![]() ![]() But the belief underlying these ancient and modern practices seems to be somewhat universal - that the body contains some part of the person, some essence, some meaning. Methods and intent vary widely, shaped by cultural and circumstantial forces. As embalming gained popularity and legitimacy through the 20th century, the viewing of the body often served as the centerpiece of the funeral ritual. Abraham Lincoln was embalmed and paraded around the country after his assassination in 1865, the embalming treatment continually applied as his death tour went on for weeks. The objective was temporary preservation, maintaining an illusion of life just long enough for people to say goodbye. Basil Eldadah, a physician with the National Institute on Aging, said, “We’re just in this place in our society where we’re questioning the way that things have always been done.”Įgyptian mummification, aimed at eternity, bears little resemblance to modern American embalming, which began during the Civil War, when bodies of soldiers had to be transported on hot, unventilated trains. “There’s less demand - it’s not an expanding market.” Dr. “Absolutely there’s a shift going on,” said Tim Collison, the chief operating officer of The Dodge Company, the largest embalming fluid manufacturer in the country. Harvell, who may be the sole embalmers for a dozen funeral-home clients.Īccording to people in the industry, things have been trending away from embalming for decades. Embalmers are becoming more difficult to find most funeral homes rely on contractors like Mr. More than 60 percent of people surveyed were interested in having so-called green burials, which are cheaper than traditional funerals and limit the chemicals allowed into the body for preservation. “I’ve had families come up to me and tell me, ‘Wow, they look so nice I couldn’t even cry.’”īut the world he belongs to, the world of embalming, is increasingly losing its sway over the American way of death.ĭata gathered by the National Funeral Directors Association shows that nearly 60 percent of Americans in 2021 were cremated after death, an increase from around 25 percent in 1999. “My ultimate goal is to give them their loved one back,” he said of the people who would view the bodies at the upcoming funerals. Harvell is a professor of mortuary science at a local college, the manager of his own funeral home in Elizabeth and a trade embalmer who does nearly 50 embalmings a week he is familiar with the often fraught area between life and death. ![]()
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