person's favorite songs while he was still alive. Another could be a scrapbook that features photos and other memorabilia about the deceased person. Another symbolic gift that one can give is a book. Perhaps, it is the person's favorite book while he was still alive or a DVD copy of the deceased's favorite movie.

There are lots of symbolic gifts that one can give to the deceased. Remember that these things must be given to the deceased person, something that he can "carry" to the next life. It is therefore necessary to indicate on the memorial service invitations that these things will have to be left to the deceased.

Also, ask the cemetery if they can possibly look after these gifts, or perhaps, you can buy a vault with a lock where you can store all these things. Others will also choose to burn the items or perhaps be buried right next to the grave.

3. Musical Celebration

Another way to pay respect to the deceased is to have a musical celebration during the memorial or funeral service. You can invite some singers and choirs to help you in making such celebration possible. You can have them play some of the most favorite songs of the deceased person, whether it is something solemn and romantic, or perhaps some rock music, country music and alternative songs.

You can also have them play dance music and ask funeral guests to dance to the groove. Just because someone has died doesn't mean you are no longer allowed to dance and celebrate. As a matter of fact, a funeral mass program of some religious and traditional funeral services is filled with joyous celebrations. For them, a death means the start of their loved one's journey to eternal happiness which is just worthy to be celebrated.

Another great idea is to request some people close to the deceased to compose a song about the person. This can be possible if one of the friends or family members is a music composer. The lyrics should represent the deceased person's life on earth. Or perhaps, the song could be something that will describe the deceased person.

You can also type in some of the lyrics of the songs on the in memoriam cards that you will distribute to the guests in memory of the deceased. You can also ask the composers to perform the songs during the funeral celebration. This will certainly create a tearful recollection to those who are in attendance.

4. Create a Dedication Board

During the funeral service, create a dedication board on one area of the venue, perhaps on the wall. Attach a picture of your departed loved one and place a message board beside it. Ask guests to write a message dedicated to the deceased person. You can also create personalized funeral remembrance cards and pass them along to the guests of the funeral service or to everyone who will come for a visitation or viewing during the wake.

Ask them to write a short message for the deceased person. Collate the cards and stick them on a message board with the photo of your departed loved one. Have it framed and hang it on the mausoleum or display it on the grave in the cemetery.

Encourage guests to come up with the most meaningful message for your dearly departed. It should be similar to giving messages to a person during a wedding, birthday or other special events. It could be a parting message or anything that you want the deceased person to know. It could also be a message that describes the deceased as a person and how he has left a special space in your heart. It could be a message of thanks for all the great memories you have and probably an apology letter if you have something to apologize for. If you do not know how to create one, look for a remembrance card template in the web and use it as your guide in creating a meaningful message for your dearly departed.

5. Write a Tale or a Biography

If you are adept at writing, then why don't you compose a story or a tale in honor of the deceased person? Recreate his life based on your own point of view. You can also include in your tale the person's good deeds, interests and other aspects on his life. Do not forget to add your own opinions on each detail as well and make the tale to be as dramatic as possible.

Include some quotations and meaningful messages on the tale and perhaps some passages from the Bible. This would be ideal for religious ceremonies and in fact, some of the Anglican/Methodist order of service would have the minister reading a tale or biography about the person and then relating his life to some of the characters in the bible. You can also ask some of the friends, relatives, colleagues and other people who know the deceased well to come up with their own tale or biography.

During the funeral service, ask those who wrote a biography about the person to come in front and read out loud the tale or the biography that they have written. To make this even more interesting, play a video in the background with pictures and other images about the deceased person. You can also add a solemn music to set the mood. This moment might be very emotional yet it is certainly a great way to pay respect to the deceased.

Aside from reading the tale or the bio of the deceased, you can also have it printed on the memorial cards for funeral and distribute it to guests during the funeral service. If there are lots of biographies, collate them and print them on a small booklet and distribute it to the people who is close to the deceased, or perhaps give it to one of the members of his family. You can also choose to have the biography published in a local newspaper or magazine.

Your manner of paying respect to your dead loved one does not really need to be that lavish or grand. You do not need to spend quite a big amount of money for the funeral service and you can even organize it yourself without the need to pay for the services of a funeral director.

In this day and age of the Internet, everything can be found online, including funeral program designs. As you can see above, there are a lot of ways on how you can pay your respect to the deceased person and all these will not require you to spend a fortune. It is not the amount that matters but the thought and the effort you have put through it. Your efforts will certainly be rewarded with good karma from your dearly departed who will always watch over you.

Remember that the funeral service is the last moment of the deceased person's life where you can give honor and pay your respect to him so make this as meaningful as possible. Of course, you cannot do this all on your own. You need the help of several people around you who have also played an important part on the life of the deceased person. Ask them to contribute their talent, such as composing poems, creating memoriam cards, writing poems and biographies or perhaps composing a song.

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