You must be aware of the rich culture of Singapore. It is also well known that the people residing there have diverse religions. Some of them are Chinese, some Muslims and some of them are Hindus and Christians. As the religions vary, the cultures, traditions and rituals of these people also vary from each other and their ways of living are also divergent from religion to religion. Due to these differences, their living style, their events and even the manners of funerals are also diverse in nature. There are some manners and etiquettes to attend the funerals and there are also some manners and etiquettes of planning those funerals and wakes.
Proper Notifications About The Funeral And Obituaries
The family of the deceased person should have a proper plan of the funeral and wakes. They should have a proper way to inform relatives, friends and other people living around. If they cannot inform everyone by their own selves than they should have asked some of their relatives and friends to inform the others. So that there should be no one left uninformed. This is a proper way to be informed about the death of anyone that their relatives or friends inform others. This should be planned by the family how they will inform others about the loss.
Plan And Call If You Want Clergymen
It is the custom in Singapore that eulogies are read by clergymen or any family member of the passed away. It should also be planned before time that they have to call any clergymen or not. There should not have any haphazard announcements and plans. Whatever you do, do it with proper planning and preparation.
Arrange A Well Written Eulogy
Eulogies are read at the death of any person to remember him and his qualities and positive points. In these eulogies; family, friends, clergymen or any relative read the eulogy. Others may join him or can be silent listeners. It is also important that eulogy should be written properly. So that there would be no mistake or gaps in speech. There should also be proper plan about the fixation of sound system. If you think that there would be large number of people to attend the wake than you should arrange a good sound system so that everyone present there can listen the voice of the person who reads the eulogy.
Appropriate Place For Sitting
Family of the deceased or the surviving family should have an idea that how many numbers of the people could be there to attend the wake ceremony. If not exact, at least they should have a rough idea about the number of people. They should arrange proper sitting of the visitors or guests. The planners of the ceremony should also keep in consideration that there would be many people with various or diverse religions. So there should be an adequate place for sitting and there should be place for those people too who would not participate in the prayers and religious rituals. They can sit silently and calmly without any participation.
Accurate Arrangement Of Eatables
Food is arranged for the visitors who come to attend the wakes, this is also one of the customs of Singapore that there are variety of food items are prepared and served for the guests. So while planning for the food items, it should be in mind that the food should be in enough quantity that there should not be any shortage of food. The foods are mostly served on the tables and individuals who are attending the ceremony get the food by their own selves. So the place of arrangement and quantity of food should be accurate and according to the numbers of guests coming there.
Arrangement Of Transportation
When the body of the deceased is taken to the place of its burial, any conveyance is arranged for the relatives and friends to accompany the body to its final and last destination. This conveyance should be arranged on time and its duty should be to bring all of the friends or relatives to the place of funeral so that this task should be done on time and no relative or friend have any problem in reaching there.
Record Book For Guests
Record book is presented to the guests to keep in record their views. This book should be placed on a proper place where everyone can reach and write down his views on it and it should also be presented to everyone.
Be Thankful To The Visitors
This is very essential to be thankful to the visitors or guests. Though deaths are not the events where one should say thank you to anyone but there is always a way to make feel others to be respected and your gratitude without even saying a single word to them. So the grievers should show others that they are thankful to every visitor that they come and give their time in remembering the departed individual. They should acknowledge that they come and join them in their grief and sorrow and condole them in that hard time where they were in need of words of sympathy and pathos. The sorrow family can also show their gratitude to the visitors when they pay some money to them. This money is given to help the family in arranging the funeral of the deceased. This is a custom in Singapore that when the family receives and accepts the money they show their thankfulness without saying it.
So as far as the etiquettes and manners of planning and arranging a funeral is concerned, these rules can be followed which could make the event less troublesome. By proper planning, the family can save them from the anxiety and tension of sudden happenings. The event should be convenient and less problematic for the visitors or guests. The smooth event can give peace of mind to the family. Accept the respect and condolence for the dead with giving respect and gratitude to the people who arrive there.
